Finally an Adams Owner

[Msan1313]

This past week I attended TMEA, and of course Adams was there. I met Miel Adams, and he ended up getting me a horn! I got an E1, .55 gauge, gold brass bell, with the sterling silver leadpipe. The second I played this one I knew that this was my horn, it outplayed everything else at the convention, and everyone I had listen to me was blown away by the difference between the way I sounded with my Willson.

I do have a couple questions for the other Adams guys though.

What am I looking for when it comes to the adjustable gap receiver? I've been messing around with the settings of the receiver and if I'm being honest I don't personally notice a huge difference. Am I looking for a sound quality change or an ease of playing change?

Does anyone feel like the Bonna case is a tight fit?

Has anyone experimented with switching the springs out for Mead or Yamaha springs?



Thanks everyone!

[John Morgan]

Congratulations on the new Adams, Marco!! It is gorgeous. I never get tired of looking at new Adams euphoniums. You are going to love it!!!!

As for the adjustable gap receiver, here are my observations and findings after having my Adams now going on a year (in May). If you make just a half turn or maybe even a whole turn one way or the other, you won't notice a whole lot of difference. To really see what is happening, I screwed the receiver all the way in and played a bit with that setting. Doing things like wide interval slurs and playing notes with wide intervals and leaps between them. Basically trying to land on the notes I was aiming for. I think you can call this slotting. Trying to land on notes at various dynamics and articulations. Then once you have a feel for the horn and receiver in the all in position, try screwing it out a whole bunch of turns, maybe 20. Here is where I really saw a difference, with the two extreme settings. Things could get sloppy and very hard to land on notes accurately. I think having the adjustable gap helps you find "YOUR" particular setting that works for you along with the mouthpiece that you use. I suspect I might have a little different setting if I used another mouthpiece(s). I talked with Dave Werden, who also plays the Adams (is an Adams Artist), too, and he and I both have the receiver in the range of 2-3 turns out from all in. That seems to be the "sweet" spot for me, and I think for Dave, too.

Now another thing, there are two different receivers that I know of, one is the nickel-silver that comes standard (I think that is still the case) and the other is a stainless steel receiver. I have both, and am now using the stainless steel receiver pretty much exclusively after long experiments with both. In truth, there is not very much difference in sound. There might be a little more difference in which receiver makes the player feel more secure.

As for the Marcus Bonna case, I have an E3 and it is fairly snug putting it in, but not overly. The E3 I think is a wee bit wider than the E1, so I would think yours would fit ok. I don't have any extra pads like Dave had in his for where the 4th valve goes. I think yours would be the same.

The sterling silver lead pipe is new to me. I did not know that Adams had that as an option, but I suppose being a custom maker, anything might be an option. Did Miel explain the reasoning behind the sterling silver lead pipe?

When I saw the springs, I was surprised at how "small" in diameter they looked. I thought these couldn't possibly do the job, but they have been just fine for me. I have not thought about switching them out as they seem to work just fine. I play some fast stuff, and I have no problem with them. I use Yamaha synthetic, I did not opt for the Monster oil that came with the Adams.

Anxious to hear your thoughts and experiences after playing it for a while.

Congrats again and welcome to the Adams family!!

[davewerden]

Congratulations, Marco! That is a lovely instrument and I'm sure you'll enjoy it more each day.

John responded to your questions and was very accurate from my point of view. One thing I can add is info on the fit of an E1 in the Bonna case. I would certainly call it a snug fit. As John says, there are extra pads on the 4th-valve side of the case. Those combined with the generous padding on the bottom of the shell hug their horn pretty good. I need push down slightly to "seat" the horn in the case in order to close the case easily. That might get easier over time, but I use the Bonna case so seldom that it is not really broken in yet.

I switched out the factory springs for a special Mead combination. On the normal set the 1st spring is too stiff for me these days, so I purchased 2 sets. That gives me enough springs that I can use the #2 or #3 springs on all 3 main valves, which I find just about perfect. They make a lighter set that I have not tried in their current form.

When I was at ITEC 2014 I met Koichiro Suzuki from the River City Brass. He purchased a display horn that is identical to yours except without the sterling silver leadpipe. I had played that a bunch at the show and it was a sweet horn! And Koichiro sounds great on his. Below is a photo of him with his new horn at the time. Seeing that horn made me really start to like the finish combination on that one!



Here is his Facebook page, in case you want to connect:
https://www.facebook.com/koichiro.suzuki.169

[daniel76309]

Congrats on the new horn, it looks awesome! I am also intrigued by the silver lead pipe. I can add a little something on springs... I found the springs a little "light" so I carefully stretched them all such that at rest they are about 1/8" longer. This in effect increases the spring rate since they are more compressed. Being me I just did it, but Aaron Hunt at Adams later reassured me that this is ok to do. If you are concerned about messing them up, an option would be to get a second set from Adams before you try it.

[bbocaner]

sterling lead pipe! Neat... I have some sterling leadpipes for my trombones, I like what they do.

Yes, the case is a tight fit for sure.

[JakeGuilbo]

Congrats! I really liked my E1 .55 Gold Brass horn - it's a very sweet sounding horn!

[Msan1313]

The Sterling lead pipe is what made the horn for me! I didn't know anything about it at the time, and when I went through the horns at the booth this one felt the most live and vibrant to me. Miel said the lead pipe makes it have more projection to the sound but can make it a little brighter so that's why it's only done on the gold and red brass bells. The equal horn without the pipe to me was not even a comparison, mine just had so much more life that pushed me over to buying the horn.

[euphony]

I know the feeling of finding a new favorite horn. I attended TMEA as well and the Sterling Virtuoso at the DF Music booth completely destroyed everything else in terms of warmth of sound, evenness of response, and ergonomics. The Adams horns were very nice as well but I found the valves not to my liking and the sound wasn't quite to my tastes (though still very good). The Sterling had a few notes that were a little sharp but the trigger was very comfortable and slick. Sadly I can't afford a high end horn at the moment but it's still a relatable feeling.

[Msan1313]

I know the feeling of finding a new favorite horn. I attended TMEA as well and the Sterling Virtuoso at the DF Music booth completely destroyed everything else in terms of warmth of sound, evenness of response, and ergonomics.

That wasn't even the top of the line Virtuoso! That was the baseline with gold valve caps on it. For me actually that was my second choice horn at the event.

[davewerden]

That wasn't even the top of the line Virtuoso! That was the baseline with gold valve caps on it. For me actually that was my second choice horn at the event.

Can you clarify that? I thought the Virtuoso was the Virtuoso, but with different trim options of course. It what you mean? Many of the trim options on horns won't make them play better, despite the bling factor they bring. But options like metal material/weight would matter.

[Msan1313]

Sorry, at the booth they told me it was just the Virtuoso I without the red brass or heavy caps. Just a plain yellow brass bell virtuoso.

[davewerden]

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks. So it would have still shown the fine playing qualities of the Virtuoso line. The bell and heavy caps would change the horn, but the standard model is fully a Virtuoso.

[euphony]

It did have a heavy bottom 4th valve cap if I remember correctly, which helped a little with weight balance and probably did something for response (though I'm no expert!)

[Msan1313]

I've had the horn for about a month now and I wanted to share somethings about the horn.

As of now I finally got the valves exactly where I want them, I did make the switch to Yamaha Synthetic but the local store didn't have any this past week so I ended up getting Hetman's. For the first 2 weeks I cleaned and oiled the pistons everyday, and I switched to every two days.

As for the slides, I wasn't satisfied with the Monster grease from the start and using Hetman's 7 I have found it to work optimally.

Tuning wise I think the only note that has severely stuck out to me is the C right above the bass staf. I find it to be quite a bit sharp as usual but lipping it is not a problem.

Playing wise I am still in love with the way this horn plays. It's always so much of a joy to pick up this horn and play. Through the entire range I've developed a very comfortable response and tone. Anything below the pedal Db doesn't speak as well, which isn't a crazy common note, but I have just found it for me personally to be the breaking point. The response is by far the most impressive thing about this horn. It responds instantly on any note and slots extremely well.

An interesting thing I have decided to go for, is ordering a set of slides without spit valves. I have never really used spit valves on any horn always opting to pull the slide and dump out the spit, just because it's the most effective way to fully empty. Also for some reason the keys kept getting stuck to my clothing and i got worried about one of them getting pulled off. I'll post pictures once I get them in.

[Msan1313]

I have finally received my new slides from Adams that remove the spit valves, and I think for me the instrument is as much as a match for me as one can get! I don't understand it but after doing a blind test today where a friend changed out the slides I was able to pick the spit valveless set everytime. For some reason it feels like the horn vibrate much more on the set of slides without the spit valves. I am highly pleased with the change for the instrument. Adams also sent me a stainless steel receiver that I have put into use. To me personally I feel like the change is very minimal but the major thing I have noticed is my mouthpiece gets in and out much easier, so that's a plus. They also sent me a "medium bore reciever" I don't know what they meant it as but for me it converts the horn to small shank. I would love to get a medium shank receiver though and try it out. As far as the way the small shank plays, it plays much smaller and focused, but a little too focused for me, so I'm sticking to large shank.





Leadpipes (Stainless, "Small Shank", Large Shank)