Posted by Alan Herold on November 08, 2000 at 22:44:02:
In Reply to: Playing a BAT in a small ensemble posted by OverlyLoudPlayer on November 08, 2000 at 22:01:00:
You have an opportunity to learn a very valuable lesson or two in your situation. First, There is ALWAYS another “great” deal out there. Whether it be a car, a tuba, a stereo, a house or whatever. Finding a great deal isn’t always easy, but looking for one – I mean REALLY looking for one – will help you in the future. Having the experience of looking for and turning down deals, shopping around, and trying out horns will prove to be invaluable. This won’t be the first “deal hunt” that you’ll be on. Take your time and learn some tricks. For example, non-negotiable usually means “If I don’t sell it soon, make an offer.”
The sub-woofer analogy… you almost answered your earlier question by yourself. A huge sub-woofer placed in the wrong stereo system will be out of place and distracting. Your sub is there to enhance the sound of your system. Now, if you plan on getting a system soon that will need a huge sub, then you need to get the big old sub. If you don’t plan on getting that new speaker system to place around that sub for quite some time, you might be better off getting the smaller one now and trying to sell it later or trading it for that large sub.
One last thing… a small horn played really well can sound great. A large horn played mediocre sounds mediocre. If most of your playing is in small groups, you run the risk of pissing off the other folks in the quintet/quartet/church orchestra if you play a big booming horn. If the horn can play well in tune in all registers and you can play equally well soft as you can loud, then you might just have the right horn for you.
Of course, there are always exceptions. Some great deals are real honest one time shots, but it is unadvisable to jump on one of these unless you really REALLY know the market. Also, there are guys out there that sound awesome on huge horns - even in small groups - but they are not in the majority. But then again, Florida is still counting...