Shires bell comparisons

[Rusty]

To those of you who have tried some of the various Shires tenor bell variants, wondering your thoughts on type 1 vs type 7 bells?

I’m currently playing a 7YLW 8.5” bell, dual bore valve, and TW25 .525 slide. I generally like this setup but have been feeling the bell might be too light for how I blow, it’s feels pretty ‘zippy’ and sometimes feels like it’s breaking up as I push the dynamics. I want something with more depth dynamically and room to blow harder at whilst retaining a big sound and core, so have been thinking about a heavier weight bell.

I tried a 1GM and that felt immediately better, especially with the large RS leadpipe. Nice, rounded, clear attacks and a dense, warm sound. It was a lot of fun to play with this bell.

Next I was able to try a 1Y, but have been disappointed, I know it’s a heavy bell, but it feels pretty lifeless and hard work, and doesn’t even feel much bigger in sound than my 7YLW.

So my question is, how different would a 7GM or 1YM be from what I’ve already tried? I know the 1 bells are a more traditional construction, but I was impressed by how colourful the 1GM was. Would a 7GM be even more colourful at the expense of some weight of sound?

Thanks for your responses, I’m fairly limited to what I can try so keen to hear from those who have played some of these bells.

[Chatname]

I have a 1YM 8” bell and a 7YLW 8.5”. Dual bore valve. I had the same experience you describe; coming from decades on a heavy bell the LW bell felt very light to me and I preferred the 1YM. However I recently had the 7YLW cut to make it detachable. Now it holds together perfectly in loud playing and it feels like it has great projection. Very happy about how it plays, and the detachability is very cool as well! I now enjoy both my 1YM and the cut 7YLW but the latter is my favorite.

[Rusty]

I have a 1YM 8” bell and a 7YLW 8.5”. Dual bore valve. I had the same experience you describe; coming from decades on a heavy bell the LW bell felt very light to me and I preferred the 1YM. However I recently had the 7YLW cut to make it detachable. Now it holds together perfectly in loud playing and it feels like it has great projection. Very happy about how it plays, and the detachability is very cool as well! I now enjoy both my 1YM and the cut 7YLW but the latter is my favorite.

I’ve heard of a few others doing a cut bell 7YLW. Would you say that has a thicker, denser sound than the 1YM? Hard to compare exactly as I imagine the 8” bell would be more compact anyway?

Did Shires do the cut bell work?

[Chatname]

I feel that the 7 bell has a little more flexibility sound wise while the 1 bell has a little more stability. The 7 sounds richer and wider with the side effect of also having a little more sound impurities, while the 1 is very pure and clean but with less complexity. Both are keepers for me, they sound great in different ways. The 7 blends very well in the section while the 1 keeps more of its own pure voice, in a nice way. The small case for the cut bell is obviously a benefit when traveling.
I ordered a ring set from Shires, a local brass technician did the cut.