Changed Bell from Gold Brass to Yellow Brass

[walldaja]

I bought a Shires Q30GR a few years ago. I think I bought it for the "colors" of the components instead of what it did for me. Recently we're getting ready for a concert and a lot of the pieces have double and triple tonguing in them--probably more than we've done for the previous four year's worth of concerts collectively.

It was proving to be quite a challenge for me to tongue as clearly as I wanted. Then I stumbled on a Shires Q yellow brass bell on line that had a good price (for me). I bought it and put it on.

Oh, my goodness. Tonguing has sharpened up, feel (hear) like I can play louder. In hindsight, wish I would have bought the yellow first. I tried one when I bought my Q but my eyes kept coming back to the gold brass.

Yellow brass on the horn now.

[WGWTR180]

Always trade offs. Yellow brass tends to lean towards cleaner attacks while gold or red bells tend to have more warmth with slightly less clear attacks(generally). However double and triple tounging can be executed clearly on bells other than yellow.

[bbocaner]

I've always felt that gold brass got all the worst characteristics of yellow and red rather than combining the best characteristics of each. It's my least favorite.

[JTeagarden]

The trombone professor at my university (40 years ago!) had a default horn he recommended: Bach 42B with a gold-brass bell and a lightweight slide, I think he singlehandedly kept Giardinelli's doors open for years!

It never occured to me to ask why this was his "go-to" setup, but at a time when we were learning how to play, and a lot of us not quite sure what our strengths and weaknesses were, it seemed to work OK.

[tbonesullivan]

The trombone professor at my university (40 years ago!) had a default horn he recommended: Bach 42B with a gold-brass bell and a lightweight slide, I think he singlehandedly kept Giardinelli's doors open for years!

It never occured to me to ask why this was his "go-to" setup, but at a time when we were learning how to play, and a lot of us not quite sure what our strengths and weaknesses were, it seemed to work OK.

That IS a very popular combination for trombones. I've seen a lot of Bach 36s in that configuration, and my Yamaha Bass has a nickel slide, brass valve section and tuning slide, and red brass bell.

[harrisonreed]

Was the only difference in the bell the material? Or were other factors different too?

[BGuttman]

Bach bells were made to the same specs regardless of material. Of course there were the manufacturing variations, so you really had to try a few in order to find "the" one.

The most common pairings were yellow bell with yellow slide with oversleeves, and gold bell with lightweight slide (nickel tubes with no oversleeves).

[JTeagarden]

Bach bells were made to the same specs regardless of material. Of course there were the manufacturing variations, so you really had to try a few in order to find "the" one.

The most common pairings were yellow bell with yellow slide with oversleeves, and gold bell with lightweight slide (nickel tubes with no oversleeves).

I thought at least at one point the smaller Bach bells used to be spun on different mandrels, thus the use of Roman numerals after the model number to denote which mandrel the horn came off of (e.g., a New York Bach 6V), I assume this meant slightly different specs as well?

[BGuttman]

...

I thought at least at one point the smaller Bach bells used to be spun on different mandrels, thus the use of Roman numerals after the model number to denote which mandrel the horn came off of (e.g., a New York Bach 6V), I assume this meant slightly different specs as well?

Yes, but the different mandrels were used for all metals. Besides, most of the Bach 6's I've seen were all yellow bells.

[harrisonreed]

The Shires Q30 isn't a Bach though

Lots of bells fit on that frame.

[BigBadandBass]

I’m gonna assume since you’re saying Q bells you’re just swapping a Q30GR bell for a Q30YR. Which specs wise according to the site are similar. Personally I’ve always been a fan of lots of yellow on the horn with a little gold and little nickel.