Sterling silver Bell on tenor trombone (Courtois Paris, Adams Tb1

[WilleronCoda]

Hi everyone !

I wanted to know if any of you had any experience with Sterling silver bell on large bore tenor trombone and maybe on bass trombone for solo repertoire, in orchestra or in other formation.
It’s really hard for me to find a horn to try but I’m really curious.
I’m considering trying the courtois Paris and the Adams tb1 any experience on those horns ?

Thank you !

[OnceATrombonist]

Adams TB-1 Sterling silver discussion at about 5:00


Playing samples

[NordicTrombone]

I briefly had a Courtois 420 with a sterling silver bell. It was an amazing horn, with the most stable sound of any trombone I've ever played. It was quite easy to play and would never break up at any dynamic and kept it's core in pianissimo.

But there was two problems with it: It was EXTREMELY unbalanceddue to the bell being made of silver and the slide was the ultralight slide Courtois makes. And the biggest issue was that no matter how hard I articulated, there was no discernable front to the notes. The front was soft and the sound blended just too well, so I stuck with brass bells.

The Courtois' bell was quite thick, so it might be different to what Adams offers, I've never tried those

[muschem]

I haven't played a Courtois or Adams, but I have 4 sterling bells from Shires ranging from bass to alto. I find that sterling favors the fundamental, so you'll get a less complex (some might say less interesting) / less overtone-rich sound. It's fairly polarizing... people seem to either love sterling bells or hate them - there isn't much middle ground as far as I can tell. In ensembles, they make it a bit more challenging to blend, but for solo rep you might get a marginal boost in projection. The differences once you get out to the bell are more subtle compared to the same material changes made closer to the face, and I suspect those nuances are much more apparent to the player than to the audience. If you can try a sterling leadpipe in your current setup, that might be a less costly way to figure out whether it's closer to the sound concept you have in mind or not. All that said, what I notice more than the sonic differences is the weight - they're significantly heavier compared to brass bells of similar thickness. Counterweights can help, but I still feel the difference on longer gigs.

[Burgerbob]

I've owned a 42R, and played next to 88HSGX on more than a few occasions.

I love the sterling sound, but also it's not a sound that plays well with others unless they are using sterling too. My 42R was awesome but I just couldn't think of a situation where I would feel comfortable showing up with it rather than my yellow bell one.

The friends on sterling 88Hs were simply impossible to blend with, and perhaps unsurprisingly none of them play them anymore.

[OnceATrombonist]

There are also 2-3 videos of the Adams with a red brass stem and sterling silver flare on YouTube.

[tkelley216]

A colleague has a prototype Courtois AC420 with sterling silver bell. It's the best Courtois 420/421 I've ever played.

It has most of the characteristics of sterling silver bells. A really dense sound with lots of core and projection at the cost of color and flexibility. The response was good, it just "felt" great to play compared to other Courtois I had tried.

We compared it pretty extensively to two Edwards setups. The Edwards sounded better when played "correctly" but worse when there were any tension or inefficiencies. The sterling bell of the Courtois covered up problems, but also nuance. It takes more physical effort to play, but less mental focus. It always sounded like 7-8/10 while the Edwards was anywhere from 5-10/10. I could see that as reason Lindberg and Becquet like silver, larger margin of error when doing complicated solo rep.

Silver is a particular sound and can be pushed way further than brass before breaking up but also unresponsive a lower volumes, but I've never had an issue blending sitting next to that horn.

[harrisonreed]

Sterling bells are incredible. But they sort of blow everyone around you out of the water, even if you are doing everything you can to match them. It's like a section of normal violins with a random Stradivarius in the section somewhere. Or this guy just randomly in the section:

[timbone]

To Nordic- I am not sure of the other varieties of silver bells but the Courtois is cut from a sheet of solid silver and not plated hence the weight. Michel Becquet asked for the lightweight slide with soldered silver lead pipe. I prefer a heavier slide and brass pipe. Jorgen played a heavy slide with his close wrap; not sure what is used on his horn today.

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