9-foot B-flat valved brass: flugabones/valve trombones/baritones/euphoniums

[bloke]

Whatcha got?

pictures/videos encouraged

Chinese welcomed

Franken honored

8-foot C tolerated

[Kevbach33]

Just one: JP274MKII euphonium. I just got this earlier this month.

No images since I'm too lazy to fiddle around with them on a site where I need to remember another password and user alias.

[arpthark]

Not too much to offer, but:

- Jin Bao / Schiller compensating euph:



- Borrowed King double bell euph, ca. 1910s:



The Schiller does all that I need it to, and for a doubler's instrument for less than a thousand bucks, it's great. It plays in tune, the valves are fast, and it sounds like a euphonium.

My favorite gig for which I regularly got paid to play the euphonium: playing in the back of a mule-drawn wagon in a parade at the Great American Brass Band Festival in Danville, KY.

[PlayTheTuba]

Well someone was kind enough to give me their broken plastic Euphonium. I am hoping that the lead pipe can be removed from the valve block... Otherwise it will become much harder to get this horn playable again. I can work something out for the missing stems and spit valves.

Plastic Euphonium Picture.png (197.14 KiB) Viewed 1902 times

[LeMark]

Someday I'll line up my 4 euphoniums for a family portrait.

oh yeah, I also have a british style baritone

5 different countries of origin

[Finetales]

Currently:

- 2007 Sterling Virtuoso euphonium (rimless bell!)
- Jin Bao JBBR-1240 British-style baritone horn (which plays spectacularly well)
- Josef Lidl 3-valve rotary bass trumpet
- 1984 King 1130 flugabone (somehow, this beat up ex-school horn that I got for $67 is the one I gig with the most by far out of these)
- 1930 Conn 8E ballad horn (can be in 8' C or 9' Bb)

Not 9' Bb but functionally the same:

- 1905-1931 (based on the bell engraving) Pelisson 4-valve bass saxhorn in C
- Kanstul 190 3-valve baritone bugle in G

9' Bb but functionally different:

- the Bb side of my 1971 Holton H178 double horn

Pictures:


Top row L-R: Lidl bass trumpet, Jin Bao baritone horn, Pelisson C bass saxhorn, Sterling Virtuoso euphonium
Middle row L-R: Kanstul 190 G baritone bugle, Schiller Bb marching horn (which would also technically count if I still owned it), and other instruments that don't qualify for this thread!


The Conn 8E ballad horn

Things left to maybe get at some point:

- A good trombonium
- An Olds/Bach/Blessing flugabone to compare with the King
- A good Bb marching baritone, if nothing else to do a video comparison with the Kanstul G bari
- A bass flugelhorn
- A 6/4 tenor tuba of some sort

[bone-a-phone]

@Finetales has the collection to beat of odd valved things.

I've just got 3 in the 9' variety.

Olds Compact marching valve trombone. Nice to fiddle around with, but not loud or in tune enough for groups. Outside of the house I've only ever used this to play solos at church. This really helped me learn valves.

Conn 24i. 4 front valves with a tuning trigger. Mine needs work, but this is what valve instruments should be. Its a sound and air management I can relate to. Ergonomically better than the trombone or 4 on top or 3+1 varieties.

Wessex Festivo. 4 in front. I felt "influenced" to get a compensating instrument. Now that I have one, i can check that off the list. I don't see the attraction. I've used it once in public as a substitute for a tuba. Nice enough instrument, but I struggle with understanding the euph sound.

Resize_20230321_100649_9823.jpg (16.39 KiB) Viewed 1843 times

[Mary Ann]

Sterling Perantucci 4-valve compensator. If I ever figure out how to put images here, I will. But I gave up on that, must be too technical for an engineer to figure out.

[b.williams]

Boosey and Hawkes Sovereign
I bought this new in 1981.

[bloke]

I have
- a King flugabone
- an F. E. Olds & Son (not NEMC/Blessing) valve trombone (remarkable condition, original lacquer and case)
- two euphoniums
>>>> (old brown) Yamaha 321 w/5th dependent rotor - easier to play high and be heard over a loud large ensemble
>>>> a (shiny) Meinl-Weston 551 gold-brass bell stencil - easier to play low and with a "tuba" sound
- in-progress B-flat bass trombone "cimbasso" (6-valve valveset/F. E. Olds .554"/564" tuning-in-slide playing slide/1980's Yamaha 322 bell section)

==========================================

A while back, I SOLD (no longer own)
- Meinl-Weston 5-rotor kaiser baritone (straight bell)
- Besson English baritone (older, with 8" bell and 1/2"+ bore)
- Willson 2900 euphonium (with 2950 large shank receiver)

...I could post pictures, but (other than the instrument that hasn't been completed) everything else is a common make/model/design

[arpthark]

I have
- a King flugabone
- an F. E. Olds & Son (not NEMC/Blessing) valve trombone (remarkable condition, original lacquer and case)
- two euphoniums
>>>> (old brown) Yamaha 321 w/5th dependent rotor - easier to play high and be heard over a loud large ensemble
>>>> a (shiny) Meinl-Weston 551 gold-brass bell stencil - easier to play low and with a "tuba" sound
- in-progress B-flat bass trombone "cimbasso" (6-valve valveset/F. E. Olds .554"/564" tuning-in-slide playing slide/1980's Yamaha 322 bell section)

==========================================

A while back, I SOLD (no longer own)
- Meinl-Weston 5-rotor kaiser baritone (straight bell)
- Besson English baritone (older, with 8" bell and 1/2"+ bore)
- Willson 2900 euphonium (with 2950 large shank receiver)

...I could post pictures, but (other than the instrument that hasn't been completed) everything else is a common make/model/design

What were your original plans with the kaiser baritone? Did the MW-551 eventually take its place?

I know bloke doesn't (or rarely) buy things "just because"...

[tubaing]

-Miraphone Bb Hunting Horn. This does not fit the topic, but its a really cool instrument. Leather wrapped. Raw brass.

-3+1 Conn 14i (I added the 4th valve in high school)

-4 valve marching baritone. Made out of a late 1800's Conn Alto horn with a bundy trumpet valve section. The 4th valve was an original from the alto horn.

-Schiller 3+1 comp

[bloke]

I have
- a King flugabone
- an F. E. Olds & Son (not NEMC/Blessing) valve trombone (remarkable condition, original lacquer and case)
- two euphoniums
>>>> (old brown) Yamaha 321 w/5th dependent rotor - easier to play high and be heard over a loud large ensemble
>>>> a (shiny) Meinl-Weston 551 gold-brass bell stencil - easier to play low and with a "tuba" sound
- in-progress B-flat bass trombone "cimbasso" (6-valve valveset/F. E. Olds .554"/564" tuning-in-slide playing slide/1980's Yamaha 322 bell section)

==========================================

A while back, I SOLD (no longer own)
- Meinl-Weston 5-rotor kaiser baritone (straight bell)
- Besson English baritone (older, with 8" bell and 1/2"+ bore)
- Willson 2900 euphonium (with 2950 large shank receiver)

...I could post pictures, but (other than the instrument that hasn't been completed) everything else is a common make/model/design

What were your original plans with the kaiser baritone? Did the MW-551 eventually take its place?

I know bloke doesn't (or rarely) buy things "just because"...

I bought the M-W kaiser bariton (which Americans seem to label "tenor tuba") because the price was reasonable, it included a new-condition custom-made hard case, the condition was pretty good, it was the model that Rich Matteson has played prior to moving over to a Yamaha 321, and all of those together stimulated my curiosity.

I found, though, that I only used it on a handful of jobs, and only "just because".
It's a fine instrument, but one that requires regular playing to be able to consistently sound nice when playing it.
Tuning issues were minimal...I only substituted 23 for 2 (C-sharp) and 1-3 for 1 (C).
Only towards the end of my ownership of it did I finally discover that SMALLER mouthpieces (c. 6-1/2AL up to 5G or so) played it much better than large or very-large ones.
With the Meinl-Weston compensating euphonium, I still have access to the sonic characteristics of a huge bell (entire bell - all the way down, not just the throat), but more of an easier "feel" (as the mouthpipe tube is short - as with other compensating euphoniums).

This was taken prior to me completing all the customization I did (ie. "in progress")

Rich Matteson - pre-Yamaha...I believe he himself was selling Meinl-Weston out of the back of his station wagon.

[Bob Kolada]

3 valve Amati euph my parents bought me in high school- plays very well, lightweight horn with a lot of clarity, I played it in high school and a brass band on euph parts, got the feeling they would have preferred I played it on baritone parts even though the baritoners were playing front valve American bariphoniums
Schiller comp euph- I bought it from a band director who'd bought a Willson, plays pretty well and I used it in a couple Army gigs

I used to have an Olds marching trombone and a used Chinese rotary bass trumpet. The Olds played great but had issues, the trumpet played ok but was awkward to hold.
I really like playing euph but have never liked euph music. 2 trumpet, trombone, euph brass quartets should be a more popular group imo. I wish front valve euphs were more popular, I'd like to mess around with one of those fixed bell Kings sometime, my .562 Eb valve thing has a large receiver so I guess you could do that with a King. Some of those polka guys really rip the bell off those things. It took me a while to learn the low range on comp euphs, one day it just snapped. The above mentioned Schiller with a big bass or contrabass trombone mp is a blast to play, tons of core. I really liked the Microphone 1258 I played long ago. I've read they were inconsistent but it had an oversized receiver, a perfect low range and was a blast to play, even with a Bach 18!

I saw this today, not sure if I've seen this model before. MW used to have (what looked like) a regular euph body with a rotary valve set. For some reason I seem to recall @Mary Ann having one. MW49 maybe? There was a Yamaha euph body for sale for like 90 bucks on eBay or whatever a few years ago, I really wanted to buy it for a front valve project.
https://hornguys.com/collections/tenor- ... h-5-valves

[Thomas]

Mine is a Willson 2704 which one of the previous owners cut to tune and changed the leadpipe including a large receiver, resulting in a very nice horn despite the rather poor visual quality of the modification work.

IMG_20211113_172217_small.jpg (19.07 KiB) Viewed 1733 times

[WC8KCY]

I currently own a Yamaha 321S. It doesn't look any different than the other 321s you've all seen dozens of times.

Here's a Conn that I used to own:

[BopEuph]

3 valve Amati euph my parents bought me in high school- plays very well, lightweight horn with a lot of clarity, I played it in high school and a brass band on euph parts, got the feeling they would have preferred I played it on baritone parts even though the baritoners were playing front valve American bariphoniums
Schiller comp euph- I bought it from a band director who'd bought a Willson, plays pretty well and I used it in a couple Army gigs

I used to have an Olds marching trombone and a used Chinese rotary bass trumpet. The Olds played great but had issues, the trumpet played ok but was awkward to hold.
I really like playing euph but have never liked euph music. 2 trumpet, trombone, euph brass quartets should be a more popular group imo. I wish front valve euphs were more popular, I'd like to mess around with one of those fixed bell Kings sometime, my .562 Eb valve thing has a large receiver so I guess you could do that with a King. Some of those polka guys really rip the bell off those things. It took me a while to learn the low range on comp euphs, one day it just snapped. The above mentioned Schiller with a big bass or contrabass trombone mp is a blast to play, tons of core. I really liked the Microphone 1258 I played long ago. I've read they were inconsistent but it had an oversized receiver, a perfect low range and was a blast to play, even with a Bach 18!

I saw this today, not sure if I've seen this model before. MW used to have (what looked like) a regular euph body with a rotary valve set. For some reason I seem to recall @Mary Ann having one. MW49 maybe? There was a Yamaha euph body for sale for like 90 bucks on eBay or whatever a few years ago, I really wanted to buy it for a front valve project.
https://hornguys.com/collections/tenor- ... h-5-valves

Whenever I'm in your neck of the woods, I really want to check this horn out.

Hell, I have a feeling you have a whole wonderland of brass goodies to check out.

[acemorgan]

About 40 years ago, I read an interview of the photographer Ansel Adams. He said that one of his biggest sources of support in his profession was the amateur who just has to buy a Nikon or a Hasselblad. Because of the unrealistic demand for these high-end cameras, the manufacturers can take advantage of a production level that allows them to lower their costs, and lower the user price. Adams said these amateurs helped subsidize his professional equipment.

I have a Wessex Dolce. In his online review of it, Algirdas Matonis expressed his opinion that the Dolce would meet the needs of 90 percent of euphonium players. I read a lot of online harrumphing about that assertion.

For the college music major euphonium player whose professional prospect will likely be as a band director in a public school, the Dolce would probably be sufficient. But that student's insistence on a "professional-level" instrument will certainly benefit the handful of full-time euphonium players, who will be better able to afford the high-end instrument they would actually need.

I have a Wessex Dolce. It meets my amateur needs very well.

[BopEuph]

I have a Wessex Dolce. It meets my amateur needs very well.

I've been debating on getting one of these, or a Festivo that might be able to be snuck into an orchestra as a bass tuba, AND be snuck into oberkrainer bands as a baritone (though, it's probably too bright for the former, and too dark for the latter).

I loved my 2900, but when it was stolen, it made no sense to buy a new horn that never even made its cost back in gigs, where my $1,000 upright bass keeps me sheltered and fed. But I do miss having a euphonium. And the Festivo might actually be more useful if I get creative with it.

[Bob Kolada]

3 valve Amati euph my parents bought me in high school- plays very well, lightweight horn with a lot of clarity, I played it in high school and a brass band on euph parts, got the feeling they would have preferred I played it on baritone parts even though the baritoners were playing front valve American bariphoniums
Schiller comp euph- I bought it from a band director who'd bought a Willson, plays pretty well and I used it in a couple Army gigs

I used to have an Olds marching trombone and a used Chinese rotary bass trumpet. The Olds played great but had issues, the trumpet played ok but was awkward to hold.
I really like playing euph but have never liked euph music. 2 trumpet, trombone, euph brass quartets should be a more popular group imo. I wish front valve euphs were more popular, I'd like to mess around with one of those fixed bell Kings sometime, my .562 Eb valve thing has a large receiver so I guess you could do that with a King. Some of those polka guys really rip the bell off those things. It took me a while to learn the low range on comp euphs, one day it just snapped. The above mentioned Schiller with a big bass or contrabass trombone mp is a blast to play, tons of core. I really liked the Microphone 1258 I played long ago. I've read they were inconsistent but it had an oversized receiver, a perfect low range and was a blast to play, even with a Bach 18!

I saw this today, not sure if I've seen this model before. MW used to have (what looked like) a regular euph body with a rotary valve set. For some reason I seem to recall @Mary Ann having one. MW49 maybe? There was a Yamaha euph body for sale for like 90 bucks on eBay or whatever a few years ago, I really wanted to buy it for a front valve project.
https://hornguys.com/collections/tenor- ... h-5-valves

Whenever I'm in your neck of the woods, I really want to check this horn out.

Hell, I have a feeling you have a whole wonderland of brass goodies to check out.

Ah sorry, not my horn, that's a picture from Ferguson Music. The only weird horn I own anymore is my Eb bass thing. Marching trombone, bass trumpet, contrabass trumpet, contrabass trombone, 4 valve Conn Giant Eb- all gone. You can play the Eb thing though.