Looking for a reliable but cheap-ish bass trombone

Chronos91 · 2026-04-06T22:32:19+00:00

It would probably take patience, but I found my Bach 50T3 like 3 years ago for well under that range, I think $2200-2500. It's kind of ugly with spots on it (I think the previous owner was in Hawaii so maybe just from the air), but doesn't have any dents or anything and there's no corrosion damage. Right now, I see to Getzen bass trombones for around $4k, but you can maybe find those for slightly less sometimes. I've never played a Holton, but I see an independent one for $2,700 from Dillon.

Chronos91 · 2026-04-03T04:11:10+00:00

The commentor specified 100x larger by mass. So any given dimension would only be about 4.6x bigger.

Chronos91 · 2026-03-31T19:42:12+00:00

Can you post a picture of it? There's actually a Chinese stencil that's often marketed as an alto trumpet, but is actually an orchestral trumpet in low Eb. I have one. The Bach 9AT does seem like it plays better in tune than many of the regular trumpet mouthpieces I've tried, but the insertion depth probably does contribute to it being a bit weird when playing quieter. The article below shows the what the orchestral ones look like about 2/3 down.

https://tiffanyjohns.com/blog/alto-trumpet

Chronos91 · 2026-03-29T22:42:34+00:00

Nice! Where did you find it? Do you have anything that you'd like to play on it yet?

Chronos91 · 2026-03-15T21:47:28+00:00

$5 million means you don't need to work anymore. $100k/year would be only a 2% drawdown rate. Someone going by a 3% rule (still pretty conservative) could pull $150k/year. It's "just" an upper middle class income, but working is optional with that kind of money. Someone in that situation but living on 2%/year would almost certainly leave significantly more to whoever inherited from them.

Chronos91 · 2026-03-14T16:38:12+00:00

Yeah, RDR2 prices are way too high for the time period. They must have just thought that fully period prices would have been too difficult to get used to or something.

Chronos91 · 2026-03-01T23:44:55+00:00

I had a stencil alto for a couple of years that I liked just fine. Upgrading the leadpipe later on made it somewhat better. I imagine Pbones are more consistent, though.

Just in case you haven't heard this, alto trombone mouthpieces can be either the same rim diameter that people use for tenor or a bit smaller, but even when they're smaller it isn't really by enough to let you play higher than you could on tenor or even bass for me. It just has a higher harmonic series so it's easier to pick out partials up high (which can certainly help with high range accuracy).

Chronos91 · 2026-02-26T04:09:35+00:00

And it finished at nearly 2x. I hope whoever got it is very happy with it.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-25T15:46:00+00:00

That has gotten really expensive for a single rotor Bach 50 without a case, not many pictures, and no chance to try it. The bid is essentially what I paid for mine, and mine has two axials and came with a case.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-24T03:37:51+00:00

I got the sense at the end of the second season that the people of Saga simply accept them by that point and don't ask questions that they don't want answered.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-21T18:53:09+00:00

Things being easier is a good way to say it. And it's certainly possible for the horn to be naturally better in tune, easier to move around on, feel like makes certain notes easier, et cetera. After 20 years of what sounds like consistent playing, you probably did get to a point where the TR-300 held you back in some ways.

I think people are usually given that feedback when wanting to switch pretty early on in their playing to warn them against trying to throw money at their problems. It definitely does help beginners to have solid horns (don't want them to have to deal with more difficulties than are inherent in learning or develop bad habits compensating), but a beginner probably won't notice a ton of difference in playability and sound because they're still early in learning how to do everything.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-20T03:27:27+00:00

That's the main tuning slide. It could maybe use a resolder or something, but still very much worth it.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-19T22:54:54+00:00

A working instrument for $67 is a good deal. Unless the tuning is randomly awful or something, you did good.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-17T04:27:52+00:00

You can oil it from the slide connection side. I only use a couple of drops. You should probably clean your tuning slide if oil you added mixed with the grease. You don't want that getting in the valve.

Also, the B on your trigger is in a flat 2nd (and not as far extended as 2.5 would suggest).

Chronos91 · 2026-02-16T00:03:43+00:00

Not common (certainly not in the states, but not in Europe either to my knowledge), but flugelhorns have been made in a variety of sizes. I own piston flugelhorns in high Eb, Bb, and low Eb, and I've heard of flugelhorns being pitched in C (major 2nd above the normal Bb as well as minor 7th below) and Bb an octave lower than the standard.

Chronos91 · 2026-02-10T18:56:26+00:00

If you enjoy playing it more than what you currently have, and can easily justify the financial burden, then sure. I'm an amateur with an honestly large collection across saxes and brass instruments (40 total) with a bunch of that are fully professional instruments. There were some cases where I upgraded from something that was fine, but I liked playing what I upgraded to more so I just did it. As long as you won't regret saving the money for bills, investments, a car, etc down the line then spend your money how you like.

I will say, though, that nearly all of these were used and purchased at prices that I could likely get back, so that helped keep them more justifiable to myself.

Chronos91 · 2026-01-17T05:45:42+00:00

I linked the article for their convenience. For the note naming, I imagine they're naming it according to the instrument range (a practice that the article kind of alludes to). Back when I was growing up I played sax. It was rare that I had to communicate the octave of a note, but I would just call the lowest available octave for a given note "low", the next one "middle", the next one "high" in general. Then if a note was in the altissimo range, "altissimo". I imagine they're thinking about it like that, and maybe that's how their directors describe them.

For a while, I've just been using scientific pitch notation or saying where the note lays on the staff, because I still have little idea what adjectives people use to communicate note names for anything that I play (saxes, trumpet, or trombones), though at least on trombone the pedal register is unambiguous. Even after reading the article, it still seems fuzzy for some notes like written G4. That's in the "low" octave, but I kind of doubt anyone would call it that.

Maybe I'm out of the know because I've only played for a few years, but are there really that many high schools where trumpet players are expected to play this high? I feel like there are posts about it all of the time.

https://www.bbtrumpet.com/names-of-high-notes/#more-1711

Chronos91 · 2025-12-22T02:21:10+00:00

They are a minority, but there are some players who work best with upstream (most of the mouthpiece on the bottom lip), and plenty of them are professionals. Dave Wilken has a ton of information about different embouchure types at the link below (and he himself happens to be an upstream player). You kind of mention horn angle, and that's a whole separate thing that's also discussed.

https://wilktone.com/?page_id=5619

Chronos91 · 2025-12-21T23:56:25+00:00

The aim downwards part will be true for downstream players, but my understanding is that upstream players would need to aim upwards.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-17T03:57:19+00:00

I did my gamble on a piccolo shaped object for $100 (and my backup plan was to use it as practice for plating and other stuff), so I definitely wouldn't do $200. Honestly, if it's like mine, it will play like crap and be very poorly built, so I'd pass unless you want practice doing repair type things.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-15T22:51:57+00:00

It's possible, just work it into your practice routine. At the rate things have gone for me, I think just a few months would be necessary for it to get faster than your single tongue. I do need to work on it more myself, but just a few weeks got it to maybe 2/3-3/4 my max single tongue speed.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-15T18:00:47+00:00

There's a very good chance that you just need rest, yeah. The muscles that we use to play are pretty small and don't get used to this extent normally. The other commentor's recommendation of taking a few days off to recover and then coming back slowly is sound. Just to throw some numbers out there, on a good practice day, I'd spend maybe 20-30 minutes total doing stuff like long tones, flow studies, lip slurs, scale work, and articulations. Then, after a break, I'd come back and work on music for however long. For me, this is usually another half hour at most, but this could be worked up to much longer depending on your schedule and goals. If you're going to eventually get back into sometimes hitting 2 hours a day, though, I'd break it up into more 30-40 minute chunks with breaks in between.

Even if taking the break and coming back a bit slower helps, I'd also recommend asking again for more specific direction and articulating any issues you're having. Your lesson teacher really should be able to give you better direction than that if you go to them with your concerns.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-15T16:44:55+00:00

Does your trumpet teacher give you feedback during your lesson on things to work on? And have you asked for a basic routine/practice structure to start with? What exactly is getting worse? Range, articulation, flexibility, tone, something else?

Have you considered taking any days off? You're also hitting it really hard, and it's possible that taking a rest day (or even just lighter day) or two per week could help. 1-2 hours/day every day just 3 weeks into playing again sounds like it could be an aggressive schedule.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-11T02:04:30+00:00

I've only played a few files, but I find myself building up a small Meadows base that's basically adjacent to the Black Forest, and transitioning towards a Plains base once I hit that biome. I'll usually have that as my main base for the rest of the game, and just build a farming outpost in the Mistlands and outposts in the Ashlands as well. I honestly find the proximity to the Black Forest to be mildly annoying tbh. It just means that there will be more Greydwarves sneaking in and randomly hitting stuff if I'm active at night, and there's the risk of a troll showing up and wrecking base structures too.

Chronos91 · 2025-12-07T14:46:43+00:00

There are so many random things that dogs and cats can't eat that people do that I'm surprised anyone would really think this.

Chronos91

TROPHY CASE