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The forgotten UMI Conn - The Heritage 81B



 
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Stradbrother
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Joined: 13 Apr 2015
Posts: 150

PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 3:14 pm    Post subject: The forgotten UMI Conn - The Heritage 81B Reply with quote

Hey all, I'm a weird fella.

I love playing and collecting weird and rare horns. No, nothing necessarily "good" rare, I love horns that got lost in the mix.

Horns that were produced but never really caught on, or caught on, but got lost in company business acquisitions.

Today, thanks to 'sleeping tiger' here on TH, I found my next rare horn that just didn't get a fair chance - the Conn 81B C trumpet.

And wow. What an interesting beast. But first, some history...

In the mid-1980s, United Musical Instruments was formed. Its development and structure seem completely normal compared to other businesses of today, but for its time, UMI was unique.

UMI was a conglomerate of a few different musical instrument companies that pooled its resources to stay alive, to put it bluntly.

By the mid-1980s and into the 1990s, UMI consisted of King, Conn, Benge, Artley, Armstrong, Hermann Beyer, Musica, Scherl & Roth, and they also were responsible for the distribution of Stomvi horns in some countries as well.

Again, this is nothing new today. Just like in the automotive industry, companies collaborate, share parts, and release their products under different brand names.

UMI did the same.

The King Legend trumpet was released, which was also marketed as a Conn 52b at a lower cost with a 2 piece bell. The Benge 90b, a horn that was loathed by many for not living up to the pre-UMI Benge standards, was also marketed as the King Silver Flair.

But not all was bad with UMI. According to many artists I've played with over the years, UMI went out of its way to treat their clinicians and endorsers with respect. Even my trumpet professor from my college days told me he always had a brand new Benge picc, King Bb, and King Flugelhorn at his doorstep every year, and they never asked for payment.

Among these horns that flooded the market, there was one UMI horn that stood out among the rest very briefly before it was dropped and quickly deleted from catalogs.

The Conn Heritage 81b










The Conn Heritage 81b was built as a true custom-level UMI horn, back in the 1980s when custom-level equipment was not common.

It was built to be a love letter for the Conn brand's history. To live up to the demands of the modern orchestra while paying homage to the rich history of the brand through styling cues.

The Conn 81b is a .462 large bore C horn with a standard, non-reversed tuning slide featuring a single brace. The leadpipe, as well as the bell, are made from a beautiful rose brass material.

The engraving is standard UMI, but this horn also features a beautiful engraving around the circumference of the bead of the bell. I also love how the valve buttons are real mother-of-pearl, instead of the cheap feeling UMI nickel-plated valve buttons found on their other horns.

Oddly enough, one of the most unique parts of this horn is the bottom valve caps, which have a mother-of-pearl inlay.



Playing-wise, it plays very much like a classic Bach 229/H pipe C trumpet.

Slots are HEAVY. This horn snaps into partials, and it can be tough to be light and flexible on this horn, but that isnt what this horn was made to do.

This was a horn built to be onstage for Mahler 5. You could get it to play light and easy, of course, but this horn wants to be a bombastic romantic-era trumpet on stage and it really does a good job with that.

Construction is incredibly solid. The valves are incredibly quick but have a somehow-classic feel to them When you press the valves, you can hear the pressure release slightly from the valve slide tubing, showing a tight fitment, and the compression is wonderful.

Now, the weight.

UMI horns, especially the Kings (which I do enjoy playing), have a tendency to be heavy and feel restrictive, but this horn is incredibly light. It has a rose brass bell, but it feels like a raw brass lightweight Bach in the hands.

The intonation is solid as well. Well, as solid as an 80s-designed, 90s-built C horn can be. Alternate fingerings are needed for C, D, E, and Eb at the top of the staff, but that isn't anything new for a lot of C horns of this era. Down low, D and C# are incredibly sharp, but you have smooth-moving 1st and 3rd valve slides to help.

It's a shame this horn didn't gain traction.

It is good.

Like, seriously good.

Not "say its good and unique but go back to the Bach", but genuinely a serious instrument.

Dang it, UMI. You had something here and you replaced it with the Benge 90c, because everyone just loved the 90b huh? (sarcasm)
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chef8489
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Joined: 16 Aug 2011
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PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 5:46 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wasn't the king legend 2070 the sister horn? Basically the same thing?
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Brassnose
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Joined: 07 Mar 2016
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Location: Germany

PostPosted: Sat Nov 26, 2022 11:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, this is interesting. With the gold brass bell it would make nice sibling for my Bach 43GH

It’s good to see a positive read on a UMI horn. After all the soso opinions on TH and elsewhere I had generally dismissed UMI instruments as not terribly interesting. Your post, however, reminded me that the runner up to my Bach, when I tested new horns in 1992, was - tadaah - a Benge.

No recollection of the model but given the year it must have been a UMI Benge and it beat Yamahas, other Bachs, and whatever else was on the table (don’t remember).

The reason I got the Bach was that it had a much denser sound and I didn’t quite like the longer throw of the Benge valves. Other than that it was a fine horn.
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kehaulani
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Joined: 23 Mar 2003
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 9:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Strad - you seem quite knowledgeable about UMI-Conns, so I'm just curious. Could you tell me if the Conn Vintage One is a UMI horn?

I played a concert some years ago with a featured trumpet soloist (improv not screech) who played a Vintage One and loved it. I never see much interest in it and am just curious. Thanks.
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fleming
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Joined: 09 Nov 2022
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Location: Ohio

PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 9:48 am    Post subject: UMI Reply with quote

My experience with UMI as a clinician was always positive. I especially liked the Benge picc they gave me. The company always seemed a bit unsettled during my contact with them, but the idea that they wanted to perpetuate some great American instrument brands was noble.
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Brassnose
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 10:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Kehaulani: I know you asked the OP but I did play test a Conn V1 just before the pandemic hit so I figured I’d join the party. Spent a day at FMB and the survivors at the end of the day were two 43 Strads and the V1. The valves have a slightly shorter throw than the Strad and the sound is a little broader.

The one I played was all brass, no gold brass, and I can totally see how a jazz soloist would use a V1. I was really tempted and it would have been a nice contrast to my Bach but I had just bought the Schmidt rotary a while before and was actually at FMB to get something fixed with another instrument, so I did not buy it.

The contrast between the V1 and the 52B I could play just a few days later is quite striking. The V1 is warm and broad while the 52B - for me anyways - is the horn for the rough stuff. Focused, brilliant sound, quite aggressive if you push it. Personally, if I had to chose, I’d go with the 52B but then again, my Bach does that part of my playing very nicely, too.
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1977 Conn 6B
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Andy Cooper
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PostPosted: Sun Nov 27, 2022 2:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Conn made another model of C trumpet - I thought it was a Heritage but it did not look like the OP's trumpet. No lazer engraving and had a french bead bell. Perhaps a model before the 81C. Only 4th line D was flat - E and Eb were fine. I assumed it was their take on a Bach "Chicago" C.
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F.E. Olds Nut
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Joined: 15 Mar 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 28, 2022 7:16 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I had a UMI Conn 86B C trumpet for several years, large bore, reverse leadpipe. I guess it was the precursor to the 51B C trumpet. Not a bad horn, but a little clunky.
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