GordonH

I picked up a used Jupiter 300 trumpet for £60 after hearing good reports about the build quality from Denis Wedgwood.
Its actually quite a heavy instrument. The very tight D tuning slide and bell size is very reminiscent of the old French Selmer trumpets.

I tried it on an ordinary 1c mouthpiece and it was quite well in tune but as I blew louder it went flatter. This is quite common for a lot of trumpets. It also felt tight compared to what i am used to so I put my Monette mouthpiece in it and it felt much more relaxed to play on and the pitch was more stable. It can't take much volume though so I took the additional weights out of my spare set of heavy valve caps and put them in the Jupiter ones along with the neoprene rings. The instrument really sings now, even on the 1c it feels better although even the standard monette mouthpiece makes a difference to it.

Overall its a perfectly serviceable instrument and well above the level of the chinese ones. With some fine tuning you would be hard pressed to tell its sound from that of a much more expensive instrument. Its a bit like an Olds Ambassador. I think they have a new model coming out because our local music shop which does not specialise in brass is doing them for £165 new as a special offer. I hope the new ones have not gone down market.

__________________
"O trumpeter, methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest,
Thou melt'st my heart, my brain--thou movest, drawest, changest
them at will;" (Walt Whitman)

GordonH

I should say that it looked like it had never been cleaned.
I decided to put the slides in the ultrasonic cleaner and the amount of black that came off the tuning slides was unbelievable. It started fizzing away and I thought it was some sort of chemical reaction going on.

Still good value for money though.

__________________
"O trumpeter, methinks I am myself the instrument thou playest,
Thou melt'st my heart, my brain--thou movest, drawest, changest
them at will;" (Walt Whitman)