johnmarkpainter

I've been experimenting with a heavy early 50's Olds Ambassador a lot lately.
Stock, it already slots tighter than my early 80's Yamaha.

I've added Harrelson Trim kits and now a Harrelson sleeved mouthpiece.
I love the way the notes sit now and fast scales are MUCH cleaner with nice definition between notes that doesn't happen in the same way on my other horns.

NOW...I can still bend notes just fine on the Olds, but doing "shakes" is really different. On a high C for instance, I now get a pretty clean C to D Trill.

jmp

Harold Zinno

I am confused, I see the mention of the Olds Ambassador frequently on these sites. I thought it was a student line instrument.

Dale Proctor

It is....

As far as slotting goes, I love a tight-slotting horn for most of the playing I do. Of course, that's assuming that the notes slot in tune! It's confidence inspiring when you play a note and it's instantly dead center on pitch. This allows you to concentrate more on phrasing , tone, and musicality as you play.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

johnmarkpainter

Maybe I have the best Ambassador ever...but I doubt it
I'm sure someone can chime in with a venerable list of Jazz legends that played them

It plays and sounds better than my 'pro' horns which are a Yamaha 737 and a very average '90 Bach Strad mod 37.

Sometime i would like to play it next to a modern boutique horn, but other than the lack of a first valve slide (which can be added) this horn rocks.

Funny thing is, it doesn't need the 1st slide as much as the yamaha.

Dale Proctor

I think the Ambassador debate boils down to personal preference. I've owned two nice ones - a '49 and a '54 - and I sold them both. For me, they couldn't hold a candle to any of the Bachs or vintage pro Conns I own. One person's junk is another person's treasure.

__________________
"Brass bands are all very well in their place - outdoors and several miles away." - Sir Thomas Beecham

Olde Towne Brass
www.otbrass.com

Brass Band of Huntsville
www.brassbandofhuntsville.org

VetPsychWars

It was designed in an era when the first vavle slide was a little longer and you were supposed to lip up the notes that were flat.

That's the way I learned to play so I doubt I would like a modern horn.

Tom

rowuk

If the horn does everything that you want, then nothing is too much. You may find that your audience hears something MUCH different than you do - especially on a pimped ax.

__________________
Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

johnmarkpainter

Yes...

I've been making it a point to record myself rather than base it on what I hear while I play. I always wondered why my Yamaha sounded dull on record as it seems so edgy when you are playing.

The Heavy Olds has a really nice high frequency response that is smooth. Much in the way that Thicker old Cymbals do.

The Yamaha is engineered to CUT through a large group...all edge without the open high frequs or the low end body.
It is the same when it is played loud or soft.
It is a sound that I heard a lot from a prominent 80's yamaha endorsee that gets mentioned a lot around here.

The Bach Strad sits in the middle tone-wise between the Olds and the Yamaha.