crazytrmpetnerd9

I'm a high school student who is looking to buy my first pro horn. I played all the Bach strads and liked them the best but, I played the Jupiter tribune JTR1200 and I really loved the sound and feel of it, even though it was an intermediate horn. I hear that Jupiter is coming out with a new pro trumpet called the Jupiter XO. Does anyone have any opinion on the new Jupiter horn coming out in July? Does anyone have general experience or feedback with the Jupiter brand?

Mark Bradley

As a matter of fact I'm playing a Jupiter trumpet and flugel at this time. The 846RL flugel is a very fine flugel and a bargain at places like Chuck Levin's Washington Music. I had it tweaked by Charlie Melk (valve alignment, got Amado spit valves to work right among other things) and it made a huge improvement on an already good and under rated horn. I'm playing the XO 1602 RSB1 trumpet with the sterling leadpipe and it's a very good trumpet-- plays great. I talked to a guy at Jupiter and a newer XO trumpet is coming out and is still going to be called the 1602 XO but it's different-- it'll have some sort of different leadpipe design, improvement in the valve block ,more fancy engraving and apparently is considerably improved. If this all turns out to be true this new XO could be one heck of nice horn. But remember this new model is NOT yet out yet so don't confuse it with the older model I have. However this model I'm playing now is something I wouldn't hesitate to recommend. It's a bit confusing because the new XO's are still called the 1602 but they won't have the "RSB1" type designation after them-- they'll just be called XOs. The new models are due out this summer and it'll be interesting to see what they sell for and I'd love to try one. You might start seeing stores selling out the older models (they go for about $1300-1400 as it is) and they will be an excellent bargain if they slash these to make room for the new XO. I got mine brand new like this just recently on ebay for, well, let's just say for about what two Monette Prana mouthpieces would cost-- an unbelievable value for a dandy little trumpet! Came with two tuning slides, and all sort of extras.... amazing.

Here's the site for the new XO line:

Jupiter XO - Professional By Design

As you can see from the Gearhead Page of my two bit web site I'm a big proponent of Jupiters. Not made in outer space but in Taiwan (the good China)-- Jupiter seems to be getting their act together and challanging Yamaha, and the rest. I'd certainly favorably compare these horns I have to anything else out there (particularly Yamaha). Capitalism and the free market at it's finest...

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gtromble

Don't pay any attention to labels like "intermediate" and "professional." They exist so companies can market horns at different price points. Few high school students are "professionals" and buying a horn that the manufacturer labels as such won't make you one or make you play any better.

Buy the horn that plays the best for you. If you pay more money 'just' to get a horn that is called "professional," you've been successfully manipulated by the marketers to increase their profits at your expense.

The Tribune XO was out a few years ago -- I played some at trade fairs. I heard that Jupiter had some manufacturing issues and pulled them back to fix. Sounds like they're reintroducing the model. Only time will tell if they're really a "professional" horn.

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Galen Tromble
Silver Spring, MD

TrentAustin

where's m4 when you need him

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Trent Austin
Taking a break to focus on my music... be back soon. If you want to chat PM me.
http://www.trentaustin.com
http://www.onlinejazzimprovisation.com

Mark Bradley

Yes this Jupiter thing I now have in common with m4 has not gone unrecognized on my part (sigh). I'll refrain from commenting on that aspect, like Thumper (ref: Bambi) if I can't say anything nice best not to say anything at all....

But back to the XO-- it's most certainly a "professional" trumpet in any reasonable definition of the term. We all have our opinions but nevertheless there seems to be more people against Jupiter simply because it's from Taiwan than becase of pros or cons for the instuments themselves. True that they used to be subpar but they've recognized a better product sells and have improved-- just like Japan did decades ago. I'm not saying they're the best horns on earth (however they are the best instruments on the planet Jupiter) but the XO I have is a good product at a great price. Kudos to them! Our brave new world. I wouldn't pan a trumpet just because it's from, say, the Netherlands or in m4 and Osama bin Laden's case the U.S. (oops, that slipped out), so why would I 'diss something just because it's from our friends in Taiwan? This XOs RSB1 I have is quite good and the new improved model may really be a winner-- and it may not. I would only suggest that one give it a fighting chance.

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TrentAustin

Every Xo I've played at Rayburn's I've liked. Kudos to Jupiter for upping their products... like Honda and Toyotas have improved since they first came to the states. I remember my first time in an early Toyota (my dad had one when I was 4 or 5) and it felt like a matchbox.

-T

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Trent Austin
Taking a break to focus on my music... be back soon. If you want to chat PM me.
http://www.trentaustin.com
http://www.onlinejazzimprovisation.com

talcito

Hi Mark Bradley:

Just wondering how that Amrein that you have on your homepage turned out. I was bidding on that horn a few weeks ago up to the end, when my wife surprised me by walking into the room and I started to get finger paralyses and mumbling things even I did not understand......"Get up from the computer" was the last thing I heard from her that night.

Oscar

Mark Bradley

It's really a cool trumpet (the 8121S Amrein). It's amazing because I had ordered this horn from Brasswind about a year earlier and came this (-) close to buying it at that time for $2600. I liked it that much but just couldn't realisticaly spend that much. This was the exact same horn! It must have been a liquidation deal resulting from them going bankrupt. This model sells for about $4000 in Germany and the rodium tipped bell is unusual and actually adds a few more hundred bucks. I talked to Sasha Amrien about this horn and it was made in 2004. A totally hand made horn, has the Baurfiend valves-- quite the work of art. The bell is unusual in that the flair at the end is so large mutes don't fit without extra cork. I happen to be selling it soon because I'm having a custom trumpet made by Charlie Melk (dinero an issue) so drop me a private line if you think you might be interested-- otherwise I'll probably put it back up on ebay one of these days.

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Numb Chops

I own a Jupiter Tribune XO and I have been doing very well on it. I like how the bore is nice and thick.

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Numb Chops

crazytrmpetnerd9

Thank You