Thomann Jazz Bb- Tenor Trombone

When using a great mouthpiece for jazz purposes, this instrument can sound absolutely great. I primarily use it with a Jet Tone BM and that makes for easy playability and a very good tone, but...

The main question is how much you're willing to pay for not just good, but spectacular tone. I also happen to have Jiggs Whigham's King Legend signature and using the same mouthpiece, you can hardly compare the two instruments. Especially the higher notes are just downright beautiful and gorgeous on the King (it's also much lighter, by the way). The King just blows everything out of the water, but the pricetag is also 10x as much. Considering how this Thomann instrument is rediculously cheap however, it really becomes the question of whether you want to settle for good tone, or that you want legendary tone. That is for you to decide as 'quality' is in the eye of the beholder. Personally, as I thankfully have the financial power, I would absolutely buy the King again, though this relatively impressive Thomann instrument really makes me doubt that decision. Well done on your part, Thomann.

I bought this for a Jazz band where my Bb/F Large bore Tenor is not quite right for the task. First look inside the case I noticed the slide wasn't secured very well by the strap. In fact I could fit my hand as well as the slide under the strap and still have room between my hand and the strap.

My first play was at Jazz band. I got very sore where the thumb rests as the hand holds the Trombone up. I tried various ways to hold it. One finger up and three down. Two fingers up on top of the mouthpiece receiver and two down. The thumb still rested on a reasonably sharp join ridge.

The slide to bell section connection kept moving during play. So where I started out at a \./ shape angle, it ended up moving outwards to a __.__ , almost flat. I did manage to improve it by un-screwing it and pushing it up into the bell section as much as I could before re fastening. I know this is a reasonably common problem with trombone as I have had a bass trombone that had this very problem. A music repair shop claimed that flaring out the bell resolves it but it didn't for the bass. So I am reluctant to spend money on a repair when the instrument is brand new! Hopefully this will improve as it is used due to wear and tear.

The counterweight looks cool with the black branding on it but one side fell out after about an hour of my Jazz band test play. It is simply a disc with sticky on the back, like double sided tape. So I pushed on it to re secure it. It stayed there for the rest of band practice. Hopefully this has been resolved but it is cosmetic, so doesn't actually matter if it comes off the instrument. That said, it is new and although a budget instrument, it is new and I would still expect it not to have these types of issues.

The tone is good and similar to other small bore trombone's I have played. Things to consider is 1. The larger the bore and bell, the warmer the tonal quality. The smaller, the less tonal warmth. So it is a brighter sound and I noticed that for me and my test it was raspy at times, especially 4th to 7th positions. The water key is tight and doesn't leak or lose air. It was a little noisy or squeaky when pressed but this is common for springs. A simple solution was a drop of my rotor oil used normally on my Bb/f trigger. Solved the problem completely.

The slide action is fantastic and free flowing. Fast passages were easy to manoeuvre. The tuning slide is well spaced, so when I took the tuning slide completely off for cleaning, it matched up to reconnect without difficulty. I didn't find it worked well with the grease supplied, so I used my usual vaseline instead. It moves with just a push of the thumb.

I ended up using contact adhesive to create a small Z fold to shorten the slide strap. One on each side. If you have this problem and decide to glue a Z wedge, be aware that it does pull the felt and could even pull the felt away from the white foam protection underneath. I have had to glue it a second time. 1st to the felt and strap. 2nd time to glue it to the white solid foam protection. You can't really tell and it just looks like that is how it is meant to be. Just be careful not to make the straps too short the meet and slightly overlap to fasten together.

I didn't use the mouthpiece as I already have a denis wick 10cs. It sounded fantastic with my mouthpiece.