Alto/Tenor Horn - Anyone play it?

Trumpetingbynurture · Heavyweight Member Joined: 18 Nov 2015 Posts: 898

Am looking at picking up the Alto/Tenor horn to give me something different to practice when I get bored of the Trumpet.

Anyone else play one?

I have a pretty pipsqueak budget, so I was looking at possibly one of the Thomann ones, as I've heard that thomann's instruments are toooo bad.

https://www.thomann.de/intl/thomann_ah_403_l_altohorn.htm

Anyone tried one?

kehaulani · Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 8:55 am Post subject:

In answering your question . . yes. I have played Alto Horn. Played it about two years in a German village band. Lot of fun. I had no problems and seldom practiced.

Regarding a horn's brand, I'm afraid I can't help you there. I bought my alto in East Germany (Berlin). It was likely made in Markneunkirchen, GE and yours is likely Chinese, but it's not a given that it is a bad horn.

It has good reviews but who knows the sources? The seller has a reasonable return policy so it might be a safe try-out. Of course you realise that you may have to pay return postage, but if you've got the coin, I'd give it a try.
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Didymus · Posted: Wed Feb 12, 2020 9:23 am Post subject: Wessex Tubas

Also look at the Wessex Tubas website. Their instruments probably are Chinese stencils, but I have not heard nor read anything bad about their low brasses.
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DJtpt31 · Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 9:39 pm Post subject:

Interesting. I have been looking at picking up an Alto Horn, too, just for fun. I was contemplating to ask if there are any Alto Horn forums similar to TH. I've been looking at some of the Schiller alto's from Jim Laabs or even from Dillon Music.
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Rapier232 · Posted: Sat Feb 15, 2020 11:54 pm Post subject:

Tenor horns are like trumpets, you can buy cheap or you can buy good. Get a known make Yamaha or Besson. The lower range in those brands are still decent instruments. I played solo horn in a Brass Band for years and found the Besson Sovereign to be very good, before buying the first Yamaha Neo sold in Europe.
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Didymus · Posted: Mon Feb 17, 2020 3:56 pm Post subject: Al's

rhodge49 · Posted: Sat Mar 07, 2020 5:21 pm Post subject: tenor horn

I have a tenor horn by York and Sons made in 1918. Great shape, plays well, and for sale if you're interested.

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nieuwguyski · Posted: Sun Mar 08, 2020 5:32 pm Post subject:

I have a beautiful 1949 King bell-front alto horn, in satin silver with a gold-wash inner bell. It has slides for F and Eb (lines scribed on the inner slide tubes suggest where to pull them for Eb tuning), the original case (in decent shape), the original lyre, and came with the original mouthpiece (which was stolen when I loaned it out at a Tuba Christmas event years ago).

It is not a multi-key instrument that plays better in one key than the other: It plays with equally-adventurous intonation in both F and Eb. That said, it has a pleasant sound and is kind of fun to wrestle with when trying to cover the horn parts in "Sargent Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with the local Beatles re-creation group.
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