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HERMOKIWI
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TrentAustin
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loweredsixth
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 Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 5:18 pm Post subject: |
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That's a handsome horn!
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HERMOKIWI
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| Posted: Thu Mar 10, 2016 8:28 pm Post subject: |
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| loweredsixth wrote: | | That's a handsome horn! |
Thanks, Joe!
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GuidoCorona
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| Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 5:50 am Post subject: |
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Congrats HERMOKIWI!
How about posting a video or audio clip of your new A8?!
Saluti, Guido
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Scuba Steve
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 6:20 pm Post subject: Adams A8 |
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Now it's been three+ years. Do you still have it? What do/did you think of it?
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HERMOKIWI
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:18 pm Post subject: |
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Yes, I still have it and still play it.
I'm primarily an improvisational jazz soloist. My primary influence has been Clifford Brown. I'm performing a tribute to Clifford in celebration of my 70th birthday on May 28, 2020 as the final concert of the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra's 2019-20 season. I founded the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra in 1975 so this is going to be an especially meaningful performance for me. I'll probably play the Adams A8 for this performance except for the final song, "I Remember Clifford," which I'll play on my 1947 Blessing Super Artist.
I have approximately 50 trumpets in my collection. The Adams A8 is different from all the others, especially in terms of the sound it produces. The sound is big and dense and on the warm side, more so than any of my other trumpets. It's the most free blowing trumpet I own, so it takes a different approach than my other trumpets. The player can get sucked into a horn like the A8 so I find that it's best for me to just relax and have confidence that it's going to speak. I had a similar experience when I play tested a Monette Ajna II, the resistance is not where I normally find it in my other horns. It takes some getting used to.
Of course the design, size (big) and overall look of the horn gets you more attention than Bozo driving the Wienermobile. It's a very unusual horn visually. There's not many horns that compare in that regard. So there's a fun factor involved with that. Sometimes I show up with unusual design vintage horns, too. The A8 and the vintage horns are always conversation pieces.
Having said the above it's only fair to mention that I'm basically a "pick it up and play it" trumpet player. I don't think the horn makes much significant difference as long as it's a decent horn in good working condition.
I bought the A8 primarily because I thought it was a very cool horn, not because I thought it was necessarily better than any of my other horns. The fact that I could customize it to produce a sound in the direction of what I wanted was a factor as well although not the deciding factor. Before committing to buy the A8 I'd never played one. I'd only play tested an Adams A4 but the A4 has some similarities to the A8 and the A4 I play tested had the same bell material as I wanted on the A8, so I was comfortable moving forward.
Also, I purchased the horn through J. Landress Brass in NYC and my experience there with Josh and Kevin were outstanding, so that made the whole process easy. Also, Miel Adams kept me up to date on the custom production, sending me progress photos.
After I got the A8 I ordered a custom Adams F2 flugelhorn through J. Landress Brass and that went smoothly as well. The F2 has custom braces matching the braces on my A8. Both horns are gold plated so it's like they're a matched pair.
For me the A8 is a very narrowly focused trumpet: Small group jazz (the Nebraska Jazz Orchestra concert will be a jazz quintet augmented by a big band, so the A8 will work well in that format). I wouldn't consider playing the A8 for any legit work or as a section player. So, the A8 isn't for everyone. As for me, however, I'm having a good time with it.
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mrhappy
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 8:57 pm Post subject: |
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Yeah that's a beauty!! 
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theslawdawg
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| Posted: Wed Aug 28, 2019 9:09 pm Post subject: |
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(drooling)
Let me know when you decide to sell your Adams family!
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cgaiii
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| Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 10:37 am Post subject: |
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Very cool looking trumpet.
I am curious about the shape of the tuning slide, etc. Similar shapes seem to abound in cutting edge horns. What is the advantage of the long easy curve to a sharp bend?
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HERMOKIWI
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| Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| cgaiii wrote: | Very cool looking trumpet.
I am curious about the shape of the tuning slide, etc. Similar shapes seem to abound in cutting edge horns. What is the advantage of the long easy curve to a sharp bend? |
The horn came with two tuning slides. One is elliptical (the one shown in the photos) and the other one is a standard shape. Both of them have the same custom "ADAMS" brace.
As I said above, I'm a "pick it up and play it" trumpet player, so it doesn't matter to me which tuning slide I use, I just adapt to whatever is there. To me the elliptical tuning slide looks cooler than the standard tuning slide so that's the one I use because the appearance of the horn is part of the fun of playing it. When you see it in person and hold it in your hands and compare it to a "normal" trumpet the differences are very substantial, not only in weight (the A8 weighs about 50% more than a "normal" trumpet) but also in the physical size of everything. It has a 5.5" diameter bell which makes even a 5" diameter bell look pretty anemic by comparison. So, in terms of "Go Big Or Go Home" the A8 does the "Go Big" job really well.
In terms of playing characteristics I don't notice any significant difference between the elliptical and the standard tuning slides. There probably are some differences but they haven't mattered to me. Maybe someone who has knowledge of what the differences are supposed to be will post an explanation.
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mrhappy
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| Posted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 7:09 pm Post subject: |
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| HERMOKIWI wrote: | | I'm a "pick it up and play it" trumpet player
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I'm more of a 'pick it up and PRAY' trumpet player!! Haha!
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rick.willoughby@cox.net
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| Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 4:50 pm Post subject: Re: My New Adams A8 Trumpet!! |
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Does this large bore cause you to always travel with a tank of oxygen or is it just a matter of getting used to it?
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dstpt
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| Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2020 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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| mrhappy wrote: | | HERMOKIWI wrote: | | I'm a "pick it up and play it" trumpet player
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I'm more of a 'pick it up and PRAY' trumpet player!! Haha! |
+1!!!!!!!! |
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HERMOKIWI
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| Posted: Mon Feb 10, 2020 12:29 am Post subject: Re: My New Adams A8 Trumpet!! |
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| rick.willoughby@cox.net wrote: | | Does this large bore cause you to always travel with a tank of oxygen or is it just a matter of getting used to it? |
There is no significant difference between the air requirements of the A8 compared to any other horn I've played. To produce a sound the same amount of air passes through the lips regardless of the trumpet being played.
There is a difference in feel with the A8 due to it having less resistance than most horns but the adjustment is in the overall approach (matching expectations to reality) rather than in having to increase the air supply.
The bore of the A8 is .470 but when you compare the total volume of air in a .470 horn compared to a horn that is .460 or even .450 the difference in volume is tiny. In fact, just because one horn is a larger bore than another doesn't automatically mean that its volume is also larger. That's because bore size is measured just at the second valve slide. A larger bore horn could be larger only at the second valve slide. It could be a peashooter everywhere else. So "bore size" isn't necessarily the whole picture.
Remember, also, that you don't have to "fill up" the horn with air. In fact, the horn is already filled up with air when you pick it up. You're just moving air along. That's the same thing you do with any trumpet.
It's a little easier to move air along on the A8 because it has less resistance but, in terms of the total amount of air required, it's pretty much the same as my other horns.
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