Tromba Pro Professional Plastic C Trumpet-black…

I've been very pleasantly surprised by this horn. I've wanted a C trumpet for a long time and this being so inexpensive I figured it couldn't hurt to give it a try and so far it's been pretty great for a plastic horn. It comes with the horn, a hardshell case, two plastic mouthpieces (which are OK, not great IMO), and a stand for the trumpet. The valves are metal, there's a metal sleeve in the valve casings and a metal sleeve a few inches along the inside of the lead pipe. Other than that, all plastic and it sounds pretty good and is incredibly light weight. My only complaints: The valves are really spongy. They're responsive enough, but are nowhere near as crisp as the ones on my metal Bb horn, and the upper registers don't sound as good as on a metal horn (I'm not sure if that's air throughput problems or if the plastic just doesn't resonate the same). Have a listen to my review below. There are also a ton of other reviews and clips of other folks (much more talented than me) reviewing this horn and the Bb model. [...] As always, Your Mileage May Vary, but I like the Tromba C trumpet a lot!

Ive been playing a lot of gigs recently where I have to transpose my own parts, so I’ve been wanting to try out a C trumpet. I was a bit skeptical about a plastic trumpet based on some of the reviews and online videos about this horn. After receiving and playing the horn, I’m actually impressed. The good: The tone quality is decent and in tune. It does lack a little resonance, which is understandable. I read that some people say that the horn is very flat. I didn’t find that to be the case. Tuning it though, I barely had to slide out on the tuning slide and usually play on the sharper side on my Bb trumpet. So that may be a concern if you play flat. The horn comes with a bag, 2 mouthpieces, a stand, and a cleaning kit. The bag is decent quality, the rest of the extras are a little on the cheap side. I was also reading that some folks have had issues with the valves sticking. I haven’t found that to be the case either. The valves were free when the horn arrived. I ended up cleaning them and using my own valve oil and they have been great. Good clean action with good response. The bad: For reference I normally play a Yamaha Bobby Shew Custom. Its got a .0445 bore. So, this horn has a very large bore (not sure what it is). It does take a ton of air support to play. But again, the tone quality is decent. The valves are noisy. The spring and valve assembly is very noisy when you play. It’s a little distracting, but I’m sure no one listening can hear it (but it may pick up if you are on mic). Low Ds (or any 1-3 valve combo) does have a slightly diminished tone quality. I’ve found you have to give it even more air support if you don’t want it to sound pinched or muffled. The plastic mouthpieces are not that great. I tried them just to see how they would play and they’re pretty awful. I’ve been playing with my own mouthpiece and it sounds good. Articulation is tricky. This may be a side effect of the high air flow that is needed or because the horn doesn’t have a lot of weight to it but, I’ve found that it’s a little difficult to hit some intervals or articulate some higher register notes. I’m probably going to have to adjust my playing style a bit and see it that solves it. Shipping did take almost three weeks. I paid for standard shipping and it took a long time to get the horn. Overall: For $120 it’s not a bad horn. I’m on the fence if I’m going to buy a professional C trumpet, but in the meantime this will work for the gigs I’m playing. The horn is playable and sounds decent. It doesn’t play as well as my Yamaha, but for the money it’s a good horn.

*Updated to change from 4-stars to 3-stars. After having the horn for a couple of months, it has only continued to let me down. This is definitely more of a novelty than a usable instrument unless you do not have to play in tune with anything else.* Even after reading reviews that mention some pretty concerning issues, I bought this with the hope of having a cheap C horn that was playable enough for the not-often occasions when I need one. I got what I was looking for. BUT- it had some issues that needed addressed. First, and most importantly, the valves were incredibly tight, especially the 1st valve which was completely unusable. After some heavy polishing and lapping of the valve tubes and pistons, all of them work well enough. Though they are still incredibly loud. I'm going to try using some felt pads to see if this can be overcome. Secondly, the intonation is not good. It trends to about 20-30 cents flat (A=440) across the range and valves, even with the tuning slide all the way in. If this continues I may look at shortening the leadpipe and tuning slides in the future after I get more comfortable with the horn. On the open harmonics, it tends to slot in to the right place, but whenever the 3rd valve is down, the horn feels stuffy and more backpressure is created, which leads to a tendency to overblow the notes. Speaking of the 3rd valve, the ring is WAY too close to the valve casing, and it is a bit uncomfortable to hold because of this. Finally, the resonance of the horn is a bit of a concern; C trumpets tend to have a brighter, more pointed sound than the Bb horns in general. Using the mouthpieces that come with this horn lends an airy, hollow sound that doesn't really resonate. Using a metal mouthpiece significantly improves the airy, hollow sound, but it doesn't help the resonance much, if anything, it just makes the sound louder. With some more mouthpiece experimentation and practice with the horn and blowing techniques, I think this horn could produce a good enough sound to blend with even a small ensemble. I wouldn't expect to use this as a solo instrument, however.

A fantastic package for $150! It's not a Bach Strad (for $4000) but it plays like a brass trumpet with nearly no weight. It is a bit soft below middle C and lacks a slight amount of tuning sharpness above double high A, but this horn can really play well. Valves are OK; don't feel great, but don't slow me down, either. Third valve slide works, but I haven't found the right oil weight to get it smooth and easy. Floor stand works well, but is cheap plastic. In just a few weeks I have already gotten my money's worth, and expect it to hold up to daily playing at least a year. Interesting design making all three valve identical/interchangeable, while requiring the third valve to be reversed. Makes for a slightly strange grip with the third slide but not a problem at all. The weight makes it my preferred daily practice horn, and the sound does it proud in our Dixieland jazz band for our few C trumpet arrangements (I don't like transposing!).

I needed a trumpet in C. It is, although that's with the slide all the way in. If the piano is a bit sharp, there is not much adjusting except lip it up. I wish they would go a little sharp with no slide out so you could tune it down to A 440 . The 3rd valve slide si a little too loose & can fall out if you tip it vertical sometimes. A little extra slide lube should probably help hold it. It does seal enough to play with it a little loose. Overall a little pitchy. Mine included the gig bag, 2 mouthpieces. 3 valve button caps & stems, 3 caps for the bottom of the valves valve caps. 3 replacement valve springs, spring cabled pipe cleaner, valve cylinder brush , mouthpiece brush, polishing /drying cloth & wand to thread the cloth through. Tromba sat on my order printed a UPS label the day after I ordered it. That was all they did. until I emailed & to check on the status. They responded that they would check on it the following day & advise by email. They did not, They sent it out ground 2 days later. A week later I got it. Not happy about their customer service. Pitch update!- I 've figured out a work around for the slightly flat tuning. As long as you are using one of the plastic mouthpieces that is suplied. Use a fine grit sandpaper wrapped around the barrel of the mouthpies & rotate it to rub off some of the diameter. This will allow the mouthpiece to slide in a little further, which shortens the lead pipe length, & raises the pitch slightly. Ideally, you should raise it until it is sharper than A440 so you have room to tune down to a matching instrument pitch. Tromba- are you LISTENING????

I'm updating my review and reducing my rating after having purchased three of these trumpets. It takes a combination of a poor product and poor customer support for me to give a product a one-star review - but that's what I'm doing. I regretfully suggest you stay away from these trumpets. The first trumpet I received was fine and I'll leave my original review below. It's important to note that on this first trumpet the slide for the third valve was so loose that it would fall out on its own until I used some rather heavy grease on the slide. Having some success with the first trumpet, I bought a second for a friend. This one had the opposite problem - the third valve slide would not budge despite using every trumpet maintenance trick in the book. (Keep in mind that many techniques for opening up slides won't work on the soft plastic of this trumpet.) I returned that trumpet hoping it was a fluke. Unfortunately, the third trumpet had the identical problem. That third valve slide just wouldn't budge - and when playing low notes, that slide is important. Again I tried various techniques and it just wouldn't move. I can't help but to think that someone decided to "solve" the loose slide problem in the most draconian way - like by gluing it shut. I really hope that's not the case. Twice I attempted to contact the Manufacturer (Tromba), but never received a response. It's that lack of customer support that really knocks down my rating. I know you've probably watched some videos about this trumpet that were surprisingly positive. So did I. But, in the end I really can't recommend this instrument. If VIZ-PRO or Tromba want to contact me, I'd love to discuss it - unfortunately there seems to be no way to contact either. Original three star review below: Sick of constantly trying to transpose on the fly? Get a C trumpet and you and your keyboard and other C instrument friends can finally read from the same lead sheets. How does it play? I find it requires more wind than my Bb trumpets and overall it takes more effort to get a quality sound out of it than other trumpets. If you're looking for a cheap Bb trumpet, I don't recommend a plastic one. If you're looking for a cheap C trumpet, then this will do just fine. Some of the tuning slides are quite loose - you really need to heavily coat them. Some of the valves are a bit persnickity - you really need to oil them. The included plastic mouthpieces are quite laughable - you really need to use your own mouthpiece. Also, what people have said about it being tuned low is correct. When playing with a natural embouchure, it's a tad flat with all tuning slides all the way in. I've been tempted to take a hack saw to the lead pipe and cut a quarter inch off it - but then the mouthpiece probably wouldn't fit properly. I rate this a 3 out of 5. If you have $100 to spend on the black one, then it's kind of a fun instrument to have.

I received this plastic trumpet yesterday. I play professionally. This was purchased on the recommendation of a fellow orchestral player who suggested it would be a good travel/vacation instrument. Sadly, I disagree. The valves on the trumpet are very, very poor and incredibly sticky. The resistance of the trumpet is very uneven, and the resonance is pretty bad. Sure, it's $170, but it's marketed as being a viable alternative to a brass instrument, but that's simply not true. The playability is simply not there. I'm very dissatisfied and plan to return the "instrument". Update: After working on getting the valves and 3rd slide to work for over a week, it is still essentially a non-functional instrument. DO NOT buy one of these if you are expecting anything that is acceptable in quality. The only thing it has going for it is relatively good intonation.

I consider myself a semi professional trumpet player. Starting at age 10, I have been playing for about 40 years. I received this trumpet about 3 weeks ago and didn't want to rush a quick review. I feel like it's now been enough time to write a review. First of all, I must note that we are not reviewing this horn as if it were a professional trumpet such as a Strad or top of the line Yamaha trumpet. I am reviewing it as an inexpensive "plastic" trumpet. IT IS AMAZING! Does it compare to a professional trumpet in sound? Of course not. I can tell the difference. However, 90% of the people listening will not be able to tell. I have handed the trumpet to people and they think it's a toy! And then I begin to play and watch in amazement as they can't believe the sound coming out. I have gone into another room and most people can't tell which horn I am playing. I have read a lot of the other reviews and unless I just happened to get a perfect one, I think people are trying to compare it to a much higher class of trumpets. I bought this with the intentions of trying out a "C" trumpet without putting a lot of money into one. I wanted one that I could play with church music without having to transpose everything as I'm just not able to do that instantly. I would like to address some of the issues that other people have commented about. I noticed at first that with the tuning slide all the way in, the trumpet was just a hair flat, (not enough that I couldn't compensate for), However after warming up for just a little, it seems that the horn comes right in pitch and holds just fine as I play. In practice, I will experiment around and can say that the extreme low and high ranges are not as crisp and clear as a brass horn, but for the music that I am playing with this that will not be an issue. I would say that the valves are a little noisy, but I have not had any issues with sticking valves, and I have played on lower quality brass trumpets that were much worse. Overall, for the money, I am extremely amazed at this trumpet. I would highly recommend it for anyone in need of a "C" trumpet that doesn't want to spend $1500 or more to get a decent brass horn. If the bflat model is as good as this one, then I would recommend that for a beginner.