King 2103PLS Legend 3B Trombone
- tbdana
- Posts: 1928
- Joined: Apr 08, 2023
<U>NEVER MIND. IT WAS INDEED "TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE." A SCAM SITE MIMICKING SWEETWATER.
MODS, PLEASE DELETE.</U>
Tell me about this horn. I assume it's a regular professional 3B with a .525 bore, sterling silver one-piece hammered bell, and a nickel-silver slide. Anyone know how they play? What would you expect to pay for one of these brand new? I see one for sale that looks like a really good deal. Like "too good to be true" deal. What's wrong with these horns?
MODS, PLEASE DELETE.</U>
Tell me about this horn. I assume it's a regular professional 3B with a .525 bore, sterling silver one-piece hammered bell, and a nickel-silver slide. Anyone know how they play? What would you expect to pay for one of these brand new? I see one for sale that looks like a really good deal. Like "too good to be true" deal. What's wrong with these horns?
- Burgerbob
- Posts: 6327
- Joined: Apr 23, 2018
Not a ton of silversonic 3B+ out there. Neat. If it's real, could be worth picking up. Not sure what I would personally use one for.
- hyperbolica
- Posts: 3990
- Joined: Mar 23, 2018
I never could warm up to Silversonic, they are too heavy for me. I owned a screwbell 3b SS, which was monstrously heavy. If you search TC for Silversonic, you'll find a wide range of opinions. One of the things I took from all that reading is that if you spend a lot of money on something, you're going to try to defend it. The spread of reports from owners and former owners is just too wide - sometimes even contradictory - to be purely factual info.
Even if the ad you saw was a scam, 3b, 3bf and 3bf+ are a great trombone dynasty for years. They have been kind of a project for me over the course of the last year. One thing that I've noticed is that the last 3 3bf variants I've owned in the last year have all had a brace across the valve knuckles. It seems like these instruments, as the smallest F valve horn widely available, get marched a lot by over-enthusiastic high school kids. On the over-the-shoulder snap maneuver, the horn tends to get bent across the valve knuckles. This repair sometimes leaves the knuckles cracked, and the horn never fully recovers from the damage. A brace is often placed across the valve knuckles to stiffen that area and prevent it from happening again.
I know you're partial to Bach 16M, which are great horns. Can't argue with Watrous' results. But in that range I prefer the Getzen 3508. It's just light and super open. The first time I blew that horn, it just felt like home. But sometimes you need a valve.
3bs and Kings in general have this bright flavor which can fall either to the good side or the not so good side. My last 3bf felt nice at first, but didn't stand up to more scrutiny. I was using it as a quintet horn, and eventually it just felt too small.
So I moved to a 3bf+, which I never thought I'd actually find (I own 2 right now). If you get a chance to play the Plus version, it's well worth it in my view. It has most of the bright flavor of the 3b but slightly broadened, and the extra bore size allows you to manipulate the sound at volume a little more. Match it with a good mouthpiece, and it really is a great quintet and even all-around bone. I wound up with a DE XT 104 D+ 4. The D+ 3 was a little too bright, and anything E cup was too broad. D+ really is a magical cup.
The 3508 would probably be a great horn with a valve, but I really like it as it is, and didn't want to take the chance of ruining it. Maybe I'll buy a second one and put a valve on that. The 3bf+ is one step below the 3508 in general, but works better for quintet for me.
Even if the ad you saw was a scam, 3b, 3bf and 3bf+ are a great trombone dynasty for years. They have been kind of a project for me over the course of the last year. One thing that I've noticed is that the last 3 3bf variants I've owned in the last year have all had a brace across the valve knuckles. It seems like these instruments, as the smallest F valve horn widely available, get marched a lot by over-enthusiastic high school kids. On the over-the-shoulder snap maneuver, the horn tends to get bent across the valve knuckles. This repair sometimes leaves the knuckles cracked, and the horn never fully recovers from the damage. A brace is often placed across the valve knuckles to stiffen that area and prevent it from happening again.
I know you're partial to Bach 16M, which are great horns. Can't argue with Watrous' results. But in that range I prefer the Getzen 3508. It's just light and super open. The first time I blew that horn, it just felt like home. But sometimes you need a valve.
3bs and Kings in general have this bright flavor which can fall either to the good side or the not so good side. My last 3bf felt nice at first, but didn't stand up to more scrutiny. I was using it as a quintet horn, and eventually it just felt too small.
So I moved to a 3bf+, which I never thought I'd actually find (I own 2 right now). If you get a chance to play the Plus version, it's well worth it in my view. It has most of the bright flavor of the 3b but slightly broadened, and the extra bore size allows you to manipulate the sound at volume a little more. Match it with a good mouthpiece, and it really is a great quintet and even all-around bone. I wound up with a DE XT 104 D+ 4. The D+ 3 was a little too bright, and anything E cup was too broad. D+ really is a magical cup.
The 3508 would probably be a great horn with a valve, but I really like it as it is, and didn't want to take the chance of ruining it. Maybe I'll buy a second one and put a valve on that. The 3bf+ is one step below the 3508 in general, but works better for quintet for me.