tommyboy
04-06-2003, 04:00 PM
Well, I finally got a chance to try a 34M myself. I've been looking for a modern horn to match my satin silver plated pre-Chu Conn for a while. I also have a Reference 54 that I normally play--another wonderful horn, but some days I long for a modern horn with that vintage Conn sound.
First of all the keywork was a little more compact than I was used to. Not a big thing, I knew I could get used to that aspect. It seemed very well made and would have been a very good horn for the money even if the sound sucked.
After going back and forth between my Conn and the 34M, I still liked my Conn better. The 34M came very close, but was lacking a little bit of power and had a slightly softer sound, not as raw and edgey as my Conn. The high ends were very similar, it's the low and mid range that had the slight difference. My guess is that it would match a 10M very closely, but having never played one, I wouldn't know. I also could believe that the laquer vs. plating thing might have been another difference in the sound.
The list price was about 2k, the actual price would have been about 2/3 of that or so. Although the horn was quite a steal at that price, I just couldn't justify it when I have a perfectly good horn already. (the ref 54 I mean) Maybe Conn's next tenor will be based on the Chu...
First of all the keywork was a little more compact than I was used to. Not a big thing, I knew I could get used to that aspect. It seemed very well made and would have been a very good horn for the money even if the sound sucked.
After going back and forth between my Conn and the 34M, I still liked my Conn better. The 34M came very close, but was lacking a little bit of power and had a slightly softer sound, not as raw and edgey as my Conn. The high ends were very similar, it's the low and mid range that had the slight difference. My guess is that it would match a 10M very closely, but having never played one, I wouldn't know. I also could believe that the laquer vs. plating thing might have been another difference in the sound.
The list price was about 2k, the actual price would have been about 2/3 of that or so. Although the horn was quite a steal at that price, I just couldn't justify it when I have a perfectly good horn already. (the ref 54 I mean) Maybe Conn's next tenor will be based on the Chu...