Used Euphonium for a student going to college next year

[rgorscak]

A student from a local high school who plays in our community band is going to college next year and needs to get a Euphonium (he uses the high school one now). He saw an O'Malley 4 valve compensating one on the internet and asked me what I thought of it. Bidding starts at 999 and buy it now is 1300. New ones actually go for 1400 to 1700. I am not qualified to give advice on what to buy, especially used and at his price range from 1000 to 2000. Has anyone heard of this brand? Any suggestions on what he might look at? I tell him to join the forum, but he still has not done so. He is a high school senior going to music school at UCF in Florida in the fall. I did look at the pictures and it looks like new. I just want to try to help him out. I told him I would seek advice on the forum

[rgorscak]

deleted response to my own post

[bayoung36]

I’m not personally familiar with that brand, however he should contact his professor at the university. What might be a better option depending is to use one of the school instruments. Of course it depends on what they have and the condition. The best thing is to have him contact his professor to see what they recommend!

[aroberts781]

I'm happy to weigh in, please take my opinions with a grain of salt. I do not make a living with music but played through college and still enjoy playing as much as I can.

I've never heard of O'Malley. They may be ok horns, but I have no idea. For 1,000 to 2,000 I would go pretty cheap and get a Schiller Elite in lacquer for $885 plus shipping, or go nicer and get a Wessex Dolce in lacquer for $1,695 plus shipping. Both have been around for a while and one of them, the Wessex, gets high praise in this forum. I have played several Wessexes at the Chicago showroom and they are nice. I played a Schiller from 2014 up until this past December when I purchased a New Standard. The Schiller served me well for those seven years.

Lots more that could be said but I will try to keep it succinct!

[aroberts781]

I’m not personally familiar with that brand, however he should contact his professor at the university. What might be a better option depending is to use one of the school instruments. Of course it depends on what they have and the condition. The best thing is to have him contact his professor to see what they recommend!

I agree with bayoung36 as well. When I was in college I played a school Yamaha. I believe at was a 641, but could've been a 642, I'm not totally sure and at the time didn't really care one way or the other. So, if buying right now is a must then I stand by my recommendations, but a school horn is definitely a possibility, and could buy time to save for a more "pro" horn.

[aroberts781]

And apologies to the OP that I totally missed the request for info on used instruments. In that price range, my sense is that a new Chinese-made horn is probably better than most if not all used 4-valve compensating euphoniums. I think that in that price range the non-compensating Yamaha YEP321 and the King 2280 are good horns that both have their merits and fans, but for most music that a college student will be playing, especially a music major, I think you would need a 4-valve compensating horn. I purchased a 3-valve compensating Besson New Standard in that price range, which is great and I love it for what I play now, but again for college I think the 4th valve would be important.

I have never really been in the market for a horn over $2,000, but my sense, and the quick eBay search I just did to confirm, is that for closer to somewhere in the $3,000 to $4,000 range you could get into some used Yamaha horns that would probably be pretty good, and then to get into the other brands you would read about on this forum, even used, is probably pushing into the $4,000+ range.

Hope some of that helps!

[John Morgan]

If his budget is 1-2K, I would simply purchase a Wessex or Austin Doubler and end up getting a new, 4-valve, compensating euphonium.

[rgorscak]

Thx to everyone and John who i recently met