Jean Baptiste STP181 Slide Trumpet

They shipped the slide trombone in 3 days, probably the quickest I ever received an item from Amazon. It does come with a standard trumpet mouthpiece which is expected so it will take a bit of practice for a trombonist. My son (high school senior) was playing starwars music in an hour. You can use a trombone mouthpiece but the tone is obviously different. Great for jazz playing. As a trumpeter working the slide is a bit tough but really fun. Great addition to a brass collection.

For the money, this thing is totally playable. You're never going to be blown away with the quality, it's cheap and it shows as you live with it, but with the right ear for pitch and trumpet chops for range, it speaks very well. I've actually had a lot of fun and raised some eyebrows with the horn. Works well with trumpet mutes, and a Harmon mute is amazing with this little guy.I spent a lot of time getting the slide how I like, I'm picky about bone slides, and with much effort I got to a workable place with the slide. But not exactly thrilled either, there's a cheap and non-glossy feel to it no matter what product I use (thouroughly cleaned between switching slide treatments of course). Slide-O-Mix has worked best.These soprano bones / slide trumpets are a challenge, trumpet players will find slide work foreign and bone players will find range difficult initially. Either player can make it work though, and the slide vs valves makes for a very interesting voice in the trumpet register. An ear for pitch is critical, and that's the nature of the beast, not an issue with this model.

This horn has an excellent build quality to it and has a really unique sound. A fun addition for any trombone collection.

It's fun to play, but the slide is bad news. Like sandpaper is inside... Luckily my buddy is a fantastic instrument repair man, so I was able to get this thing cleaned and worked a bit so the slide is more smoothe. It's still garbage. Positions are really narrow, so playing this thing in tune is nearly impossible without tons of practice on positions. Hardly any margin for error. Sounds horrible moving through the positions at first, even for a pro trumpet player. Some things are really fun about it, but unless you have the money to throw on a little trombone, don't spend the money. Hey I'm happy with it, and the upper register sounds just like a trumpet, but it's not a very versatile tool. Lots more resistance though. Sounds best played on a concert mouthpiece of course. Makes people go "wow". Just switch to the slide trumpet at the end of a tune and wail over the band on a firmata or something. Looks cool switching to a mini trombone and playing dubba C's.

I ended up trying and sending three back. All three had sctrchy slides some were so bad that you could hear the slide from 10 feet away

Wow! A really fun alternative to a traditional trumpet.Works great! I was able to play it almost immediately.Nearly perfect product! In tune. Well made. A bargain! The wonderful case is worth half the price!If you are an experienced trumpet player, you have have one of these!Even came with oil and white gloves.

I must agree with other reviews and say after a few weeks of playing this unique brass instrument I find it fun to play. It is much lighter than a standard trumpet since the weight of the valve block is no issue. Since I play trumpet and trombone I am familiar with the slide and find ths Jean Baptiste very smooth and requires just a little trombone slide grease and a spritz of water the same as I do with my trombone. I posted a new video on you tube so if you want to see the slide trumpet in action go there and view Slide Trumpet Blues, the title of my video. I do recommend this to anyone especially if you know how to play valve trumpet and slide trombone.

Plays great for the most part. However, the instrument is slightly sharp without a tuning slide, and moving the bell section with the wing nut just produces an extremely airy sound, since most of the air then leaks from the area around the wing nut. It's not too bad though - moving the actual slide out just a fraction of an inch solves the tuning problem. Second, it's slightly challenging to hit 7th position correctly without the slide falling off, but luckily, I hardly ever use 7th anyway. Overall it sounds exactly like a trumpet and for what it's worth; it's a nice little novelty instrument to have!