Brass Getzen B-Flat Trumpet Review

Looking to buy that first instrument? More specifically a trumpet? There are so many brands and styles. I would suggest to anyone a brass Getzen b-flat trumpet. Firstly, because the standard tuning of a trumpet is b-flat, so if you are going into a school band, probably 95-99% of the music is written for that tuning. A few other reasons I like this particular trumpet is because it is really nice. Now, you could probably argue all trumpets by other brands are "nice", except for maybe a few, but I really did enjoy my experience playing it.

Let me start out by taking a look at the sound quality. Granted most of this comes from the player, however, it does rely a bit on the player. Even from the first day I was able to get good clear sound. This is important to new players because they get less frustrated getting bad sound out of a bad instrument. My friend for example, not playing a trumpet but a saxophone, had a poor quality saxophone. This led him to hate band because his saxophone did not work very well. I was glad I paid the little extra money and got that Getzen trumpet.

Next, on any trumpet it is going to be somewhat difficult to push the valves down at first. With the Getzen though they seem to balance the difficulty to push the valves down and resistance so the valves pop up quickly and you get good, clear distinction between separate notes. In order to keep this however you will need to use valve oil to keep your valves in good condition.

Price, in these economic times, would also be an issue. For me it was not because I got it before these and plus my parents paid for it since they wanted me to do band in the first place. I do not remember exactly how much was paid for it, but I believe it was a fair price for such a high quality instrument.

On to a part of this instrument I had a little trouble with, tuning. If you are not worried about keeping in tune, you should be, this is not a problem. For most of us it would be though. Keeping the tuning slides greased up enough just so they move when moved on purpose and not when they get moved on accident can be a problem. It is extremely difficult to do this. Now, this is not a part of the trumpet the manufacturer has much control over, but I thought I'd put it in here. Also, depending on the type of spit valve you get you could have issues with getting it open. In my case I did if i did not use them enough. There was a simple solution, a toothpick or paper clip could easily be used to re-close the valve. On the other style the cork, or whatever they used would sometimes dry up and fall off. Either type has its own problem but could have probably been avoided had I took better care of my trumpet.

To conclude my review, I would like to say, if you treat your Getzen trumpet right it will treat you good right back. You will have a good experience playing it and want to continue it even if you do not through a school band. If you clean and maintain it, it will last you for many years. I have had mine for six years now and it still plays great. I would recommend this trumpet to anyone. Especially, playing Raiders of the Lost Ark Theme. Happy playing.