ewetho

Well I just went on my own personal safari and got to try several horns I have always wanted to try and some just for kicks while I was there.

I tried a
Conn Vintage One
Yamaha Xeno 8335RGS
Bach 180S37
Benge 3X
Schilke B1
Taylor something or other (apparently they have WWBW models).

Well Except for the Vintage One which seemed to have a bit richer sound (And we are parsing very closely), they all just sounded like me. My wife plays Flute and picked the Vintage One like I did for richness but overall changing from a 1B, to a 1C and then a 1D mouthpiece was a bigger change than the horn. They had a Benge on closeout for $500 so I got that. Why bother. My horn safari just went up in smoke. Lost all interest.

I was always Jones'n over a Xeno or Schilke and well WHO CARES!!!

My tone which is much better over student horns (especially down under the staff) was just better on all of them but NOT over each other really. I mean the pro stuff holds together much better at volume and if what my old horn could hold was fff I now play fffff. The step up is bigger than I imagined but the competition is truly tight. They have all these options but that just seems to be it options. Get what you like and tailor your sound to you genre with practice, approach and careful, thoughtful changes to your mouthpiece design and forget about it. My wife could not tell them apart. Honestly if I ever get the need to get another I will just pick a name out of a hat or get what is on sale and worry about tailoring sound a bit with the mouthpiece and just keep practicing. It was Very and I mean VERY anti-climatic. A real let down.

Unless you are a real PRO, when your student model hold you back just get a name brand Pro horn and forget about it and PLAY. I mean really how can you play all these horns and it just does not change, sure they feel a touch different here and their but I mean I could not hear a difference. I can pick out each guy on the line by sound and when I play all these pro horns it all just sound the same. Very good but the SAME. Standard weight versus Heavy Weight and a Gold brass bell versus Yellow. All played sweet and mellow when I wanted and load and sonorous when called and when pushes could light up the room with ease but a difference???

Was talking to the counter person and said the longer he had been there the better he gets at ID'ing regulars by THEIR sound not the horn, Guitar, or drum the play.


Maybe in a couple years after playing my new AXE I will be able to tell something but will anyone else( audience members ) be able too??? I's say a well played anyone of them will do just fine in the hands of a real pro and you'd be hard pressed to tell on a CD! The pro may hate portions of how it feels at times but could you tell?

Sorry about all of this but can someone shed some light cause I feel like I missed something!!!

Richard Oliver

I know how you feel.

Thanks for posting. There's plenty who "can and do" detect the differences. There's a ton who cannot in the sense the "can and do" group can. I'm largely in the latter group.

Enjoy the dickens out of your NEW Benge!

P.S. Now, should you want, you have a nice little batch-o-cash to spend on lessons, mouthpieces, take wifey to a nice dinner, concert tickets, you name it. :)

ewetho

Nope she got a Yamaha Flute that sounded much fuller and had much better resonance than the next two models up and better than several other brands she tried. Was like a WOW moment for flutes. Closest I cam was like wow maybe, on a Conn.

But I know the feeling your we conveying.

And to your other points Sure they may feel a touch different but can we hear it on the other end??? I am not so sure.

johnmarkpainter

I told myself for years that as long as I had a 'good' horn that was all that mattered.

Well....

I can say with confidence that all of my horns sound VERY different from each other. But they are built very differently
So...Horn choice does in fact matter.
I do a lot of recording and the differences (and LACK thereof) become much more obvious when you aren't playing.

Periodically you should re-evaluate your Instruments and your tonal goals and just make sure that the Horn isn't fighting you.

jmp

ozboy

I can see where you are coming from. I think you need to explore and get to know a horn to get the best out of it. I have been playing about 36 years. I play commercial music predominately doing Jazz gigs. I play one horn. If I was playing different styles, I could understand the need to have a couple of horns. I am amazed when I look at this site that there are horn players with a heap of horns. I'd prefer to get to know one.

rowuk

ewetho,
I think a lot of players make a bigger deal out of this than is necessary.
If you want to hear the differences, you need to play in an environment where those differences would be obvious (a big, good sounding concert hall for instance). More important is how it plays. If you feel at home and comfortable with it, then it is good. There is nothing wrong with a good Benge, Bach, Yamaha or any other brand - except to the brand-prejudiced(and they only count if they are your professor or the section leader of a group that you want to play with!)!

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