TromboneChat

Looking for information on this trombone. How it plays and if it is comparable with the newer models in its line.
Doesn't seem to be any information online about it.
Thanks,
Caleb

It's a really nice horn. Those years were all "well designed" horns, and they play well. My band director had one, and I borrowed it for a while. They have removable leadpipes if I recall.

This might be TOO basic, but according to this website, which has been pretty accurate for most things Yamaha that I have looked up:

https://www.oocities.org/yuenli_low/tro ... bone1.html

YSL-695 .500 bore 7.5" bell One-piece yellow brass bell, interchangeable leadpipes, ultra-light-weight nickel-silver slide, professional jazz and big band model. Discontinued circa 2002-2003, replaced by YSL-697Z.

As I recall, it sat in the Yamaha lineup along side the YSL-691 (which was/is much loved) as the .500" option to the 691's .508" -Joe

I looked at these back in the 90s. My recollection is that they were considered “ok” but there was no great enthusiasm for them. Maybe overlooked in favour of the 691 and then the 697Z.

How much would you value these at and would they play as nicely as a BAC artist. (I just found out the Artist Series are made in china and now wonder if the quality and sound would be as nice as a 695).
Thanks,
Caleb

Great playing .500 bore horn but as others have said did not have the cache of JJ playing it like the 691

The 695 is a pro horn, made in Japan, undervalued but as I said play great

CalebLangford wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 12:13 am How much would you value these at and would they play as nicely as a BAC artist. (I just found out the Artist Series are made in china and now wonder if the quality and sound would be as nice as a 695).
Thanks,
Caleb

I played it a few years as an supplement to my old King 2B SS and it was a solid horn. I sold it and never looked back..same with the 691..

I don't really know why this horn never really caught on. It was Yamaha's answer to the Conn 6H (100H). For some reason the 3B sized 691 and 2B/4H sized 697 became popular but not this one. Like its brethren it came with a superbly made slide.

I had a colleague who played the predecessor 65x model and he loved his.

Friend of mine bought one a few years ago off Newell Sheridan and if he hadn't gotten to the booth first, I would have 100% bought it. I thought it was a fantastic horn. I don't seem them come up for sale all that often or else I'd probably have ended up with one over the years.

I played a 695 for many years, in all contexts of jazz, and found it a great horn for combo and lead big band playing, but lacking for anything else. To play a big band 3rd part felt confined and hard to intonate, or playing a trombone- or brass ensemble - even on lead - felt inadequate in tone and timbre, as well as in playing response - i.e. articulation and dynamics.

It also didn't respond well to loud playing around Db-B (in the system) and from G-E (below) so I ended up using it only for big band lead work, and ultimately selling it to buy first a Bach 16, and then a 697 (without the z).

My particular specimen of 695, also had a terrible Yamaha Plague (I think you overseas guys call it "Red Rot"). So much so, it was noticeable for audiences at "stage distance".

Hello, there happens to be a listing in my country for a ysl695 and the only major damage seems to be this. Just wondering if this damage is red rot or another concern.
Thanks,
Caleb

CalebLangford wrote: ↑Thu Mar 17, 2022 12:50 pm red rot

yup

So a no go?

It's just a crook. If it doesn't leak now you could have decades before it becomes necessary to repair. And just replacing a slide rook is not a catastrophic repair (unless done by somebody incompetent).

Yamaha may still carry parts, and failing that a King 3B/606 crook is cheap, yellow and single radius.

If it isn't already leaking, and I tried it and liked it, then it wouldn't necessarily stop me from buying the instrument. But I would definitely use it to get the price down