Best Off-brand Trumpets

Kehaulani

Vilgano - I think Eric Mayashiro has a similar story playing lead with Buddy Rich Big Band. Talk about a stress test!

grune

@administrator said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

I have heard that Jin-Bao are acceptable.

I have played the top JinBao horns at JinBao. I would put them at the student category. Good mechanics and materials, decent intonation, decent bright sound, but the sound is compressed and the blow resists in the upper register. I could not develop full power.

grune

@djeffers78 said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

I have a Cecilio trumpet and a Brasspire cornet. Both are great instruments

I have played the Brasspire pro line at Brasspire Japan. Very good horns for the price: build, finish, feel in hands, very good valves. Sound is on the brighter side. Could be a daily horn. Only one model gave me the blow I wanted. The others felt restrictive in upper register, had a compressed sound.

grune

@Robrtx said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

I'm not sure if it would be considered an "off-brand" but I believe that Carol Brass offers a lot of bang for the buck. Also, anything sold under the brand of trusted sellers on this forum ACB (Trent) or Jaeger Trumpets (Ivan) though not "major" brands would be good players (because they would not let anything leave their shop that was not) at a fair value........

I have played Carol Brass horns at Carol Brass in Taiwan. Very good horns in all respects. But they are only slightly better in quality than a good OEM Chinese horn. None have the symphonic sound like a Bach, and the "smokey" sounding ones have no appeal to me. I found all had a bright sound, and all felt resistant... All except one, the 8060H Balanced Trumpet, Louis Armstrong inspired. This 8060H is truly a great horn: a lovely open sound and easy to blow and great mechanics. The 8060H is the only horn in memory that comes closest to the Armstrong Selmer I played very long ago. Great as an all-rounder, and great balance. CB retail price is high now, so difficult to endorse for the price/value ratio. But the 8060H may be worth the price. It's on my wish list now.

Curlydoc

@Dr-GO what is the mouthpiece on your pocket trumpet?

Dr GO

@Curlydoc said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

@Dr-GO what is the mouthpiece on your pocket trumpet?

It's a 1946 Martin 10. Very flat cup, very long shaft. It somehow makes that Pocket Trumpet sing!

Hi L-A Horns,
I played a Gansch horn recently and the valve action (rotary) was smooth as butter. It also has a bent bell so the rotary valves will fit. Oh, and it sounded really good! My daughter played it too and said it reminded her of a hotdog because the bent bell makes the horn sorta look like a hotdog but after trying several really top flight horns from Monette to Taylor, she liked the Gansch Horn (made by Schagerl ) the best.

Kujo20

@Dr-Mark said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

Hi L-A Horns,
I played a Gansch horn recently and the valve action (rotary) was smooth as butter. It also has a bent bell so the rotary valves will fit. Oh, and it sounded really good! My daughter played it too and said it reminded her of a hotdog because the bent bell makes the horn sorta look like a hotdog but after trying several really top flight horns from Monette to Taylor, she liked the Gansch Horn (made by Schagerl ) the best.

Have her try a Schlub!

@Kujo20 said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

Schlub
I checked out the Schlub on YouTube and it looks like the Gansch Horn. If it plays like the Gansch Horn, then WOW! I'll look around the Orlando area to see if anyone sells them.

Kehaulani

@Dr-Mark said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

My daughter played it too and said it reminded her of a hotdog because the bent bell makes the horn sorta look like a hotdog but after trying several really top flight horns from Monette to Taylor, she liked the Gansch Horn (made by Schagerl ) the best.

Maybe she should've tried it with mustard and relish.

Dr GO

@Kehaulani said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

@Dr-Mark said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:
(made by Schagerl ) the best.

Maybe she should've tried it with mustard and relish.

Should any of you relish the opportunity to come visit and purchase a Schlub horn in person, please drop me a line, as the manufacture has moved into the Dayton area. Always looking for an opportunity to meet more TB members.

SSmith1226

@Dr-GO
Don’t you mean Schlub? Schagerl is in Mank, Austria, and I believe George Schlub moved back to Ohio from Singapore.

Dr GO

@SSmith1226 said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

@Dr-GO
Don’t you mean Schlub? Schagerl is in Mank, Austria, and I believe George Schlub moved back to Ohio from Singapore.

Ooops... yes I do. I will do the appropriate edits. Thanks Dr. Smith!

L.A.Horn

@Dr-Mark said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

I played a Gansch horn recently and the valve action (rotary) was smooth as butter. It also has a bent bell so the rotary valves will fit. Oh, and it sounded really good! My daughter played it too and said it reminded her of a hotdog because the bent bell makes the horn sorta look like a hotdog but after trying several really top flight horns from Monette to Taylor, she liked the Gansch Horn (made by Schagerl ) the best.

I searched online and it appears the Gansch trumpet is $5K+.

L.A.Horn

@Dr-GO said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

Should any of you relish the opportunity to come visit and purchase a Schlub horn in person, please drop me a line, as the manufacture has moved into the Dayton area. Always looking for an opportunity to meet more TB members.

I see what you did there... mustard and relish.

@L-A-Horn said in Best Off-brand Trumpets:

I searched online and it appears the Gansch trumpet is $5K+.

Many of the Best Off-Brand trumpets cost more than a Bach or Yamaha. For example Monette and Harrelson.

barliman2001

@L-A-Horn Depends on what kind of bang you want. If it's just a metallic bang, you can buy any used Chinese junk TSO for ten bucks, throw it out of an upstairs window and wait for the bang...

barliman2001

@L-A-Horn The Ganschhorn is $5k+ only if new. There are a spate of used, nearly new Ganschhorns out there at less than half the price. These once-loved Ganschhorns usually turn out to have some kind of problem - in many cases loose stays.

barliman2001

@Dr-GO Here in Vienna, I am always eager to welcome any former TMers or TBers - as Sethoflagos, rowuk and SSmith1226 can witness.

barliman2001

As to "off-brand" horns - there are many, many good quality makers in Germany and Austria who are only known locally. Schagerl and Lechner, many have heard of. Dowids of Munich is already on the "not-so-well-known" list. Votruba of Vienna - a blank to many, even though they are at least on a par with Lechner. And in the tiny village of Künzing, in Bavaria, lives a man called Uli Pfreimbtner who really is on the forefront of research in trumpet design. He recently unveiled a trumpet and flugelhorn made entirely out of nickel silver (which makes these instruments virtually corrosion-free) with new rotary valves of his own design. Here's the link:
http://www.musikinstrumente-neusilber.de/Aktuelles.html
At the moment, that site is in German only - Uli is a bit slow in getting his site into English.