Finally tried an adams

[bbocaner]

I haven't tried this combination, but one of the disadvantages of having so many customization options is that some of the combinations just don't work very well. And it's not always intuitive. For example, you may find that you really like a heavy red bell on an E1 and you may find that you really like the E3 you tried with a light yellow bell, but when you order an E3 with a heavy red bell and it actually gets made you may find it to be a disappointment. (hypothetical scenario -- I haven't tried that particular combination myself)

[davewerden]

I haven't tried this combination, but one of the disadvantages of having so many customization options is that some of the combinations just don't work very well. And it's not always intuitive. For example, you may find that you really like a heavy red bell on an E1 and you may find that you really like the E3 you tried with a light yellow bell, but when you order an E3 with a heavy red bell and it actually gets made you may find it to be a disappointment. (hypothetical scenario -- I haven't tried that particular combination myself)

Good observation. I might opine, though, that working very well or not very well may still be mostly dependent on the player's needs. I have not yet tried every combination of Adams, but I have tried a bunch, and thought they might all be good for someone, but only about a third of them really seemed to fit me well. And one of the biggest surprises was a .50" red brass horn that was a real honey! If I were doing only small ensembles and recitals, I might have gone that way because it was so rewarding to play.

About 40 years ago I had a conversation with Brian Bowman about mouthpieces. He explained that one of the things he liked about the model he was just trying (which was a 51D or something close that he had made), was that it had a narrower rim, which helped endurance, but made up for the expected lost tone of a narrow rim by having a deeper cup. (By "narrow rim" I mean the distance across the hole, not the thickness of the rim's surface.) Anyway, it's similar with horn options, I suppose. The 51D has never seemed right for me in a few ways, but it has clearly satisfied a large number of players.

[TheJH]

regarding tuning in Europe, here in the Netherlands we tune pretty much most of the time on A=440, sometimes on A=441 and rarely on A=442, but the latter is sometimes done to be in tune with for example the glockenspiel if it is tuned to that.

[davewerden]

For those who can visit the Adams booth at ITEC in Knoxville, here is what I know about the horns that will be available to test:

http://www.dwerden.com/forum/showthr...-2016?p=135226

[miketeachesclass]

For those who can visit the Adams booth at ITEC in Knoxville, here is what I know about the horns that will be available to test:

http://www.dwerden.com/forum/showthr...-2016?p=135226

Dave, that's awesome.

Also, interesting that the short action valves are still in prototype. That may account for some of the weirdness I experienced with the horn I tried.