Adams E1 with a gold brass bell

[Alex]

This is the first reference I've seen to Adams euphonium mouthpieces. What are the specs?

Good question. I went on a Google Search and came up with nothing. I'll ask Eric over at Austin Custom Brass. They have an Adams1,2,and 3 mouthpiece. I tried all three and compared them to what I was using. Ended up with the Adams 1. Very happy with it.

[John Morgan]

Good question. I went on a Google Search and came up with nothing. I'll ask Eric over at Austin Custom Brass. They have an Adams1,2,and 3 mouthpiece. I tried all three and compared them to what I was using. Ended up with the Adams 1. Very happy with it.

There aren't Adams 1, 2, and 3 mouthpieces. Austin Custom Brass sells mouthpieces labelled 1, 2, and 3. They are Austin Custom Brass branded mouthpieces, not Adams mouthpieces. Unless I am totally mistaken, which I haven't been for at least 40 years or so (ha-ha).

[NLeuph]

I tend to find one that makes playing easier and stick with that.

Doug

That is a good policy if you ask me. Way too much temptation these days :-)

[Alex]

There aren't Adams 1, 2, and 3 mouthpieces. Austin Custom Brass sells mouthpieces labelled 1, 2, and 3. They are Austin Custom Brass branded mouthpieces, not Adams mouthpieces. Unless I am totally mistaken, which I haven't been for at least 40 years or so (ha-ha).

Good to know! I like it very much.

[bbocaner]

Having tried hundreds if not thousands of different combinations of trombones, and owned dozens of bells in all alloys, gold brass is my least favorite. I find it makes little to no difference in sound to the audience, even if the player perceives a difference. And it does make a fairly big difference in feel, where it can be perceived by the player to be "fuzzy" or "stuffy" and to have softer articulations than yellow brass or red brass. I believe it makes even less difference on euphonium, but that idea is hard to test because almost zero euphoniums have been made in a modular fashion where you can swap bells in and out. I do like gold brass sometimes in the main tuning slide or leadpipe for trombone, as it can provide protection against red rot and can balance out an instrument with fine tuning of the feel without the disadvantages of having a bell in that material.

Oddly enough, I find sterling silver to have many of the same negatives as gold brass, although I do like what sterling silver does at higher volumes.

[ACBEric]

Hi Doug, and everyone in this thread, Eric from Austin Custom Brass here. I just wanted to chime in for a second - just to clear up any confusion for anyone else. I am pretty sure the piece that Doug is referring to is not an Adams 1 mouthpiece but actually an Austin Custom Brass mouthpiece. I can understand calling it an Adams though. The connection is natural. Doug actually was one of the first people to buy an ACB Euphonium 1 mouthpiece (before it they were officially available).

I am not going to chime in on the euphonium since I work for the shop selling it.

(But I do think Doug sounds very nice on the ACB Euphonium 1!)

Eric