TromboneChat

There's a new monster in the trombone world. Or rather an old one. The Holton Monster Valve. I'm looking forward to a page on our new wiki being compiled with regards to this strange thing. I'm curious about for a few different reasons.

For those that don't know about it, it's a massive rotor valve that Holton designed. From what I've heard, the F side tended to blow better than the Bb side, but I've never played one.

Let's discourse.

I played one a very long time ago. It is an interesting valve. From what I remember the middle range didn’t speak as well and the extreme upper range on the Bb side and extreme lower range using the F side. Pedal Bb was non existent and middle Bb was squirrelly.

So, not a glowing endorsement, then?

The production version feels and plays like an interesting proof of concept prototype. I posted a bunch of pictures of it and the internals on an old TTF thread, I’ll have to see if I can dig those up again to post here.

It is interesting that the trigger range is the best on the horn. The entire rest of the horn suffers a bit with it, but hey, they got the open trigger range right.

The only thing worse than the overall blow is the construction... the inside is a brazed assembly with way too much mass and ten times too much surface area to be viable mechanically. But the angular rotation required to operate is pretty decent, a lot like a trubore in that respect. As an engineer, I’d love to take the concept and optimize it, though that would probably just be a variation on a trubore at that point.

In summary, I have a lot of valves, many of them interchangeable on the same 42 chassis. Bach rotary, Ed Thayer, K valve, CL2000, some Trubores on a bass... the Monster will never be played in public for anything other than laughs. While some of the others are silly, they are still viable options. I’m not sure that I’ve fully gotten my $100 with of laughs out of it yet, but I’m probably pretty close.

Cheers,
Andy

I have a TR140 with the Monster valve. And will agree with all these assessments. It is a odd duck, for sure. I put a BrassArk lead pipe in it and that helped it play A LOT better. But still not a great playing horn. (I don't like other Holton tenors, either.) The F side is a bit more open than the Bb side. Middle and low Bb are a bit muddy. I suspect like would resolve itself with play time - similar to how the formerly muddy trigger range on my other horns is now just fine! (Practice, practice!) And the Bb pedal is fine. Oh, and the upper range is fantastic.

Anyway, this valve is sitting on what could be great playing Holton tenor. I have a wrap and valve from a Benge 190F. I am tempted to put on it. But I don't really like Holton tenors and would end up selling it. I am not sure it will be worth the effort. I will probably just sell the whole horn.

Here it is:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/tlUVadzlgQpdcJYG2

How's the action on these valves? I imagine with all of that mass and surface area that they might get sluggish quickly.