I thought 'this is what a trumpet is supposed to feel and sound like'. Fantastic horn, sounded amazing behind a microphone, sounded amazing live, felt fantastic to play, I could push it real loud if I wanted to, etc etc. The last horn I settled on was a Kanstul 1501. It's like they were designed to have the rounded slide. And they don't feel right with the square tuning slide on them. Fantastic horns, but a little too open for the long amounts of playing I need to do. Another notable one was the Bach Commercial, both large and medium bore. Great horn, great sound, pretty good intonation, but it just didn't feel or sound special to me. I played some damn good horns, and learned alot about my own playing and alot about what I prefer in a trumpet. I learned all about how different metals effect sound, how the shape of certain tubes effect sound, blow, resistance, etc., how the taper and throat of the bell effects sound and feeling, how the size of bell effects things, bore sizes, receivers, different valve plating materials, how bracing effects everything, etc etc etc, you name it. I went on a horn quest and bought / sold somewhere around 14 trumpets. And it was kind of dead sounding behind a microphone for me. I felt like it lacked some core of sound though, like I had on the Olds. I had to learn not to muscle it as much as I used to, to let the horn do the work. It played so free and was a little lighter weight than the Olds, hence a bit easier to play. I played on it through college and on for about 9 years total before it wore out.

It was a more interesting and captivating sound. Then I played on an Olds Clark Terry, which came down to a choice between that or a brand new Bach 72. I played on a Bach TR-300 student horn from day 1 to college.

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