Can someone please explain the difference between a compensating and non compensating instrument? I'm looking to buy and I feel as though this is important.
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compensating and non compensating
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Welcome to the forum!
This is such a common question that I wrote an article explaining it, and then added a "Flash" demo that makes it even easier to visualize. Go to the link below and either read the article there or click on the valve-system icon near the top of the page for the visual version:
http://www.dwerden.com/eu-articles-comp.cfm
If you don't want/need to play below E on the first ledger line below the bass clef staff, then the compensating system doesn't do much. Some band music goes lower than that, and a lot of solo literature does. In those cases you would find the compensating system handy. The Eb just below is not easy to play in tune without slide pulling on a non-comp 4-valve horn (14 is sharp and 124 is flat). But D, Db, and C are OK with 234, 134, and 1234. B is not "there" on a non-comp horn (and even on a compensating horn it is sharp). A compensating horn is heavier, all things being equal, and almost all of them have a left-hand 4th valve.Dave Werden (ASCAP)
Euphonium Soloist, U.S. Coast Guard Band, retired
Adams Artist (Adams E3)
Alliance Mouthpiece DC3, Wick 4AL, Wick 4ABL
YouTube: dwerden
Facebook: davewerden
Twitter: davewerden
Instagram: davewerdeneuphonium
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Note that some of Dave's illustrations are for a THREE-valve compensating system, and some of them are for a FOUR-valve compensating system. The 3-valve compensating systems are relatively uncommon now, and while they provide intonation advantages, the don't provide the same advantages of the 4-valve system that Dave describes above.Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)
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