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Author
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 8/2/2005
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $3,750.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Responsive, versatile, bright sound
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Cons:
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intonation problems w/ 2nd valve
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After decades of playing a Bach Strad, I had reached a station in life where I could afford a more desirable horn. In one weekend at a national conference w/ major vendors in attendance, I tried out Monettes, Yamahas, Getzens, Schilkes, and even newer Bachs. Among those, I really liked the Yamaha Bobby Shew model. I was prepared to buy it but the Yamaha rep was at lunch. My friend who was accompanying me pointed me to Cliff Blackburn and his horns. Figuring I had some time to kill before the Yamaha rep returned from lunch (and knowing the Blackburn was a high end horn), I ambled over to Cliff's display, picked up a Jericho and shoved my mouthpiece into the leadpipe. After a couple of minutes of tooling around, I took the horn away from my chops and mumbled, "Wow!" Bunny, Cliff's wife, was sitting about 15 feet in front of me - when she heard me exclaim "Wow," she turned to me and calmly said, "Sold!" Bunny saw my puzzled reaction and said to me, "Whenever someone tries one of Cliff's horns and says Wow like you did, we figure we have made a sale."
Indeed, I was sold! The horn took some getting used to since I had been a Bach player all my life. I had a tendency to overblow, plus I was playing a Schilke 13A4a mp. Bottom line: The sound was very brassy, ideal for lead playing. (After placing my order with Cliff, it took roughly nine months for me to get the horn. When I talked with him a few months ago, he told me it is now taking up to 18 months to get one!)
I switched to a Haefner 3HC mp about two years ago and found that it darkens my sound in the horn's middle register. Through chop manipulation, though, I can still get that solid lead sound when I want it using the Haefner.
If you want to sound like a lead guy, buy the Jericho. If you want a darker sound, either don't buy the horn or fool around with different mp's to find the one that gets you the sound you want. I use the horn for everything from legit brass quintet work to lead parts in show gigs. Projection is exceptional! I was almost throw out of the brass ensemble I play with because of the bright sound I got from the horn before switching to the Haefner mp.
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 10/1/2008
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Would you recommend the horn? No |
Price you paid?: $3,500.00
| Rating: 1
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Pros:
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Cliff Blackburn will go out of business someday
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Cons:
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Nowhere to put the bullet I'd like to put in my head for paying $3500 for this!
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I'd rather have emphazema than to have wind enough to play this thing. How 'bout intonation over here?
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;)
;)
