Tromba Pro Professional Plastic Bb Cornet-metallic Blue

My wife and I have been playing music (both professionally and in various churches) for over 50 years. My wife, the trumpet player, owns a Bach and Selmer trumpet. She also has a Besson flugelhorn. I recently was looking around for something lighter for her to play and saw a video for the Tromba line of "professional" brass instruments. The videos showed many "famous" or "experienced" players raving about the sound and "playability" of the Tromba horns. One video, at a NAMM show, showed a top trumpeter being blown away by the quality and sound of the Tromba trumpet. Several videos had people playing their prototype "Ultra Light" trumpet. We were also impressed by what we were seeing and hearing. Heck, there was one professional player from Canada who gigs with regularly his Tromba flugelhorn and various colored "Ultra Lights" (most likely the main spokesman for Tromba). Knowing it would primarily be a novelty item, we decided to order a Tromba Cornet "Pro" (surprisingly, the "Ultra Lights" are nowhere to be found in their product line) from Amazon (we are regular customers and they have a fantastic return policy). Note: Although the reviews on Amazon were 3 1/2 to 4 stars, we still went with what we saw on the videos. The horn was delivered in three days and was packed well. I expected the horn to be in a pouch, but it came packed in a little (really basic) hard case with white styrofoam lining. There was one plastic mouthpiece in the case (the Tromba site stated "two mouthpieces"). The color did not match any of the pictures we saw online, but my wife was happy with it. Close inspection found the horn to be right at home in a Wal-mart toy department (I saw, somewhere, they are sold there) and I'm now starting to get less thrilled with our little horn (but, hey, they looked and sounded great on YouTube and the "experts" had declared them awesome). My wife played the first scale and the sound was very warm and a lot like her flugelhorn. Then, she noticed valve #2 did not come back up ...... ever! She handed the horn to me because the valve lock rings were too difficult to turn! As I fought with the lock ring (standard horns use threaded rings to secure the valves and bottom caps, Tromba uses a tabbed "push, twist, lock" type system) I thought, again, Wal-mart! The valves never worked properly and we decided to return the horn and not try to remedy the problem ourselves (this time, had more faith in the Amazon reviews and opted for a Return instead of an Exchange). Speaking of Amazon's return policy, the UPS driver picked up the horn at noon on the day after I placed a Return order. By 8:16 PM, I had a Refund email back from Amazon! This experiment did not work out well for us and I would not recommend this horn to anyone who wanted anything more that a conversation piece that may (or may not) play each time they picked it up. Again, these are NOT the same horns as the prototype "Ultra Lights" that are seen on the videos!

This could have been a 5-star review. Everything is great about this instrument EXCEPT for the sticky 2nd valve. It doesn't return to the open position! Valve oil should have been enough to get it working, but didn't. I will try smoothing the piston and barrel with sanding cloth. I'm VERY disappointed. An instrument like this SHOULD NOT have left the factory. This is very simple quality control.This is the second Tromba blue cornet that I've purchased from Amazon. I sent the first one back because the instrument case was damaged during shipping (no fault of Tromba). The first horn ALSO had a sticky second valve. Which leads me to believe that either Amazon repacked the first horn in a new case (doubtful), or a whole batch of horns left Tromba's Chinese factory with a similar defect (likely).When I buy a new horn, I expect it to WORK. A valve they doesn't freely return to the open position DOESN'T WORK. I would gladly pay $10 more for a functioning, quality-checked horn.I love everything else about this cornet. And I'm sure with some labor I can get it to work. But I expected better.EDIT- After several emails, I finally heard back from Tromba customer service. They shipped me a new set of valve and piston caps. There was a misalignment in the caps, which created friction & didn't allow the valve to return to open.My only other complaint is that there is no first valve ring. Which makes it difficult to adjust the intonation on higher notes.Overall, this is a fun horn to play. I love jamming on it. It's so compact that I have to adjust my grip, but I have big hands. The plastic in the valves and slides takes a little while to break in.

Its plastic and plays like it. The valves are rough. But again...it's plastic. I may need to break them in some and that can make a difference. The videos online I have watched of these horns show the valves as being fairly smooth. Also, one of the valve caps broke while I was playing it. I super glued it and that seems to have fixed the issue.Otherwise, this horn plays pretty well. I was pleasantly surprised with how in tune and easy the horn was to play.

Looks cool, very light-weight, but the intonation is horrible. Forget about the plastic mouthpiece that is included. But even with a real cornet mouthpiece E and F at the top of the staff are VERY sharp. There's no saddle on the 1st valve slide, so for E the only option is 3rd valve and throw that slide way out. For F you can pull the 1st valve slide out but it has to stay there, and then A's and Bb's are horrible flat.If you like lipping notes down to stay in tune then you'll love this horn! Otherwise don't waste your money.

Alright, this horn is not meant to be someone's principle horn...or I would hope not. I purchased it for the holidays as a novelty I wanted a blue one as I already have one in red. The horn plays better than one would expect and the intonation is not horrid. I would use one's own mouthpiece as the one provided is not of any quality at all. The horn is fun and played carols and seasonal stuff well enough for truly informal caroling. An excellent buy if it is just for fun.

Harder to play than a brass instrument, but doable for new students. More air is needed.However, iIt's lovely to look at!