GordonH

I just ordered another trumpet as it was too good a buy to miss out on.
I don't have a spare Bb and I came across a company selling Bach Prelude TR700's for £100 (approx $200).

I realise that these are imported from china but they come in quite a nice fabric case and they do get some reasonable reviews as a student instrument. Also with kids in the house its handy to have something they can play around with.

I will let you all know how it works out.

Actually its not costing me anything because last year I was given a Mont Blanc pen for a signing ceremony and its been in a drawer ever since. It turned out it cost £175 new and its up on Ebay with bids up to £50 already so I am half way to paying for the trumpet.

__________________
"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)

MFfan

That's what I call creative financing for your backup! Sell something of value, that's in demand and that you didn't really need anyway.

I read the sparse review on the Brass-review site, made a couple of years ago. Pro's: nice and easy to blow and the Vincent Bach mouthpiece; cons: lacquer isn't as durable as some other trumpets.

Let us know how it works out. Looks like the horn will work for the situation you have.

__________________
Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet,
1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet,
33 American Standard cornet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org

GordonH

I forgot the 7c mouthpiece.
They cost about £40 here.

I might put the mouthpiece on Ebay!

__________________
"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)

MFfan

Yikes! That's a lot. It may be a good idea. I have seen some commetary that there is a difference in value between times of manufacture and lettering characteristics.

__________________
Dave Rafferty
07 Barrington Trumpet,
1972 Reynolds Medalist
55 Besson 8-10 trumpet
55 Roth by Reynolds Cornet
73 Olds Ambassador Cornet
30's Czech small bore Trumpet
Getzen 80 cornet,
33 American Standard cornet
www.kalamazooconcertband.org

MJ

Cool, Your review of the Pic from China was very interesting. Looking forward to your posts on this one!

__________________

GordonH

Well, it arrived.

First impressions of the TR700:

Nice durable case (cloth covered type) with backpack straps and a shoulder strap.
Came with a boxed Bach 7C mouthpiece and some Bach valve oil.

Instrument heavier than I expected.
I weighed it and its about the same weight as my Bach Strad C trumpet ( which obviously has less tubing but has heavy valve caps fitted).
The valve caps look like strad valves but they are a different thread.
Has rubber rather than felt like the strad on the valves.
Receiver is a hex type like on the strad.
Has a single tuning slide brace.
Leadpipe is either silver plated or nickel plated I cant tell which but its a nice touch.
Valves are nickel plated and the valve action is smooth.
Adjustable third valve ring and fixed first valve saddle.
Third valve slide stop is identical to my Strad C trumpet even down to the rubber ring on it to stop the slide unscrewing.
Tuning slides well aligned and polished so they move smoothly with a bit of oil.
Laquer is rather like the Yamaha epoxy laquer, good coverage and no acid issues.

Scale of B major (always a good test for tuning):
E needs first valve trigger.
C# and D need third valve trigger.
other notes pretty much correct.
Sounds normal.
No weird tuning problems.

Plays a bit tight, but I am used to more open instruments.
It is reminiscent of the "Elkhart" student trumpet that Bach used to sell in the UK.
I think the designs are related except this one has better valves and slides.

I tried playing it above top C and it certainly worked but I felt it was vibrating a bit too much so I tried heavy valve caps, they wouldnt fit so I put two brass washers in the first and third valve which improved the slotting and dampened it down a bit.
Too tight for playing up there but its not meant for that. maybe you could choose a more open mouthpiece to open it up. I was using a Bach 1C as that seemed to be a fair test.

Tone is certainly very Bach like with a solid core.
The bell is noticeably heavier than most student instruments.

Will not take much air, but that makes it easier for kids.

Overall, better than my old Jupiter 300 and better than any of the chinese Bb trumpets I have tried probably due to the bell.
Would it suit me?
Probably not, but if I was stuck I would not feel bad about having to play it at a concert.
I would need to fit heavy caps somehow and get the resistance down at the mouthpiece end to use it regularly.

However, I have got a trumpet, case, mouthpiece and valve oil for just over double the cost of a bach mouthpiece.
By the time I have sold the 7c on Ebay (brand new in the box) I will have got the whole kit for a lot less than that and with a house full of kids its handy to have a student trumpet around.

The valve action is very nice and quite a surprise on such a cheap instrument.

I don't know if this is the same one they are selling under the Bundy name in the USA.

__________________
"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 measured the valve cap threads.

.725" @ 36 TPI which is the same as Yamaha.

This is interesting because most of the Chinese trumpets are based on copies of yamaha instruments so their tooling must be set up for those threads.

__________________
"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

FItted curry heavy caps (yamaha thread) and the instrument is much improved. It feels tighter but I play on a very open mouthpiece so its reached a sort of equilibrium.

It plays well in tune in the upper register. Right up to a double top C. It couldnt do that without the heavy caps as the sound was breaking up.

__________________
"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)