Archived under: Equipment, Mellophones & Marching, Mouthpieces | Jupiter Quantum
Phantom Tweaks the Jupiter Quantum
Many thousands of horn players in the United States are now out on the field marching with mellophones. At Arizona State a line of 22 players are out this year on the field with Jupiter Quantum mellophones.
With DCI use in particular mellophone designs are improving. In relation to that, The Middle Horn Leader has a most interesting article on the tweaks done by Phantom Regiment to their Jupiter 5050 Quantum mellophones used in competition in 2009. They note that
Clearly the most significant observable change to the revised Quantum 5050 is the integration of a reverse sprung first valve slide. The slide is defaulted into an extended position, allowing the slide to be shortened by use of the thumb lever.
How exactly they used this feature depends on how far extended it would be at rest. For sure this would be useful for the often very flat C# and D in the staff is you could pull the slide in to correct this tuning.
The other significant scoop in the article is a photo and description of the hybrid horn/mellophone mouthpiece that I did not have a chance to try when I reviewed the instrument back in 2008. On the Jupiter Website they call this a “Horn/Mellophone hybrid mouthpiece.” In The Middle Horn Leader article they note “The 7CH is the hybrid horn mouthpiece, with a sound and response similar to a horn mouthpiece on an adapter” and earlier noted that “Rumor has it this mouthpiece is close to a Schilke 31 horn mouthpiece blended into a tenor horn cup of some sort.”
Apparently this mouthpiece is very good on this instrument with the revised receiver. This is another quirk of this instrument, that it has a receiver that is slightly different than that found on other mellophones. This is probably a good thing toward making a better Mellophone. This close up photo of the new mouthpiece and receiver is linked from The Middle Horn Leader article.
I would love to see one of these new mouthpieces for a trial. I don’t believe that they are available for separate sale but it is something Jupiter should consider. If the rumor is true it would be a great fit on the face of most any horn player and to my mind potentially a great leap forward from the traditional “Mello 6” type marching mellophone mouthpiece for the horn player. Arizona State marches Quantum mellophones but uses Curry 1HTF mouthpieces on the line.
Read the whole article if you are interested in the cutting edge on mellophones, good developments are afoot. And also check out The Middle Horn Leader site in general, it is a great resource.
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