walldaja

Anyone have any words of wisdom on the Berkeley Eb / D trumpet? They seem to be visually attractive and well made from pictures. Anyone play one? Thanks!

gbdeamer

Berkely trumpets in general are poorly made (valves particularly) and sound like garbage. The smaller the horn (C, D, piccolo...) the worse they sound and the more out of tune they are with themself.

Considering that they can't seem to produce a quality Eb or D trumpet I highly doubt that the Eb/D convertible would be any better.

missmybaby

Save your money. Even if they didn't have intonation problems, the consensus is the valves don't hold up for more than a year. Make a cross symbol with your fingers and back away slowly. :)

BTW, they still have the steer and the stump in Highland Park?

walldaja

Some things never change--Ben and the stump are still there but Delphi and Chrysler are only a shell of their former selfs.

rowuk

You generally get what you pay for, and things too good to be true, are exactly that.

If you REALLY need a D or Eb, wait until you can afford a decent one. Baroque stuff is generally more fun on the picc and the Haydn/Hummel work really well on a Bb.
I will make no comments about the valves and firmly believe most posters that do are NOT quoting from personal experience. Even crap valves if properly maintained last more than a couple of years.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

gbdeamer

From a previous post I made regarding my 10 year-old Berkeley pocket trumpet:

"Valves: The valves are the weak point on this horn. The plastic used for the guides was too weak and all 3 either warped or snapped within 5 years, so I fixed them myself using spare parts. I always carry valve oil in the car so maintenance/abuse wasn't an issue. The stems seemed to be made of a very cheap metal and will occasionally bend out of alignment. Valve casing seems to have stayed solid and otherwise the pistons still function. At some point I put tighter springs in, so valve action is acceptable, but need regular TLC."

I've played on a couple of their piccolos and one other horn (perhaps a C) and they all seemed to have similar construction and parts...just more or less tubing depending on the model.

Your mileage may vary...