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Thread: Baritone Buying Advice

  1. #11
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Varese,Italy
    Posts
    384
    Quote Originally Posted by bbocaner View Post

    The Sterling (not the JP-Sterling) is extremely good as well.
    I play on a JP Sterling 373 and rate it as excellent. It is true, however, that to make it playable I had to cut the tube legs of all the pistons ducts including the main one. The JP 273 is a cheaper version and could be an option, but it may need an intervention like the one I did, easily done even with the DIY.
    2007 Besson Prestige 2052, 3D+ K&G mouthpiece; JP373 baritone, 4B modified K&G mouthpiece; Bach 42GO trombone, T4C K&G mouthpiece; 1973 Besson New Standard 3 compensated valves, 3D+ K&G modified mouthpiece; Wessex French C tuba, 3D+ K&G modified mouthpiece.

  2. #12
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Location
    Sacramento, CA area
    Posts
    309
    Just wanted to check something with you Mp4G. When you say you are looking for a "baritone", do you mean that you are looking for a British style baritone, or an American style one? The American style are sometimes seen as a hybrid between a British style and a euphonium. When you say "brass band" I can't quite tell if you are looking for a specialized horn or not.

    If you are looking for the British style, Jin Bao makes an affordable, compensated, 3 valve (top); the JinBao JBBR1240. It is what I play. It blends in just fine with the Bessons and Yamahas in my group. It is the platform that Wessex and Schiller have customized their horns from. Yes it is a stencil, but why pay more for a big name to be engraved on the bell? JinBao did pick on some of the better names to clone their product from. If I remember right, JinBao also has some four valve baritones if you are sold on needing the fourth valve.

    My suggestion is to stick with a three valve compensator. If ever you actually need the fouth valve, you can ask your music director if they would rather have you play that particular part on the euphonium. Feel free to work with a used instrument unless your professional pride is what is driving the desire for a new one. If you have a thing about owning only new and top of the line, then by all means, scratch that itch. Since you are not the principle for this organization, there is no shame in being practical/pragmatic about which horn you acquire.

    If you and I were on the same coast (you in PA and me in CA), I would offer to let you test drive mine. So let me know if by some chance you are coming out my way. Otherwise, happy horn hunt. Be sure to show off whatever you end up getting here in the forum (smile).

    - Sara
    Baritone - 3 Valve, Compensating, JinBao JBBR1240

  3. #13
    It's my Besson in the classifieds. I went to Dillon's fully intending to buy the three valve compensating version, but the 4v was a significantly better instrument. Maybe the 3v Besson was a dog or the 4v was a particularly good one - I don't know. It also turned out the 4v felt very similar to my Besson euph, which was a plus for me.

    Steve Troy

  4. #14
    The way this thread has turned has made me think a "brass band" thread somewhere in the forum where we can talk about which bands we all play with, share performances, and generally nerd out on brass banding is a really fun idea.
    Sean Kissane
    Low Brass Specialist, Paige's Music
    Principal Euphonium, Indianapolis Brass Choir
    Principal Euphonium, Crossroads Brass Band

  5. #15
    The Neo seems to be comfortably better than the “classic” Besson Sovereign design which are riddled with intonation issues. The four valve versions are appalling - stuffy, horrendous intonation and seemingly semi-efficient divining rods - locating sources of gallons of water that can never actually be found.

    Any instrument that has a flat 2nd harmonic should be cast in the fires of Mount Doom.

    Interesting Yamaha used to make a cracking four valve non-compensating baridrone.
    Last edited by Magikarp; 06-26-2022 at 02:15 PM. Reason: Needless flippancy

  6. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2014
    Location
    NYC metro area
    Posts
    523
    Quote Originally Posted by Magikarp View Post
    [snip] Any instrument that has a flat 2nd harmonic should be cast in the fires of Mount Doom.
    Hah! Nice way of characterizing it. I'm curious about your reference to "2nd harmonic." Were you thinking 2nd partial? The fundamental on a euphonium is pedal Bb, and the second partial is Bb on the staff, one octave above that. I don't think I've every played an instrument with an out-of-tune 2nd partial.

    I do have a Getzen bass trumpet that has a 5th partial that's so flat I rejected using it to play Taps (I even tried fingering D 1-2 and 3 and couldn't get that note close enough).
    Dean L. Surkin
    Mack Brass MACK-EU1150S, BB1 mouthpiece
    Bach 36B trombone; Bach 6.5AL and Faxx 7C mouthpieces (pBone on loan to granddaughter)
    Steinway 1902 Model A, restored by AC Pianocraft in 1988; Kawai MP8, Yamaha KX-76
    See my avatar: Jazz (the black cockapoo; RIP) and Delilah (the cavapoo) keep me company while practicing

  7. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by dsurkin View Post
    Hah! Nice way of characterizing it. I'm curious about your reference to "2nd harmonic." Were you thinking 2nd partial? The fundamental on a euphonium is pedal Bb, and the second partial is Bb on the staff, one octave above that. I don't think I've every played an instrument with an out-of-tune 2nd partial.

    I do have a Getzen bass trumpet that has a 5th partial that's so flat I rejected using it to play Taps (I even tried fingering D 1-2 and 3 and couldn't get that note close enough).
    Yes. The fundamental never being used, or if it is, for effect only. Perhaps I should have said, every note out of tune in relation to second partial. It’s noticeable on the 3 valve compensators and horrendous on the 4 valve ones. Bessons generally have compressed octaves on euphoniums - sharp in the lower and flat in the higher - but the baritone horn is a totally different beast, especially the Sovereign models. Interestingly the Imperials and New Standards seem to be less prone, but are smaller bore and with a different sound concept. They’re more related to tenor / alto horns, and have a commensurately lighter sound. Trying to make them into mini-euphoniums has introduced needless intonation issues, but I’d guess that that’s a side effect of brass bands getting louder and louder.

    Luckily I don’t play the dog-horn any more, so it’s not an adjustment I have to make. A good baritone is a genuinely rare thing and a player who can blend seamlessly with the lighter sounding instruments is even rarer.
    Nowt

    Retired

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