Dillon bass trombone?

[Holdenj1981]

Anyone had experience with the Dillon bass trombones? Are they cheap for a reason?

[Matt K]

My recollection is they are stenciled JinBao instruments. Or if not JinBao some similar imported horn that is of reasonable quality, but cheap construction thus the cheap price. I don't recall many complaints about them over the years, but typically people buy them with the understanding it isn't an [insert instrument worth x times as much]

[Mamaposaune]

They are made in China, but I have heard from the man himself (Steve) that he works closely with the factory, each one is inspected upon arrival and if is not up to snuff it goes back. I know of several people with Dillon euphoniums and they are happy customers, although the valves have to be oiled regularly of they will stick.

[spencercarran]

It looks like a cheaper version of the John Packer intermediate bass trombone (so not Jinbao), which is itself a loose copy of the Yamaha 613H I play. I tried the John Packer and was underwhelmed. Not a bad horn for the price, especially for a casual doubler, but also unlikely to be the first choice if you have other options.

[atopper333]

I do currently own a Dillon double valve bass trombone and it is definitely a copy of the Yamaha 613.

What do I think of it? For a sub 1000 dollar bass, it does awesome. I am a tenor player who recently started playing bass trombone, and unfortunately work keeps getting in the way of my practice time, so I can tell you my feelings on it, but it is definitely not from the perspective of an experienced bass trombone player.

The horn has a decent finish, there were minor lacquer imperfections along with some what I would describe as buffing imperfections? For the most part, it does not look to bad. The solder joints on mine appear to be quite solid and over the year I’ve had it, I’ve had no issues. The tuning slides for the attachments move free. There is some relative resistance from the main tuning but it isn’t too difficult to move.

The rotors aren’t sloppy and don’t make much noise. There seems to be relatively good compression on the valves relative to other horns I’ve played. There are no issues on mine with the threads to the rotor caps.

The slide…could be better. I would initially give it a 7 out of the box. It fell with no help required, but you could feel resistance. Breaking it in and using Yamaha slide lube has helped tremendously, and definitely gets it to about a 8.5 or so…I’m sure a slide job would bring it where it needs to be. The fit and finish on the inners seems okay. There are some imperfections on the inners and I am unsure of how good the quality is of the plating.

The case…isn’t great, but it works.

The playability of the instrument isn’t bad. It has a very similar feel to a YBL-322 I used to have. I find it tunes well and the positions are pretty accurate. Trigger range to me doesn’t feel stuffy, but then again, I am really inexperienced in the double trigger realm and am using a Wick 2NAL or Bach 1 1/2g…

Final thoughts, great horn for under a grand. Do I expect it to last for decades? No, but I do take care of my gear and I’ve had not issues with it as a primary horn for church music on Sundays. Will it be an excellent full time instrument to learn on? Probably for awhile, but again, if it’s treated well it will last for some time.

[Boneuphtoner]

I've never played the Dillon bass before, but it looks identical to the John Packer 232 that I do have. It is hard to say who made either one of these, but John Packer claims that their instruments are not stencils, and I can say their euphoniums are distinctly different than the Jinbao made Yamaha 642 clones - the John Packer euphs are based on the Besson Sovereign design. I've only seen a couple of other companies use that euphonium design like the Packer. Here is the JP232 bass: https://www.jpmusicalinstruments.com/pr ... cker-jp232

I echo the earlier comment that the biggest fault with the JP232 is the slide. If you really keep it clean, it is maybe a 7/10. Very nice valve action when lubed well. The tone and valve response is very nice - not to the level of my Getzen 1052 of course, but I wouldn't think twice about taking it to a gig where my better horn could become damaged.

The Dillon euphoniums are AMAZING. I have the 967 model that plays flat out better than any Sovereign or Prestige I've ever played. These have the classic British euphonium sound, and the only tweak to the instrument I did was to replace the valve springs with Yamaha euphonium springs. Supposedly these are made at the same factory as the John Packer horns, according to Dillon.