Yamaha YBL421G vs Courtois AC280BO

[walldaja]

The YBL421G is a single rotor bass trombone (Bb / F) with a 0.563 bore. I recently purchased it to augment my Antonie Courtois AC280BO tenor trombone (Bb / F) with a 0.547 bell. Both horns are marketed as “intermediate” horns but the Yamaha has a “street” price of $3,221. vs. the “street” price for the AC at $2,010.

Appearance wise the Yamaha has a much larger bell, 9.5” vs. 8.5” and is “closed wrap” vs the AC’s “open wrap”. The AC’s valve slide allows you to pull to E but the Yamaha doesn’t. Not much of an issue as I never pull it that far anyway. The Yamaha’s bell is noticeably more rose colored than the rest of the horn which is lacquered brass.

Another difference is the Yamaha’s slide is ¼” narrower than the AC. The AC measures a hair over 3.5” inside to inside vs. the Yamaha’s 3.25” measurement. With the Yamaha I definitely feel the neck pipe but it is not a problem. The slide on the AC is silver while the only silver colored parts on the Yamaha are the two bars on the slide and the one between the neck pipe and the bell. Both slides are 10’s out of 10!

One big surprise was the weight of the Yamaha, it is lighter than my AC280BO! The Yamaha weighs 3.92 pounds and the AC is 4.18 pounds—noticeable when you’re holding it. The AC seems much more balanced but with the narrower slide I find I can easily hold the Yamaha even though it is noticeably “slide” heavy. I use a Neotech grip with each horn but the Yamaha is easier to hold without it.

The rotor actuation is different between the horns. The Yamaha uses string while the AC is a mechanical linkage. Both get the job done but the Yamaha is whisper quiet. The pull is much shorter with the string too. The actuator bar on the Yamaha is simply a bar while the AC has an adjustable paddle on the bar. I much prefer the paddle vs. just the bar—need to find a paddle to put on the Yamaha.

The Yamaha came with their 58L mouthpiece while the AC shipped with an AC 6.5AL. Both are adequate.

There is a big difference between the cases. The Yamaha comes in a typical large trombone shaped case (12”x35”x15) with a nice plush interior. It also comes with a cleaning rod mounted securely in the case with a locking keeper. It is brown (Tolex perhaps) with black rubber borders. Inside there are two holes for mouthpieces and a large (10”x4”X4.5”) place to put your lubricants and whatever. The divisions in the case seems to be formed Styrofoam. The case has only one handle and it is on the long side below the opening. This is a real nice and useful case.

The AC’s case is super “sexy” but not in a practical manner. The case is a high gloss gray fiberglass and comes with both a handle like the Yamaha and a leather loop to carry the case vertically. It also comes with two straps so you can carry it on your back. The straps are held in place with locking carabiners and attach to shackles riveted to the case. You can easily remove the straps but the shackles remain (three). The case does a good job of holding the horn. The slide fits in a recess in the lid and is secured with two padded bars that rotate to either lock or release the slide. The bell fits in the bottom and has a fabric wrap to secure the tubing that fastens with Velcro. The storage inside the case is really limited which makes this case useless for me. There are two compartments, one is oblong shaped (5”x2”/4”x1.5” deep) and the other is a little more rectangular ((8”/7”x4”x2”). I found the shipped mouthpiece in the larger compartment. As much as I would like to use this case, I use an aftermarket case just so I have room for things I need.

Behind the horns they both sound good though the Yamaha seems to be better barking the low notes. Surprisingly, the Yamaha doesn’t seems to take any more wind than the AC and high Bb is equally as easy on either horn. Both are great instruments, but I’m really liking the Yamaha right now and can’t wait to play it with others.

[timbone]

Dave- Nice post, but why are you comparing a bass to a tenor trombone??

[walldaja]

Simply because I have both. They are more alike than different to me, which is a bit of a surprise. We've a Shostakovitch piece we're doing and it sounds better on the first part than my tenor.

[walldaja]

Here is some trivia, each slide will mate with the other's bell. So if you want a wide slide and a big bell....