TromboneChat

Hey there,

I'm in the market for an alto. What do you folks know about the YSL-671, particularly with a valve? I'd love some first-hand knowledge.

Does the 671 come with a valve as an option? I thought that was only the 871? Either way, I never played one with a valve. I had a 671 for a few years before I sold it to buy a valve. Shouldn't have sold it. Maybe not the truest alto sound in the world, but for doubling it was great. I could pick it up and be playing in tune in just a couple of minutes. Really similar blow to a small tenor, didn't feel too different from my large bore at the time, and didn't have any crazy tendencies that weren't already muscle memory. I used a 7C on it at the time, probably not a great choice, but it didn't make my face hurt coming from my large bore pieces.

FWIW, at the right price I would buy one tomorrow if it came to my attention.
Andy

Hi! I would ask you....have you ever seen or played Ysl 671 (old series) with gold bell and yellow slide? I saw one somewhere, and I'm very curious to know something about it!

Used to own one (yellow brass, not gold and without valve) and agree with the above that after some minor adjustment/familiarisation it was very playable and not too mouthpiece sensitive. The slide was excellent. I have regretted selling it but cannot possibly justify having two altos.

I moved to a 36H as I wanted the Bb valve, in some ways the Yamaha had a lighter alto sound, the 36H is slightly more In the tenor direction but I enjoy playing either in a section with large modern tenor/bass. The 36H I do find to be more MP sensitive and it took longer to settle on that the Yamaha so relatively seen these are plus points for the Yamaha.

I played on one for a while, but haven't tried the new 871. The trill valve (whole/half step) is a gimmick. It sounds like you're using a valve to do the trill and it's not characteristic of the instrument. If you can do lip trills the Bb valve option is superior in almost every way -- you get all the lip trills of the Eb alto and MOST of the lip trills of the Bb tenor.

A good instrument maker can make a drop in Bb valve for the Yamaha that attaches just at the valve's tuning slide, but that will be likely more expensive than getting a Shires or 36H with one built in. This is what they used to offer (it might have been a few prototypes they made, actually) on the older 671-T version, and it would just drop in:
The Yamaha feels smaller when you play it, but it gets a darker sound than the Shires and Conn, and the intonation has more quirks than a 36H that has been cut down. Maybe about the same as a 36H with a full length tuning slide. Tuning in bell altos have very finicky intonation, and TIS altos have very heavy slides, so the best compromise I've found is to cut a TIB alto's tuning legs and shorten the bell section as much as you can without losing the low A. But then you need to tune only with your hand and only pull the slide if it's really hot (reintroducing the quirks).

In terms of sound and playability, I'd place the popular choices as 36H (cut), then Shires custom, then Yamaha.

In terms of intonation, I'd order them as Shires, 36H (cut), Yamaha.

The Yamaha's are good. Like a lot of other Yamaha instruments, I find the sound to be a bit "generic". Not really completely a bad thing - it's a good sound, they play very consistently, and are "user-friendly" in regards to response and tuning, and are instruments where it is fairly easy to pick up and play on a concert where you are playing a large tenor on the rest of the program.

The gold bell Yamaha that I had to try out for a week or so was also larger - .500 bore. That was the horn that Ian Bousfield was using when he was a Yamaha Artist. I haven't played the trill valve horns, but I believe that is placed in the tuning slide - that was an option for the larger gold bell horns.

Alain Trudel plays the Yamaha w/trill valve. His recordings of the major alto concertos are on YouTube - check them out to hear that horn in action.

I tried out a bunch of altos at each of the (2) International Trombone Festivals that I went to. At the first one, I was looking for a new horn, and ended up with an Edwards (not available at this time). The other top pick that time was the Thein (2.5 times the price at that point). The others that I thought were pretty good were the Conns (don't forget the 34H too), the Yamaha, the Courtois and I believe there was a Glassl there too.

Last summer at the ITF in Salt Lake City, I wasn't in the market for a new horn, but the altos I really enjoyed were the Theins (2 different models - different but both great), the Shires (I really liked the new Q series Alessi model with bell tuning), and I had a great time playing a sterling silver Adams. That horn had a B flat valve, and was just fun to play!

Jim Scott

I'm pretty sure Brian Wendell from the Cleveland Orchestra uses one with a valve- the bits of alto I've heard from him, like everything else, sounds really spectacular. Steve Witser played a Yamaha alto that he sounded really lovely one and was a real joy to play- felt much more like an alto sound than the Conn the studio had.

I've got a Courtois with the trill valve- it's the same as the Yamaha with it being placed in the tuning slide. As Harrison pointed out, they don't really do much for trills. However I find it incredibly useful for avoiding 7th- im endlessly pulling the slide off, so it's been lovely for that. I'd like to get a Bb slide built at some point to plug into it.

The Thein valve for their altos can be a B flat valve or can be converted into a trill valve, as well as being in the tuning slide so you can use a regular tuning slide without a valve. Best of all worlds, but they are (justifiably) pricy!

Jim Scott

Here's a review....