Tromba TRP-YE Plastic Bb Trumpet-Yellow

I've played trumpet and other brass instruments for 15+ years. This trumpet is incredibly light, but still feels very solid. The silver finish makes it easy for this instrument to visibly blend in with an ensemble. Most people assume it's a standard silver/nickel trumpet. The included plastic mouthpieces feel strange, and make the trumpet sound airy. I recommend using a standard metal mouthpiece. When played with a metal mouthpiece, it has pretty good tone, a bit mellower than a brass trumpet. To the player, it feels a little fuzzy. But, in recordings you can barely tell a difference between this trumpet and a brass horn. An amateur probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference in sound. There is a noticeable difference in back pressure with certain valve combinations. Without any valves depressed it is essentially a straight shot through the valve block. Depressing each valve introduces tight turns in to the air's path. Most trumpets have a purposefully convoluted path through the valve block to make these changes less noticeable. But, this does come with advantages. The open horn is free blowing, and the valves appear to be interchangeable. The valves are a bit louder than a typical horn, and feel slightly scratchy. But, they move easily and I haven't had any jam yet. I might try replacing the rubber washers in the valves with standard felt washers to see if they help quiet down the action. The valve caps do not screw on and off, but lock into place. This simplicity is pleasant, and for younger players is probably much easier to manage than carefully screwing caps in place. It has the same tuning tendencies as a regular trumpet. The partials feel a little bit more flexible than on a metal horn (it's a little easier to bend pitch). This can be an advantage or disadvantage depending on your skill set and how you expect the instrument to play. With decent slide grease the third valve slide moves easily. The manufacturer recommends Ultra Pure products. I've used Ultra Pure valve oil for years (it's my favorite) but I don't have their slide grease. I used a thick liquid slide grease made by Selmer with great results. I think this would make an excellent pep band/marching band/goofing around horn. I use it in class as my demo horn. This way I don't have to worry about a student accident ruining one of my expensive personal instruments. I'll also use this as my busking horn come christmas time. Given how expensive it is to repair brass instruments, and the relative durability of plastic this might make a decent beginner horn. I'm not quite sure on this yet though. I'm going to wait until I've played it to death before I recommend it to anyone. But, from what I've experienced so far, this horn plays better than many of the "instrument shaped objects" you see sold on Ebay and Amazon for a couple hundred bucks. This certainly isn't a pro horn, but it's much better than I expected for the price.

I got this as an inexpensive, light, and colorful instrument to march in a local street band. I'm new to trumpet, having payed French horn before. It sounds OK for casual street stuff. Haven't tried playing anything with any finesse yet but I don't think it would be all that great. But as a fun thing you can actually play, it does the job! The valves did need breaking in and cleaning as they were sticky out of the box but now that they are clean and oiled they work great. One minor problem for Amazon/Tromba, though. I'm fairly certain my trumpet wasn't new off the factory floor. The trumpet and stand had signs of prior use. It was fine after I cleaned it but if you're going to sell stuff in refurb condition, please lower the price and don't fob it off as new.

I'm a fairly experienced trumpet player. First thing's first: this is *not* a replacement for a brass instrument. If you or someone you know is dedicated to learning how to play trumpet, there are relatively inexpensive used amateur horns available on eBay & elsewhere for <$500 - that's what you should be investing in. Not this. But if you're looking for a lark, a trumpet for someone who's just starting & not very serious, or a cheap, "disposable" horn to lug around & practice with, this is quite a catch. I like to practice on my lunch breaks, so keeping something in the car is nice. However, I'm living somewhere that can get relatively chilly in winter, & I would like to avoid subjecting a decent "real" horn to sub-freezing temperatures repeatedly. (It's a great way to weaken the solder joints & turn a nice instrument into a pile of parts.) The Tromba doesn't slot very well (as Wayne Bergeron said, you kind of have to "blow it into submission"), but it has a great, mellow sound, & the valve action is quick & light. (I use Blue Juice, but any synthetic oil should work fine.) It has a slightly caricatured feel, with oversized valve casings & tubing, which is comfortable to hold. It's (unsurprisingly) lightweight compared to a brass instrument. It's very "live" in the hands (duh), which is nice for practicing a centered, resonant sound. The interior of the case is bare styrofoam, which is a little off-putting, but fine. (Also, you have to collapse the main tuning slide every time you close it, which is a little weird.) The latches on the case will snap off if you look at them sideways, which is annoying. It comes with some standard cleaning brushes & a surprisingly hearty swab stick to pull a rag thru the valve casings. The supplied mouthpieces (7C & 5C) will do in a pinch, but it feels more solid with a brass one. I'd recommend getting one to keep with it. All in all, I've certainly played worse instruments, & $160 for even a C-grade "beater" trumpet is an amazing value.

I know it's a plastic trumpet, and I know it won't be as good as a brass instrument ... but this thing ain't even close! After reading other reviews and watching some YouTube videos, I knew that I would need to grease the slides and oil the valves before playing. The top caps of the valves twist off and I cleaned the cylinders and pistons. They still had metal dust on them from manufacture. I oiled and replaced pistons and they seemed to move OK. Then I snapped the top caps back on. The second valve would go down but not come back up. The valve stem was rubbing on the hole through the valve cap. I unsnapped the valve cap and the piston moved, but not when I snapped it back. After rotating the cap 180 degrees I at least got it to go up and down (sort of). I greased the slides, but it really isn't possible to use the third valve slide while playing. The finger hole is positioned wrong and the slide isn't free enough to move easily. And because of the design it's hard to get any grease on the slide (the support for the finger hole covers the slide). I tuned it - not easy because you can't make small adjustments to the tuning slide. It played OK but with the plastic mouthpiece it sounded like I was playing a PVC pipe. A metal mouthpiece helped, but didn't sound good at all. If you play loudly, the whole horn vibrates which is distracting. The medium register was OK but low notes were really bad - partly because I couldn't slide out the third valve slide. Upper register started the vibrations again. This one came in a hard-sided plastic case with a styrofoam insert into which the horn, accessories, and mouthpieces fit. When I went to put it back into the case, I discovered that it won't fit with the tuning slide pulled out. I had to push it all the way back in to get the case to close - after so much effort to tune it. It wasn't that fun to play, and I can't see myself ever using it for a gig. I played it for about an hour and printed the return label to send it back. A real waste.

Plastic Trumpet. Does what it says it is. I'm currently going into my senior year at highschool and have been playing trumpet since the 6th grade. I play in my schools concert band, pep band, and jazz band, so I got some good years and playing styles under my belt so far. I recently purchased this product, the Trumba plastic trumpet because I thought hey why not? It would be great for pep band games. It's blue which is my schools colors (blue and white). Plus who wouldn't want a well made plastic instrument? They're pretty friggin great. So now for the review of the product. The plastic it very nice, the handling size of the horn is slightly bigger than a brass instrument, but nothing to worry about there. The Bell is slightly smaller than a brass Bell so no mutes fit inside very well. (Except my Yamaha silent brass mute) But this isn't a problem for me since I got this for pep band which doesn't use mutes. The valves on this horn are neat. They're part plastic and part metal so any valve oil works great. It'll take a while to break in the valves but with patience comes smooth valves. The sound is very surprising. I thought it would be way off from a brass trumpet but not really. It may not have that brassy sound or tone to it, but that does not mean it sounds bad. What really helps is what kind of mouthpiece you're using. The plastic mouth peices it comes with are alright. Using them the sound quality is "plasticy". Not necessarily bad, but it could be better. I tried using the horn with my metal regular mouth peice and the sound quality went up a couple notches. So it's best to use a regular mouth peice. So all in all this is a great product for what it is. A plastic horn that functions and mimics a regular trumpet pretty darn well. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who would like to start trumpet due to the lightness, and the low cost. I'm really excited to take this to pep games and blast!

This instrument is much more difficult to play than a traditional metal trumpet. Do not purchase it for a beginner, especially when there are excellent new metal trumpets available on Amazon for the same price or less. I played trumpet for 10 years when I was growing up and hadn't picked up my old trumpet in twice as many years. When my nephew asked if he could borrow it so he could join the band at his school, I decided to treat him to a new one. I could hardly believe how inexpensive new trumpets are these days--much less than when I was a kid. I can't imagine renting one when you can buy one for about $150. I was drawn to these plastic trumpets because they are lightweight and sold as an item that is good for beginners. They're also pretty cool looking. When it arrived I tried it out with the plastic moutpiece supplies by the manufacturer and found it nearly impossible to play notes in the upper register that I easily achieved even as a beginner with braces on my teeth. After some additional research, I learned the instrument is easier to play with a metal mouthpiece so I purchased one. Indeed, it was, but I still struggled to hit any note above a high C. Before chalking this up to being out of practice, I thought I'd try out new metal (Silver plated) trumpet that I found on Amazon (listed as "New Concert Band Real Silver Plated Trumpet w/case-Approved+Warranty"). What a difference! I was able to play the full range of notes from low G to high F with ease. The tonality was much richer and warmer, especially in the lower register. And I was also able to play with vibrato (which was impossible on the plastic trumpet). Just the thought of my poor newphew turning blue in the face trying to get those notes out on the plastic trumpet was enough for me to return it, give him the metal one and buy another metal one for myself. Aside from the novelty of owning a plastic trumpet and the reduced weight, there really isn't a good reason to buy one of these when you can buy a metal one for less. It's basically a vuvuzela (the annoying plastic horns at World Cup in South Africa) with valves. I think a beginner would be discouraged by how difficult it is to play, and I pity the parents and family of the families who would have to endure the sound of it on a regular basis.

I played the trumpet when I was very young, and quit around the end of high school, due to a calcium deposit around a tendon in the soft palate. This condition has long since reduced, but about seven years ago I had a car accident causing my neck severe damage. I cannot hold a heavy instrument, even one only as heavy as a brass trumpet, for long enough to play it for a significant length of time. I've tried several other instruments, including Blues Harmonica, but I've always missed my trumpet. So when I heard that there was an extremely-lightweight trumpet made from high-impact plastic, I was intrigued. I tried a Tiger Trumpet, and didn't like the sound. I've seen PTrumpets, but the shape is just not quite the same as a standard trumpet. It was off-putting. But the Tromba is the same shape as a standard brass B-flat trumpet, and weighs so much less that I decided to take a chance. Along with a plastic mouthpiece, I have no trouble at all holding it as long as my chops will handle playing (at least so far). I chose a metallic silver horn because it strongly resembles the finish of my Olds Special NL-10, with nickel plating. The color of the Tromba is of a darker cast than a standard silver plate, reminiscent of nickel. The valves of the Tromba are metal-lined instead of bare plastic, and while they're not completely broken in yet, with Ultra-Pure valve oil they seem to be quite fast, with only slight sticking. I'm sure they'll break in just fine. (Just in case, I have some Blue Juice to try, if this one just doesn't like Ultra-Pure...but I can't imagine it wouldn't.) Before I made my final choice, I watched numerous Youtube videos and reviews. The sound of the Tromba decided me. It sounds excellent to me. I'm sure someone with some sort of super-ear might be able to tell the difference between this and brass, but I can't. It doesn't hurt that the price of the Tromba is approximately that of a REALLY cheap beginner student horn, but has much better sound and action. The Tromba's accessories are also excellent. The stand is delightful, and including it meant I wouldn't have to buy one separately. The cleaning kit is perfect. The mouthpieces (7C and 5C) are a tad ugly, but perfectly serviceable. I got a 3C in transparent plastic that I carry with me, and use with a Warburton "Buzzard" (I recommend THAT too, and the P.E.T.E.!) I'm thankful to Tromba for giving me back my music after all these years! I'm thoroughly pleased

The horn arrived in a package that looked like it had been opened and resealed more than once. Definitely not new off the shelf. The finger hook was broken off which had to have been that way when it was shipped because the packaging was more than adequate to protect it. I'm certain it was somebody's return that was not refurbished, but it was represented as new. I superglued the finger hook back in place and will give it a fair try before deciding whether or not to return it. It is very light, about a third the weight of my Yamaha. The tone is okay. It's brighter when I use my metal mouthpiece. It comes with two plastic mouthpieces--a deep cup and a shallow cup. The deep cup gives it almost a fluegelhorn sound. The first valve is quite sticky and after oiling it and a couple hours of playing it still sticks. Perhaps that will work itself out with more use. I was attracted to it for the light weight. I play piano with my left hand and trumpet with my right sometimes on the gig. It is ideal for that purpose. If it had arrived as a new unbroken horn and if the first valve didn't stick I would give it five stars for the concept and for special use. Of course it won't replace a good brass trumpet but it might have some advantages over a cheap brass one.