Will Heavy Valve Caps Cancel out a Lightweight body?

[HMHustead]

Hey. has anyone put heavy valve caps on a LR Strad. Mine is in the mail. I went with the 180 LR with the 43 Bell because I love the bright sound and free blowing nature of the reverse leadpipe. The bell is standard weight, but the body is lightweight. no way of getting around that...the LR only comes with horns with lightweight bodies. Anyhow, if I put the heavy valve caps on, what will it do to the responsiveness, tone, etc of the horn? Any help is greatly appreciated!

[LJLOE]

Let us know how the heavy caps work out. I have an LR180S43. I love it. It kinda surprises me that you don't hear that much about this particular model. It really is a neat horn.

[HMHustead]

Maybe I wasnt clear. The Strad LR180S43 is in the mail. Havent decided about the heavy valve caps yet...was hoping some of the members would have this setup that they could offer some guidence.

[_dcstep]

You will probably find out when they come in the mail. That's not an unusually light horn, so the benefits should be "typical".

Start with one on the 3d valve only. Check the response by doing lip slurs up and down your range and feel how hard it is to go from one note to the next on the slurs. Generally, as you add the weight the slur will become slightly harder to make, but if you put a lot of energy behind it it'll be easier to control. I think of the ease of movement as "flexiblity" and it's reduced by adding mass. Flexibility is replaced with "security" in that more energy can be applied without overshooting a note.

The overall "projection" tends to increase as mass increases and the horn becomes less flexible. Perception of "projection" is really influenced by the amplitude of the various overtones. Adding and subtracting mass changes which overtone gets emphasized or de-emphasized. You hear this and feel this. Reducing high overtones is perceived and described as adding "core" to your sound. (Personally, I think that reducing the high overtones reduces actual projection because highs are needed to reflect the complexity of a beautiful tone, but many players move toward ever darker horns thinking that the "core" will make them sound better in a large venue-- I disagree with that, but that's just a personal thing).

ANYWAY, there's no way to know if adding heavy caps to your horn will "improve" its slotting, tone or projection. Each of those characteristics is the reflection of a complex set of compromises. What's best will vary from player to player.

I think you'll like the results of putting a heavy cap on your third valve casing. If not, send 'em back and forget about it.

Give us a report after you've tried the cap(s).

Dave
_________________
Schilke '60 B1 -- 229 Bach-C/19-350 Blackburn -- Lawler TL Cornet -- Conn V1 Flugel -- Stomvi Master Bb/A/G picc -- GR mpcs
[url=http://www.pitpops.com] The PitPops[/url]
Rocky Mountain Trumpet Fest

[HMHustead]

Thanks Guys, you shared knowledge has added to my learning.

[mulligan stew]

my two cents worth--

I have a set of heavy caps for my Schilke B1Lb--a very lightweight horn. I normally play in a highly improvisational setting, and like the responsiveness and wide slotting of the schilke very much. I did a session recently with all three caps on as an experiment and could NOT play what I was hearing. The extra weight and locked-down slotting destroyed the horn for my purposes...however, using just the one cap on the third valve provided very different results. I actually like it for practicing long tones, Caruso stuff, etc...and in a louder setting I find it makes playing with an edge a bit easier. I imagine the one cap would also be effective in a setting such as salsa, something I am very familiar with. But I can't imagine any setting where I'd like all three caps on the schilke B1Lb.

[_dcstep]

Exactly, mulligan.

The Selmer Paris Concept TT is actually a pretty heavy horn, yet I have about the same perception as you when I try to go beyond the one heavy cap on the 3d valve.

I'm not sure if the optimal mass change has to do with total mass or where the highest amplitude harmonics get moved to. I'm beginning to think that it's the later. This would explain why caps on some horns seem to have only a negative effect. If the horn is in the "ideal" range for the particular player with his/her particular mouthpiece, then if you add (or subtract) mass you move the harmonics down (or up) out of the "ideal" slot.

It's not serendipity, BUT you cannot prejudge what will happen. What works for one player/trumpet/mpc system will not necessarily work as well for another and there are real physical phenomenon happening that explain this. Just my non-physicist thoughts...

Having a variety of cap weights, mouthpieces, slides, etc. increases the odds that the player will be able to put a horn into its sweet spot, but there are no guarantees. I think it's a super trend that Selmer Paris, Conn, Jupiter, Wild Thing, V-Raptor and others are providing a variety of mass adjustment accessories with their new horns. I think it reflects more than a marketing ploy and indicates an appreciation for the value of helping the player to find the sweet spot.

Dave
_________________
Schilke '60 B1 -- 229 Bach-C/19-350 Blackburn -- Lawler TL Cornet -- Conn V1 Flugel -- Stomvi Master Bb/A/G picc -- GR mpcs
[url=http://www.pitpops.com] The PitPops[/url]
Rocky Mountain Trumpet Fest

[musiclifeline]

I've got a Bach 72* and I've tried the heavy caps (in every combination... took about 3 weeks to really test them like that) and I found that the 3rd valve cap is the way to go, then next best was the 1st and 3rd. It did not kill the responsiveness of the horn (well... with two caps it definitely dampened it a bit).

Eventually I got rid of the caps and replaced them with two dimes in the 3rd valve. It actually works quite well, and the price is right. (If you do this, don't screw the cap too tight over the dimes... for some reason this makes a slight difference in dampening the overtones a little more than I like.)

[ This Message was edited by: musiclifeline on 2004-01-08 10:02 ]