8H .525?

[brtnats]

Hi everyone!

Anybody got any experience with an 8H or an 8HT with Conn’s .525 slide? Always wondered about this setup but never had the chance to play it.

[hyperbolica]

Oh, don't get me started. In ~2005 or so I bought a brand new 8ht with the sl2525 slide from Steve Ferguson. Really amazing horn. Because I already had a regular Elkhart 88h, the slides were interchangeable with the different bell sections. The big slide definitely has its place, but the smaller 525 slide is just more nimble,pops more, and I think if you learn to play it right, it can be much more delicate with more sound density. The big slide will feel a little airy after you play the smaller one.

I've since "upgraded" to a 1958 8h, and I've got a different 525 slide, but it's just really one of the better things you can do if you're a Conn nut and/or a 525 nut. I've used the 525 8h for quartet, quintet, orchestra, concert band, church gigs, lots of stuff.

The ONLY bad thing I can say about the 8h is that the main brace is a little further back than I would like, and it stretches out my hand/thumb a bit too much. I may have a dogleg put into my 8h main brace.

I'm not sure if the new GenIIs do this, but my 88h and 8h bells both ring at about F#. That drives some people crazy, but I've been dealing with it so long, it's just a part of playing the horn. If you really feel the need to get rid of it, you can strap some weight around the bell throat, and it will dampen out. I say let 'er ring. It's a sign the horn is vibrating.

Also, if you use the sl2525 specifically, you should get 3 leadpipes with it, including one that allows you to use a large shank mouthpiece with the slide. Otherwise, 525 slides are small shank slides. I've never felt the large shanks added anything to the setup, but some people do.

There are some other people here who use the sl2525 with either the 8h or 88h. It's a really solid combo.

You can't really equate the 88h/525 or the 8h/525 with the 79h or 78h respectively. The 8/88 is just so much more colorful and malleable. To me the 79h is actually darker than the 88h/525, and the 78h just has this tendency to get wildly bright when you push it hard. I don't know what it is spec-wise or construction-wise that makes it this way, but I generally prefer the 79h over the 88h/525, but I much prefer the 8h/525 over the 78h.

I'm not sure what aspect of it you're interested in, but the 8hT/525 is really a great horn. The current 8h (no T) is a heavier bell, and it's just not nearly as interesting. I also had one of those, and got rid of it because it didn't live up to the lighter horn.

If you're really interested and you get over into western Virginia, stop by and I can let you play my Elkie 88h, Elkie 8h and 79h, along maybe with a 32h just for comparison. The UMI GenII 8hT is the closest to the original Elkharts.

[harrisonreed]

It was GenII that does that I thought. 2005 was GenII era, right?