Courtois 550BH

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MTbassbone
Posts: 558
Joined: Apr 21, 2018

by MTbassbone »

Any experiences with this horn? Is it heavy weight wise? Is the curved hand brace comfortable?
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Burgerbob
Posts: 6327
Joined: Apr 23, 2018

by Burgerbob »

Heavy heavy. And I don't like the curved brace, myself. Good horns but not my cup of tea in all regards, ergonomics at the bottom.
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Mv2541
Posts: 562
Joined: Mar 29, 2018

by Mv2541 »

The one I had was a good player but it had kind of an ‘anonymous’ sound like people are saying about the KH in the other thread. This was especially true hearing a friend directly comparing it to other top horns (M&W, Shires, Thein, etc).
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timbone
Posts: 240
Joined: Apr 30, 2018

by timbone »

This was actually a lighter version on the 500 BH which had the plaque resonator in the main tuning slide. Now you think the 550 is heavy? The 500 is like a crane boom. But... the sound is thick and slots- pedal F’s - fat. They did something that was acoustically beneficial but not up to the weight and balance the usual player would expect. Oh well. I learned a long time ago, if you like the sound of TIS horns, you’ll learn how to hold em. I have my eye on one actually- the 500 that is.
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timbone
Posts: 240
Joined: Apr 30, 2018

by timbone »

Now I see that Mv2541 has a 502; that is a different perspective for sure and the 502 is very underrated btw.
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BoomtownRath
Posts: 112
Joined: Oct 15, 2019

by BoomtownRath »

Tried one recently with a 10 1/2" bell, was on the heavy side to hold but I found it nice to play on, responsive!!
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Mv2541
Posts: 562
Joined: Mar 29, 2018

by Mv2541 »

[quote="timbone"]Now I see that Mv2541 has a 502; that is a different perspective for sure and the 502 is very underrated btw.[/quote]

I have a gold bell 502 now, but I did have a 550 in the past that I think NeoBri might still have (?)