Posted by Sam Gnagey on December 21, 2001 at 22:21:00:
In Reply to: 5th valve on your 4th posted by Patrick on December 21, 2001 at 19:17:31:
I have a the Yamaha 381 EEb with the dependant 5th valve. It works great for me. It may not be as versitile as the independant 5th, but, with my experience of adding 5th valves to instruments, I know that the dependant one detracts much less from the response of the instrument in general. I liked the YEB-321 that I had, but sold it because of difficulty playing in tune down below Bb. I think the 381 gives me the great response of the 321 with the bonus low register. It plays better for me than any compensator that I've tried.
I also have played on a big Holton CC that had the dependant 5th. It seemed to work out OK there also. It boils down to the question of: What purpose does the 5th valve serve for you? If it is only for low register than I think the dependant system is pretty good. On my Rudy 5/4 I occasionally use the 5th with other combinations to lock pitch in i.e Db below the staff played 5-2-3. Obviously you need the seperate valve to serve that purpose.