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Thread: Heavy bottom caps

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Indianapolis area
    Posts
    1,003
    Well, I've had the thing for a few days, but I'm loath to make any conclusions...

    *My practice basement isn't exactly an acoustic paradise. There's only a few feet
    from the bell to the drop ceiling when I'm sitting, and the bell is right near the drop
    ceiling when I stand.

    *Since all my ensembles are on hiatus, I have no way to evaluate the cap as part of
    a euphonium section or as a soloist. Additionally, all my ensembles rehearse in a more
    reverberant space than my basement.

    *Only my ears are listening. I've tried to solve this problem, but listening to me play seems
    to produce a strong desire for social distancing.

    *I do feel a bit of difference that I would describe as "more focused" or "more direct."
    I tried it on all four valves--hard to tell if it produced any difference on 1, 2, or 3.

    *I'm not feeling any issues with springs, though other reliable sources report issues.
    Mike or Chrissie, could you please give us the email for this fellow Chris?

    *I'm not sure, however, whether introducing a rubber spacing washer would reduce/defeat the intent of the cap.

    *So I'm gonna keep it for now until I have a chance to play in a group with other euph players in a bigger space.
    If it doesn't work for me, I'll sell it to someone for whom it may well work.

    *As I mentioned earlier, buying a euphonium from a vendor is like buying a suit off the rack. Both may well need some
    alteration to fit the owner better, though some owners are perfectly content with the suit/euph off the rack. I couldn't
    leave a suit or a euphonium well enough alone.
    Jim Williams N9EJR (love 10 meter CW)
    Formerly Principal Euphonium in a whole
    bunch of groups, now just a schlub.
    Shires Q41, Yamaha 321, 621 Baritone
    Wick 4AL, Wessex 4Y, or whatever I grab.
    Conn 50H trombone, Blue P-bone
    www.soundcloud.com/jweuph

  2. #32
    I can't draw any conclusions from my experience so far too! But will be having sectionals in the coming weekend, so maybe I will have a chance to get a better feel.

    The way to contact Chris would be via their website (there's a phone number there too!)

    https://heavybottomcaps.co.uk/contact

    or via their Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/Heavy-Botto...6059807750596/

    He did acknowledge that the extra space probably isn't that suited for Yamaha horns, and he offered to send a spacer to me to rectify it. So I will wait for it to arrive and see if it works better!
    "Never over complicate things. Accept "bad" days. Always enjoy yourself when playing, love the sound we can make on our instruments (because that's why we all started playing the Euph)"

    Euph: Yamaha 642II Neo - 千歌音
    Mouthpiece: K&G 4D, Denis Wick 5AL

    https://soundcloud.com/ashsparkle_chika
    https://www.youtube.com/user/AshTSparkle/

  3. Hello everyone,

    I have been testing and using a Heavy Bottom 4th Valve Cap from Heavy Bottom Caps for a few weeks on my Besson Prestige Euphonium. There is a slight difference in terms of security, I feel that the area around the 4th valve is quite an open space and by adding mass to that area it creates a more stabalised feeling in that area. I should say that I have always used Heavy Valve Caps when I played on a Sterling Virtuoso Euphonium and they made quite a difference.

    I made a short video exploring this new Heavy Bottom Valve Cap which you can view on my YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03l6iRaIKFY.

    Many Thanks,

    Micah Dominic Parsons

  4. #34
    Hello everyone, Chris from HBC Heavy Bottom Caps here. The one month without obligation approval is proving very successful and thank you to everyone who is trying one. We'll send everyone a 10mm Spacer this week so these can be tested with the 4th HBC and we're happy to extend the trial period for another month so everyone hopefully gets that chance to do some ensemble playing too. We're here to help so please let us know f there is anything we can do. All the best, Chris

  5. #35
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Indianapolis area
    Posts
    1,003
    Thank you, Chris!
    I'll look forward to receiving mine--
    I'm in your system under my pseudonym, Jim Williams.
    Jim Williams N9EJR (love 10 meter CW)
    Formerly Principal Euphonium in a whole
    bunch of groups, now just a schlub.
    Shires Q41, Yamaha 321, 621 Baritone
    Wick 4AL, Wessex 4Y, or whatever I grab.
    Conn 50H trombone, Blue P-bone
    www.soundcloud.com/jweuph

  6. Hi all,

    I just thought I'd mention that the normal heavy bottom cap for the Sterling euph is QUITE heavy. I have two of these, one on my Adams and one on my Sterling. In addition, I have three heavy 1-2-3 caps that are about 1/2 the weight of the 4th valve caps. I do NOT use these on the 1-2-3 valves since they deaden the horn too much. I am going to keep 2 of the 3 to use as alternate caps for my 4th valves. If anyone has a Sterling, Adams, or any other Bauerfeind valve equipped horn such as a Hirschbrunner and some variations of Willson, I would be amenable to selling on of my 1/2 weight caps. These caps are gold plated (very good plating) and the weight is solid brass with a small hole drilled through it.
    Adams E3 0.60 Sterling bell - Prototype top sprung valves
    Concord Band
    Winchendon Winds
    Townsend Military Band

  7. #37
    In the post across The Pond Jim! Looking forward to your thoughts and comments. Blighty cheers, Chris

  8. #38
    Thank you for the spacer, Chris. Looking forward to it. And good to see you in this forum!
    "Never over complicate things. Accept "bad" days. Always enjoy yourself when playing, love the sound we can make on our instruments (because that's why we all started playing the Euph)"

    Euph: Yamaha 642II Neo - 千歌音
    Mouthpiece: K&G 4D, Denis Wick 5AL

    https://soundcloud.com/ashsparkle_chika
    https://www.youtube.com/user/AshTSparkle/

  9. Sterling Heavyweight caps

    Quote Originally Posted by daruby View Post
    Hi all,

    I just thought I'd mention that the normal heavy bottom cap for the Sterling euph is QUITE heavy. I have two of these, one on my Adams and one on my Sterling. In addition, I have three heavy 1-2-3 caps that are about 1/2 the weight of the 4th valve caps. I do NOT use these on the 1-2-3 valves since they deaden the horn too much. I am going to keep 2 of the 3 to use as alternate caps for my 4th valves. If anyone has a Sterling, Adams, or any other Bauerfeind valve equipped horn such as a Hirschbrunner and some variations of Willson, I would be amenable to selling one of my 1/2 weight caps. These caps are gold plated (very good plating) and the weight is solid brass with a small hole drilled through it.
    Interesting that Charley Brighton just posted on his Facebook page about using a bespoke HBC 1/2 weight/size 4th valve bottom cap on his Willson. I am attaching pictures of the Bauerrfeind/Sterling caps from my Virtuoso below. These are also compatible with Adams, Willson and Hirschbrunner. I confirmed Willson compatability with Charley earlier today.

    I will do some experimentation with the 1/2 weight caps vs full weight caps on both my Virtuoso and my E3 to see what comparisons I can make.

    Doug
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails 20200723_142250.jpg   20200723_142238.jpg  
    Last edited by daruby; 07-23-2020 at 04:00 PM.
    Adams E3 0.60 Sterling bell - Prototype top sprung valves
    Concord Band
    Winchendon Winds
    Townsend Military Band

  10. #40
    Yes, in our tests any extra mass on the 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd valve casings, no matter how pro-rata by way of whole-tone, semi-tone and tone-and-a-half produced a negative effect/diminishing returns. It was only the 4th valve casing where extra mass proved to be so very beneficial.

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