| new Horn
First I'm not a pro, so my values are slightly different than many folks here. I am however a decent amatuer and went through the same search earlier this year. For budget reasons I wanted to stick with non custom horns. My previous horn was a lightweight Yamaha (YTR-734). I play in a community band and wanted a more standard weight horn to better suit the style of music played by the group. The horns I tried included Yamaha Xeno, Bach Strads, Conn Vintage 1s. I liked the Bobby Shew, but it was too much like my old horn so I excluded it. Of the Xeno, Strads and V1 I found I liked them all but preferred the Vintage 1 when using the single radius tuning slide. Other pluses for the Vintage 1 are the shorter valve travel, and the ability to customize with both standard and rounded tuning slide and the modular vale weight system. With the rounded slide, the horn has a more open feel (actually seemed too stuffy with the other slide so I don't use it). The heavy valve weights don't get changed, I picked the combination I liked best and stick with it. You could add more weight in an orchestral setting and remove the weight for a Jazz setting. I honestly feel that I couldn't go wrong with any of the 3 choices, but the Conn was the one I liked the best.
Being an amatuer player, I chose the lacquered Rose Brass. If I were toting my horn around a college campus and playing constantly, I'd go with a silver plated finish for better durability.
Try out as many horns as you can and in different configurations. If possible try multiple horns of the same brand and configuration because they can sound and play differently.
You may want to tell us what you currently play and what about it you don't like. That way folks may have better suggestions as to what might suit you best.
Greg Glassmeyer
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Greg Glassmeyer |