Olds Ambassador

Marching_Trojan · New Member Joined: 05 Sep 2023 Posts: 6

Whats the overall opinion on a 1950's era Ambassador

dschwab · Heavyweight Member Joined: 06 Sep 2004 Posts: 518

They're great. A professional horn marketed as a student model.

TrumpetMD · Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 6:44 am Post subject:

I have two, a 1957 Ambassador Trumpet and a 1957 Ambassador Cornet. They're good horns, with a lot of fans out there.

Mike
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Bach Stradivarius 43* Trumpet (1974), Bach 6C Mouthpiece.
Bach Stradivarius 184 Cornet (1988), Yamaha 13E4 Mouthpiece
Olds L-12 Flugelhorn (1969), Yamaha 13F4 Mouthpiece.
Plus a few other Bach, Getzen, Olds, Carol, HN White, and Besson horns.

wilder · Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 8:40 am Post subject: Re: Olds Ambassador

jeirvine · Posted: Wed Sep 06, 2023 10:30 am Post subject:

Note that Olds cornets take a different mouthpiece taper prior to about 1955, or serial number 189611. After that, they will take a standard Bach-style piece.
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1932 King Silvertone Artist Bore
1945 Buescher 400
1946 Olds Super
1947 Olds Super Cornet
1948 Couesnon flugelhorn
1951 Olds Special
1956 Martin Committee
1964 Olds Recording
1968 Bach 329 C
1996 Bach 37

Marching_Trojan · New Member Joined: 05 Sep 2023 Posts: 6

How does the Ambassador compare to an Olds Recording

stuartissimo · Posted: Thu Sep 07, 2023 11:10 pm Post subject:

Only played 1 Ambassador so my experience is limited, however...

...I found they played very similar, however my Recording was a tad...nicer. The Ambassador was a bit brighter, or sharper, and felt like it preferred to be played a little more aggressive (say, bigband style vs classical). My Recording felt easier to adjust the sound to various timbres, and a little more sensitive to what mouthpiece is used. And I preferred my sound on the Recording (yet I would not have minded to keep that Ambassador at all).

I can play my Recording both bright like a trumpet and mellow like a flugel/cornet, depending on approach and mouthpiece. That Ambassador, I could only play like a trumpet.
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1975 Olds Recording trumpet
1997 Getzen 700SP trumpet
1955 Olds Super cornet
1939 Buescher 280 flugelhorn
AR Resonance mouthpieces

nieuwguyski · Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 11:39 pm Post subject:

I don't particularly like Ambassador trumpets and I've played a fair number of them, including a 1959 time-capsule specimen owned by a local private college that shut down. But I can admire the build quality and bomb-proof design, and acknowledge that far better players than I like them.

I really like the Recording trumpet and used one as my daily player until the valves started getting finicky. It wasn't the years, it was the mileage -- it was clear the horn had been played a ton when I bought it, and I then gigged on it a lot for the next 15 or so years. I still have it and plan on having the valves rebuilt when I save enough pennies.
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J. Notso Nieuwguyski

dr_trumpet · Posted: Sat Sep 09, 2023 8:36 am Post subject:

I used to buy Ambassadors cheap at a pawn shop or private sale, then have a Bach 43 leadpipe installed. Sometimes, we had to fit the female end of the Olds leadpipe to the Bach so that the tuning slide wold fit, but the results to a horn were a more open horn that has a better tone quality and played very, very well. The modification turned a fantastic student horn into a fantastic pro level horn.

Finding a Olds Ambassador in good enough shape to make this modification today at a reasonable price is a lot harder than it was 30 years ago, and many that are for sale show the effects of 30 more years abuse than when I did this project for students back then.

If I were to do it today, I'd also look at the 25O leadpipe, and the 44 leadpipe.
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Dr. Albert L. Lilly, III DM
Artist/Clinician for Vincent Bach Trumpets (Conn-Selmer)
Principal Trumpet, Hendricks Symphony (Avon, IN)
Arranger/Composer; Lilly Music