Jupiter XO 1624 C Trumpet Review

[Stradbrother]

Jupiter horns and I go back.

Way back.

Back in 2008/2009, I was performing with a certain professional-adjacent brass band in America, and one of our sponsors was Jupiter, all 28 or so of us trumpet players were fully outfitted with a matching set of professional Jupiter Bb trumpets.

Now, these were prototype horns, with no markings on them, just a serial number and a "JTR1602" on the mouthpiece receiver.

They were fine. They served their purpose and held up on tour, the next year, our prototype horns now had an engraving - Jupiter XO, and they played quite a bit better. A year later, the Jupiter name was dropped and now the only engraving was "XO".

After my time touring, I never picked up a Jupiter XO. No real reason, just never had the opportunity.

Until this past week.

On trumpet herald here, I was alerted to an estate sale in my town that was selling a Jupiter XO C trumpet. I placed a high bid of $400 out of curiosity and the next morning I got an email stating that my high bid of $390 won the auction.

Well shoot, I guess I own a Jupiter horn.

I picked up the horn, a 1624 C trumpet, and wow. Y'all I'm blown away.

The XO story is actually way bigger than Jupiter itself.

Back in 1995, Koichi Haido produced his first XO horn and it was sold as just "XO", you can still find these horns out there, they are very nice horns and the XO engraving is on the mouthpiece receiver.

After some time with business acquisitions and so forth (at least I believe so), the Jupiter brand started producing Koichi Haido's horn as a Jupiter XO, then in recent years, the XO brand has dropped the Jupiter name, just like Lexus separating itself from Toyota, its mass-market brand.

The 1624 C Trumpet is the only XO C trumpet produced currently. It only comes in a large bore (.462) with a 4.8-inch bell, rose brass leadpipe, with an optional rose brass bell, and a choice of standard or reversed leadpipe.

Mine is a rose brass bell with a reversed leadpipe.

Upon first impression, the horn is beautiful. The silver plating is gorgeous and a huge detailed flower engraving with "Jupiter XO" in the middle is on the bell. The horn plays wonderfully, it truly is a blast to play. Much better than the prototypes I used.

It feels like a Bb, but the response and tone are all C trumpet. The bell flare is tight, and with that tightness, you get a really striking tone when you push the horn.

The intonation is wonderful. Personally, open notes on a C horn always feel squirrelly to me, and I contribute that to the fact that on a C horn, you have less tubing to really slot those notes into place, but the open notes on this XO are so solid and they just lock into place.

The horn feels great in the hand, but if I do have one gripe, It would be the angle of the first valve slide saddle and the ring on the 3rd valve slide. The saddle makes me kick out the first valve slide almost at an angle and I can't get it to move smoothly. The 3rd valve slide ring is also slightly "sharp", not enough to cut into my skin or anything, but the ring is squared off on the edges, which is odd, most rings have a comfortable edge instead of a harsh one.

But these gripes are small, the valves are wonderful and the horn has a great feel to it.

The reverse leadpipe also has a unique sleeve design where the top of the tuning slide has a sleeve that extends from the leadpipe, past the pinky hook, and almost to the point where the standard leadpipe would sit.

Very cool design.



Yes, that's a hidden reverse leadpipe.

The XO 1624 is a wonderful instrument. It is possibly one of the most consistent horns I've played. The intonation is reliable, the tone is beautiful, the construction is wonderful, and it truly has a legit presence to it.

Fit/finish - 7/10, not a big fan of those saddles and rings, but the construction is solid and this horn will last for a very long time.

Tone - 8/10, a beautiful tone, but it might be tough to match with traditional Bachs and Yamahas in a pro orchestra setting.

Intonation - 9/10, one of the best I've had with a C trumpet

Value - 10/10, these horns go for less than $1500 in near-mint condition.

Don't count out XO/Jupiter. This is definitely taking over as my main C horn.
_________________
Getzen 3051 Custom
Kanstul California 101
XO 1624 C
Bach 183 Flugelhorn
Bach LB 229 Eb/D Long Bell
Bach 184 Cornet
Kanstul 920

[thecoast]

Hi. What’s the intonation in comparison to a Bach C? Just so happens I’m looking at this very model on eBay. I’m also looking at a B&S Challenger C.

[Stradbrother]