Originally Posted by
John Morgan
Hmm, I responded to this yesterday, Sam, and it disappeared. I owned an M5050 for 3 years about 6 years ago. It was the best horn I ever owned, except for the Adams E3 that I now have. I played the beejeebers out of that horn and used it to perform Ferdinand David's Trombone Concertino with a symphony I play in. I rewrote the cadenza in that piece, and it included a part that went down to low Eb below the staff and then an octave lower than that. Using 1st and 4th valves. No problem. And it was loud! I always used the 4th valve when playing the concert C in the staff. No problem with it sounding, and even very little difference in the character of the tone/timbre when using 4th valve on the C.
I used the Demondrae Warburton mouthpiece which came with the horn, and use that same mouthpiece to this day with all euphoniums I play except my B&H Imperial which has a different sized shank. BTW, the M5050 has the very best high concert B natural of any horn I have played. My Adams is good, but not as good as the M5050. I only moved to the Adams E3 because I was a former smoker, and my lungs are not in tip top shape. The M5050 being a very big horn took more wind than other euphoniums. So, now the Adams E3, my keeper for life horn. But I could have been happy with the M5050 for life, too, if it wasn't for my wind deficiency.
So, I did not have any problem with the 4th valve, sound, dynamics, tone, etc. at all. This makes me wonder about the mouthpiece you use (I doubt that is the issue); is there possibly anything stuck or inside of the 4th valve circuit (run a snake through the tuning slide and through as much of the circuit as you can; is there something loose or unsoldered in that section; or is there something loose or unsoldered somewhere else on the horn that resonates or reacts when the 4th valve is being used? I suppose you have probably checked all those. If you are anywhere near Demondrae, it would almost solve the issue if he got a chance to put his glorious chops on it. I also thought about valve alignment issues. Are you SURE about this one? You mention some techs saw no issues here. How did they check it?
If there is a good euphonium player where you live, perhaps let him give it a try with his own mouthpiece. This is truly curious to me. If I do nothing else, I can really put a blow on a horn (albeit a shorter in length blow because of my diminished lungs), but nonetheless, I big sound for a period of time. And I did on the M5050 and never had any problems with it breaking up whatsoever.
Good luck in your search. If you do end up with an Adams, you will have picked what I consider to be the very best euphonium, at least that is the way I feel about mine. But the M5050 is also a very, very awesome horn. I hope you get it figured out.