TromboneChat

Has anyone purchased one of these bells and tried it on their Shires?
How does it play?
How does it compare to Bach bass trombone bells?

I am thinking about purchasing one or getting the Shires equivalent bell and wanted to know what peoples experiences were.

Harold Van Schaik is using one on his Shires setup in the Florida Orchestra at the moment. He loves it.

I've had the VNY bell on a Shires before- not anything like a Bach, IMO.

I'm curious if the X or B taper tuning slides would work best with the O'Malley bells or if the standard Shires tuning slides would work.

If you are familiar the way older Bach bells play and like how they sound, you'll love it. If you're more accustomed to how 2-piece bells play and sound, you might not be as enamored. I got mine second-hand from a solid, experienced player who loved how it sounded but wasn't crazy about how it played. For me it was like coming home.

bigblue wrote: Tue Jul 07, 2026 12:55 pm I'm curious if the X or B taper tuning slides would work best with the O'Malley bells or if the standard Shires tuning slides would work.

X would be better. The O malley bells were copied from some of the best NY & MV Bach bells, so your best bet is to get as close to vintage Bach as possible.

there is no X bass tuning slide, unless I'm mistaken.

You're right, the options are;

Bass:
B: Produces a compact feel and centered sound
C: Designed for players who prefer an open feel and larger sound

For bass, the B tuning slide would compliment the O' malley bell better IMHO.

I play it with a C, it works fine. --- I'm also using a DB slide so I'm not really going for the "authentic reproduction". I have a real NY50B if I want to go total old school.

The comparison of the Shires B to C bass tuning slides is similar to the X to standard large tenor slides.

How does the M & W one piece bell compare to a Bach bell?

Bubba27 wrote: Sun Jul 12, 2026 8:38 am How does the M & W one piece bell compare to a Bach bell?

I don't like writing on posts involving other makers stuff, but since you haven't had any replies..

My one piece bells are great!! They encompass all the positives of Bach bells, sound, response, breadth of tone, dynamic range, core, solidity, without the negatives/inconsistencies of factory bells. There is a trait of pretty much every factory Bach bell that I've played, where it sounds/feels like there is a cloth or veil over the bell, reducing the projection/clarity of the sound. My bells don't have that.
And fwiw, the entire Minnesota Orchestra section play my trombones now, with one piece bells! They all played Bach prior to the change.

With these one piece bells, does turning them into a screw bell change how they play into a two piece bell?

Has anyone done this to a one piece bell that they own?

Yes, I've cut two Bach 50 bells. The main difference was weight rather than suddenly being in two pieces, IMO.

In my experience of having done many screw bell conversions, I do not recommend using a one piece bell. The conversion tends to make the bell play "stiff", with reduced flexibility of tone. 2 piece bells, however, do not seem to suffer the same side effects, anywhere near as much. Infact they tend to have an increased potential dynamic range, while maintaining similar tonal flexibility and quickness of response as the un-cut version.