I should say, or lack of a 4th valve lock.
I've had my Adams E2 for 5 years now and it's the best horn I've ever played, bar none. It's beefy enough, but not too beefy like my Sterling Virtuoso was. I don't need the tuning slide trigger, as the 6th partial problem inherent with the large bore Bessons and similar instruments just isn't there. It sings sweetly and it has plenty of presence.
But one thing that I utterly failed to do when Adams built my E2 (it was a custom horn because I had to have them cut it down about a semi-tone as I routinely play flat on both the Adams and Sterling horns -- don't ask me why) is specify to have them install a 4th valve lock. I understand why Miel Adams doesn't prefer the lock, but I just don't agree with that philosophy. While I NEVER put my horn down on its bell, having a protrusion like a 4th valve is an invitation to disaster if it should fall over -- and having to have a broken 4th valve repaired is not my idea of an inexpensive repair.
Up till now I have only used the Marcus Bonna hard case when schlepping the Adams. That case does a great job protecting the horn, but it's a hard case and even though it has backstraps, I have never liked that case. Just too bulky and, well, it's a hard case. Not fond of zippers on hard cases either as those will eventually fail, but all that is secondary for this post.
I've had another conversation on a separate thread regarding gig bags at the link and since I am/was in the market for a gig bag to begin with, I thought I'd link to it here.
http://www.dwerden.com/forum/showthr...510#post164510
The upshot is, I took my horn to Independent Music Service in the Sherwood, AR area - for my money, the only place to go to have horns worked on in my area - and talked with Robert.
He's going to order a Willson 4th valve lock and mount it to the 4th valve itself, rather than the outside bow as is customary on Bessons. Soldering that on will screw up the silver plating on the horn some, but that is a small price to pay to be able to have that 4th valve locked down when in the gig bag or just in general -- otherwise it's an accident waiting to happen.