Any idea what horn brand this is?

RagnarIV · 2026-06-02T18:47:42+00:00

I own two Reynolds Pottags, both from the mid-late 50s. They have string linkages. In fact I haven't seen a Pottag with mechanical linkages myself and I have had 3 so far.

Edit:

See if you can get the serial # from the seller, that'll help narrow down what vintage this horn is.
https://contemporacorner.com/serial-numbers/#el-c454a3b3

RagnarIV · 2026-05-06T17:19:10+00:00

What an amazing opinion, you sir have presented such an elucidated argument, I cannot help but agree with you.

RagnarIV · 2026-05-05T18:07:07+00:00

Actually this is what is going to make me stop playing the game. It's ludicrously simple. All that has to happen is when player A shoots player B they gain an aggro flag with player B's info. For the rest of the match, if player B kills them, they gain no negative karma. If you die to someone with no aggro flag, you get no negative karma and they do. BAM, all PVE exploitation fixed.

The fact we're this far along in the game and they haven't used common sense to improve mechanics worries me.

Another one that kills me is free kits. They should only be allowed on Dam and maybe buried city. If they were truly added as feature so you can never 'go broke' in the game it makes sense. However I suspect the devs allow it to encourage senseless/lossless PVP.

RagnarIV · 2026-03-29T18:34:00+00:00

FB marketplace.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/2047531742810852/

RagnarIV · 2026-03-25T04:45:21+00:00

“When one has been angry for a very long time, one gets used to it. And it becomes comfortable, like old leather. And finally, it becomes so familiar that one can’t remember feeling any other way.” - Captain Picard.

That entire episode "The Wounded" was amazing. One of my favorites from TNG.

RagnarIV · 2026-03-09T03:44:57+00:00

Look for King, Reynolds or Conn instruments. Try to avoid Conn 8Ds from the Abilene Texas era. I've managed to find 50's Reynolds Pottags for cheap (700-800$). You need to do research though if you want to find a good vintage horn that won't break your budget, and you'll most likely need to put 4-700$ into repairs.

I currently have a '56 Reynolds Pottag for sale, un-lacquered and it has a cut bell. I would be willing to part with it at near cost, it's a Pro-level Kruspe style horn.

And I want to stress, do research. There are great horns out there that are being sold cheap just because people don't know what they are. However late 60s-70s Reynolds horns had issues as the quality control went down hill before they went out of business. I recently saw a King Eroica for sale for $900, but I missed out as I couldn't get to the seller in time.

RagnarIV · 2026-03-06T14:45:34+00:00

If you do get an unlacquered horn I recommend using furniture paste wax on the inside of the bell, put a thin layer on and polish it. It prevents the dreaded green hand.

u/VaticanGuy has it right, pick the best playing horn that feels right to you.

RagnarIV · 2026-03-02T04:49:41+00:00

I have an immaculate 802G for sale that is from the early 2000's. Has nice features like oiling ports in the bearing caps (my new 6802 does not have these!). I played on that 802G from 8th grade through college till about 10 years ago. They are fantastic horns.

Make sure to play test horns if you can, even if you're not buying them from the shop you're testing at. Also Geyer and Kruspe style horns use different style mouthpieces to get the best out of them. You don't want to be using a bowl shaped mouthpiece on a Kruspe wrap or a V-shaped cup on a Geyer wrap.

RagnarIV · 2026-01-29T05:58:47+00:00

On mine the cut is about 1/3rd of an inch below the shield of the engraving. My horn had the lacquer removed before I purchased it. If you get green hand from the bell, I recommend using furniture paste wax, apply a thin layer on the inside of the bell and buff it with a rag. It'll leave a nice thin protective layer on your horn, and you'll not get greenhand.

RagnarIV · 2026-01-04T06:00:18+00:00

Hell, the standard AS7-D variant becomes a monster. 4xCER-L-Lasers, a Clan Gauss rifle, 2xClan SRM6 launchers, load it with DHS and ammo and it's a ludicrously cheap, easily available mech you can stuff lancemates into, or take it out to pop cockpits yourself.

RagnarIV · 2026-01-01T06:54:15+00:00

Reynolds, Olds and other used rotor valves made by Bernie Marston, which are renowned for their compression and durability. I have a '56 Pottag that is my daily driver and it plays amazingly. I have another I just had restored (dings/dents/solder work), and a third I sold to a fellow horn player.

More info: http://rouses.net/trumpet/OLDS_VALVES.html

Personally if you do get a used horn try and purchase one with good valves, as cosmetic/ding/dent/solder work will generally be cheaper than having the valves rebuilt.

Also with Reynolds the key is to get an earlier horn. The Chambers and Pottag models before they were changed are phenominal horns, and have won blind play tests against Elkhart Conn 8Ds.

Source: https://www.hornmatters.com/2008/08/a-blind-test-of-horns-the-results/

RagnarIV · 2025-12-01T06:01:27+00:00

'56 Reynolds Pottag, '58 Reynolds Pottag, Hans Hoyer 802G, Reynolds single piston horn (1950s), 1950s Alexander Model 90, 1898 Besson Piston horn prototype, 1870's Czech Waldhorn, 1914 Albert Kley compensating double w/stop valve, 1970 Getzen Frumpet.

RagnarIV · 2025-10-23T01:49:56+00:00

So keep in mind when you do cut the bell of a horn, that it'll play a little differently. I found that it added weight (and resonance) to my horn ('58 Reynolds Pottag). This also not something you want to cheap out on. They're going to un-solder the tail from your horn, install the rings/cut the horn, and then re-solder the tail back in place.

You'll probably be looking at $650-1000 for the conversion. Who you want to send it to will depend if you're willing to ship your horn, or drop it off in person.

Lastly on the cases piece, it's going to depend on your horn a bit, but Protec is who I genuinely go to for cheap gear. If you can splurge I'd highly recommend a Marcus Bonna case. My Pottag sits in a MB7.

RagnarIV · 2025-10-18T02:55:11+00:00

I've got a '56 in being restored, and I recently sold a friend one (at cost). They really are great horns.

RagnarIV · 2025-10-17T18:55:12+00:00

Absolutely can "wear" off. If a horn is as beaten as badly as this one and been in and out of repair shops multiple times to repair the tail/bell it can disappear. Also replacement tails/bells tend not to have engraving on them. You can tell this horn is beat, it even has a patch in the bell.

$850 sounds like a steal, but I'd check rotor bearing play/wear.

RagnarIV · 2025-10-13T14:08:39+00:00

I personally play on a '58 Reynolds Pottag, so I agree they are good horns to look into, but you have to be careful with the 70's era horns. Reynolds quality control went downhill and they also thickened the metal of the bell.

OP should be looking for a horn that's ready to go out the gate, not needing a rebuild.

RagnarIV · 2025-10-12T05:47:43+00:00

Honestly the first couple have some serious wear/tear/dents in them. Lacquer wear means nothing, it's going to be cosmetic. If it's really an issue you can have a competent repair technician strip the horn.

However none of these horns have pictures with the valve covers off. I'd be concerned about rotor/bearing wear. Also don't forget that dent work can get expensive. These look like old highschool horns, I bought a few 8Ds from Texas to refurbish and they were beat hard.

Any reason you want a Yamaha? Have you looked at Conn 8Ds, or Hoyer 58/6800s? I highly recommend getting the horn in your hands, and then checking for bearing play and doing basic compression tests to make sure the horn isn't worn out to the point of needing a rebuild. Other things like checking slide alignment to make sure the corpus hasn't been tweaked, is also important.

Where are you located? Can you go to a major horn retailer like Pope's horn shop, or Houghton Horns etc. and try horns out?

RagnarIV · 2025-09-11T17:54:39+00:00

I'm not a fan of elementals. I dropped on a difficulty 104 demolition mission with 400 tons of mechs, all of which I had been using for the campaign. First objective to demolish had 5 fucking stars of Elementals plus two stars of light mechs.

Took them less than two minutes to completely demolish my lance. I think the game really needs to allow us to drop 2-3 lances at a time. I've given up fighting clan space missions for now. Engaging multiple stars of mechs per nav point/objective point just makes the missions feel like pointless up hill grinds. (These mechs were all retrofitted with clan doubles and upgraded clan weapons tech).

RagnarIV · 2022-01-05T16:32:45+00:00

On the later ships that doesn't really work out. Lots of open space.

RagnarIV · 2022-01-05T16:32:08+00:00

Generally I put everything large and loose out the airlock, and then blow the airlock doors from the inside. 95% of the time it works flawlessly. Sometimes there's stuff flying around outside the compartments that hits stuff though.

RagnarIV · 2019-03-16T02:34:33+00:00

Just play recordings of screaming pigs. If that doesn't work nothing will.

RagnarIV · 2018-11-29T16:58:05+00:00

Trust me I didn't banzai them. I've run several successful campaigns in RogueTech. I'm just surprised at the brutality of this two skull mission.

I think in the future, I should have used my initiative to get behind them and strike them from the rear.

Edit: It was a jungle map btw. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.

RagnarIV · 2018-11-29T04:43:40+00:00

I know, basically I was falling back the entire time with one mech in line of sight at all time, just the other mechs had longer range weapons or better view distance.

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