Quote:

I can appreciate that. I have a friend who plays C-trumpet exclusively because he 'swears' by it. Evidently it was given to him after high-school. But, he's been told repeatedly that his horn is too 'bright' and truthfully I think it's cost him a gig or two -- he is a talented player. I'm not sure he can hear the difference -- even my non-musician friends can hear the difference. In fact, I've given him my Bf to try (I haven't played in years) and he himself doesn't hear a difference -- I think he's gone tone dead.


In general, you are correct. A C trumpet usually sounds both 'brighter' and 'lighter' than a Bb, assuming you can find words to quantify such things. However, individual horns make a difference. There exist darker sounding C trumpets and brighter sounding Bb horns. My Calicchio Bb is pretty bright, for example, whereas my Bach Bb is 'average'.

Also, an individual player makes perhaps even more of a difference. I will sound like me playing his horns, and he will sound like him playing my horns, at least once we are used to them.

Finally, the choice of mouthpiece makes a difference. If your friend always sounds too bright, he could explore something like a Curry TF mouthpiece, which makes a trumpet sound closer to a flugelhorn. Or a thousand other choices, each one subtle and each one expensive to experiment with unless you take a listening friend to a shop with a large selection to try. Something as small as a deeper cup on the same rim size could be all he needs. Any good teacher could help, or have him ask about it on TrumpetHerald.com

BIAB 2025 Win Audiophile. Software: Studio One 7 Pro, Swam horns, Acoustica-7, Notion 6, Song Master Pro, Win 11 Home. Hardware: Intel i9, 32 Gb; Roland Integra-7, Presonus 192 & Faderport 8, Royer 121, Adam Sub8 & Neumann 120 monitors.