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Author
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 5/24/2004
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $495.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Nice full sound, cool looks, it is jazzy. Comes in 6 colours!
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Cons:
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southpawami
Junior Member
Registered: November 2005
Location: US
Posts: 2
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Review Date: 11/23/2005
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $350.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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good sound/good response
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Cons:
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not great sound/not great response/valve issues
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Before I write this review, let me explain that I am a winds player. I used to be a trumpet only kinda guy, but life happens, and so now I play pretty much everything that involves wind. I am not professional at the moment, that is, I do not have a job in this that I am getting paid for. That being said, I am 'otaku' about music(meaning I'm willing to glean information from any subject in life to aid me in my playing, including the Bible*), and philosophise(a british variant in spelling) how to do things to death sometimes.
The Amati ATR 314 Bb is a fun little horn that takes a team of monkeys to play.(I'll borrow this expression from Lee Collins - http://www.leecollins.com ) It is like having a breathing condition when you don't have one. Oh, sure it has good response. If you oil the inevitable problem valve you are going to get with it enough, anyway. And the tone is solid... but not full. Oh, it's not full. Let me repeat... it is NOT full. It's like a baby trumpet, sorta... it tries, and can sing beautifully, but it isn't naturally efficient, and just doesn't have experience enough to be full. I don't know exactly how to explain this. But let me try in the next paragraph.
There are basic reasons for tone. From the players standpoint, it is first posture, then application, then efficiency of application. On a more advanced end... for those that can understand, an instrument resonates if everything is just right, and if you adjust to the resonation correctly as it's happening, you'll eventually achieve the best sound of the instrument. If you don't understand this, study Braille* to increase the awareness of feeling in your fingers, then eventually you will understand. From the instrument side, the material, the bore, the valve system, the bell, the mouth piece, and even the material of the pads has effect in making the capability of great sound a reality, and on some great models, like the Xeno, the very resonation is almost like plug-n-play technology.(You don't have to know how it works to use it.)
Going back to this Amati Pocket Trumpet, I did not know of/experience this advanced resonance technique till recently... so I had to rely on the learned methods of yesterday. Using what I knew, the Amati was hard to play... but I was not aware that that idea was not just my imagination due to a few years of being off trumpet. Some time later, I played a full size Jupiter in a Pawn Shop. The Jupiter gave me easy attack, easy range, and essentially made playing one heck of a lot easier than my time with this Amati.
In the end, this horn is good for those that want a cheap jump into the pocket trumpet arena. It can hold tone well, of course, so there's no deep concern of that. Don't dare put it in the same room with an exceptional full size trumpet unless you happen to have mastered the resonance technique I spoke of above. If you have.. I salute you, as I'm still trying to get the technique on all my notes.
Brian
*1 - Bible - noting the verse in the Bible of making two silver trumpets(Num 10vs2)... they were 'solid silver'... I want to here what a solid silver trumpet sounds like... valves or no valves!
*2 - Braille - I went to http://www.braillebookstore.com/Introducing-Braille.htm and ordered Level I and Level II Braille Flash cards last year... I only finished level I fully. This year... I have awareness of subtleties of resonation of the instrument I never thought about even existing.
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 1/23/2006
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $319.00
| Rating: 7
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Pros:
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Price
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Cons:
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only 1 spit valve & lead pipe is to close to tunning slide
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High Quality just as good in sound as a Jupiter! Jupiter has 2 spit valves & has enough space between lead pipe tunning slide so you don't accidently move the tunning slide while playing. This is very important to me!
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 2/11/2006
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $329.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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overall good quality for the price
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Cons:
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touchy tuning, but acceptable for a pocket trumpet
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This is a very nice looking and good playing instrument for the money. The new Amati horns are of a surprising good quality. I've owned a cheap eBay pocket trumpet (horrible valve corrosion problems and poor quality on the Chineese made trumpets) so the Amati was a very pleasant surprise. The valves are fast with excellent compression. The break in is normal for a new instrument -- I've had to wipe the first valve clean and repeat oiling but it has broke in nicely. The instrument was delivered new with a thick oil on all the valves, so you have to clean the valve casings and valves, but they'll be ready to go with a minimal effort.
The sound is very close to a normal trumpet, just slightly higher pitched. I play with both a 6C and 6BM(24 backbore), with the 6BM the change is far more dramatic then on a standard trumpet... it produces a MUCH darker sound on this horn then the 6C.
This horn is very easy to play, free blowing and takes little air. Note: the bore is NOT .462 as this add states, it is actually .437 (per manufacturers web site). I can play equal to or higher range on this horn then an ML bore trumpet with slightly less effort.
I purchased to keep up with my playing due to extensive business travel and limited carry on baggage rules - the Yamaha silent brass mute fits in the horn (barely, as the bell of this little trumpet is very wide) and the case slides easily into my expandable laptop case.
The only adjustments are general pocket trumpet quirks. The horn is literally in your face, so takes a little getting used to and is noticeably louder to your ears as you play. The tuning is actually good considering all the wraps and slides. It is not as good as my Pro quality trumpets (should be obvious), but I can compensate by adjusting the main tuning slides and by tweeking the others slightly. You'll get used to it. If your goal is to buy a true performance pocket horn and you don't want to spend any time figuring out how to tune it, then go for the Holton or perhaps Jupiter. That said, this horn was the best value for me given the price.
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Unregistered
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Review Date: 8/25/2007
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Would you recommend the horn? Yes |
Price you paid?: $329.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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overall build quality, valves, value
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Cons:
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normal pocket trumpet quirks
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This is a long term follow-up to the post dated 2/11/2006
Opinion of this horn has not changed -- it is very well built and the valves have come to be like butter, I found that Ultra Pure was the best match to this horn, especially considering I use if only for business travel and/or infrequent home use (I've not used for performance, but plays in tune with the piano or accompanment CDs).
I switch to a Curry TF and now Curry TC mouthpiece last year -- perfect match! The intonation is easy to adjust to, I use about 1/3 inch on the main tuning slide and 1/4 inch on the 3d valve slide and the notes come out remarkably well in tune.
This horn is a great value. The lacquer has not worn, using a Selmer lacquer cloth on the finish after I play has really paid off.
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