The Yellow Board

New Trumpets

Posted by Looking on 4/7/2021, 8:45 am

WW person here. Looking to buy a couple of new trumpets for our HS program with the intent to add to them next year as well. I have always been told Bach and Yamaha are pretty much the standard. I remember hearing about a period of time a few years back where Bachs were not producing very good horns. I wanted to know what the current feelings are on both of these trumpets.

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by DesertJazz on 4/8/2021, 9:48 pm, in reply to "New Trumpets"

We bought four of the Bach Artisans last fall. I love the tone the kids get with them, and they seem well built. We are having a huge problem with plating coming off of valves though! Bach is collecting them back through our rep - and I have full confidence they'll fix them. This goes along though with some of the inconsistencies I think I've heard about them developing. I still think tone wise it's a bit better for our program than the Xenos which are a lot brighter. I don't think you can go wrong with either though.

Unlike some other companies I do have faith Bach will make this right for us.

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by Vincent on 4/9/2021, 5:22 pm, in reply to "Re: New Trumpets"

Just bought a Bach Artisan 1B. LOVE. IT!

Not sure I would go this route for school though-too expensive for my school budget.

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by DesertJazz on 4/9/2021, 11:13 pm, in reply to "Re: New Trumpets"

Our district hadn't made a MAJOR investment in instruments in nearly twenty years going into this year. Most of our inventory was averaging about 1992 for age... It took me seven years of working at it, but I managed to get the school board to approve a $100k purchase this past fall. I figure we need another $160k to truly get us where we need to be, but I was quite pleased with their support. I originally only was ordering 3 (decent bid price), but Conn Selmer had a stimulus program last summer and we ended up with an extra one of those and and extra 8D horn for free.

These are only for my top kids and they're appropriately babying them! (Purchased 4 Sousas, 4 Horns, 4 Euphoniums, a nice pro Yamaha Bass clarinet down to low C, 2 Yamaha plastic bass clarinets, 2 Alto saxes, a tenor sax, and 3 concert tubas - truly Christmas!)

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by Stoopid Trumpet Player on 4/7/2021, 4:04 pm, in reply to "New Trumpets"

I have always been a Bach snob...my first trumpet was a 60s vintage Bach Strad. My current instrument is a 1985 Bach Strad Model 43; however,
when I arrived at my current position, there were several King Silver Flairs in the inventory. I was curious, so I played on one for about a week. Honestly, I was very impressed...free blowing without distortion, consistent tuning through out the range and good valve action for darn near half the price of top end Bach and Yamaha. That equals great for school in my book!

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by Trumpeter on 4/7/2021, 1:33 pm, in reply to "New Trumpets"

In my experience, you'll be able to buy three Yamaha Xeno trumpets for the price of two Bach Strads. That alone, to me, is why you should buy Yamaha.

Yamahas do play a tad bit more on the bright side (lighter/less dense metal) but they're a quality horn.

Bach did have a dip in quality in around 2005-2010, but the quality's nearly back up to where it was. Unfortunately, the price point has risen out of proportion to that quality point - you pay a lot more for a Strad than I think it's worth.

You can also look into getting a Getzen 900 series, but most of those have two-piece bells - they're not quite as resonant as the single-piece Strads or Yamahas, but they cost considerably less.

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by Warhawk on 4/7/2021, 12:55 pm, in reply to "New Trumpets"

Check out the Orion trumpet from the Bandwagon. It's a solid instrument.

https://www.thebandwagonmusicstore.com/

Re: New Trumpets

Posted by Happy on 4/7/2021, 12:01 pm, in reply to "New Trumpets"

I would still recommend both, but I would see if you can get someone who knows your band decently to play test them and give you some perspective on the current state of the instruments and how they will fit your ensemble.

I haven't done a lot of in depth testing on different trumpets and have mostly played on my Xeno and just stuck with it.

In general I have heard from other trumpet players that the tone quality between them is really the biggest thing they notice. Bach Strads tend to play brighter and a little more open than your Yamaha Xenos. The Xenos tend to have a darker tone and I personally find that partial changes tend to slot a little easier, but that's more of a personal preference and experience.

Either would still be a good addition to your inventory as long as they are taken care of.

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