Bach 42 slide choice

[rmb796]

Hi Everyone,
I recently purchased a used Bach 42, but the slide that came with it was a 50 and scratchy and rough.
If you were to purchase your ultimate slide for wind ensemble and orchestra work what would it be?
What other brands fit a 42 and do they play well and slot good with the 42.

Just thinkin....

Thanks

Randy

[paulyg]

Edwards and Shires slides should fit without too much trouble.

[TomRiker]

I've used an Edwards slide on a Bach 42B and thought it worked well. But you can find used 42 slides and they do work well. My theory is the bass crook balances out the narrow gooseneck.

[GabrielRice]

The Bach 42 works well as a complete system. Find a good Bach 42 slide and enjoy!

[calcbone]

Another 42 slide would of course be fine. As others mentioned, Edwards and Shires slides will work also. I play a Shires slide with my 42 bell—because I fell in love with playing .547/.562 dual bore and couldn’t give it up even when I sold my Shires bell section parts.

[rmb796]

Thanks everyone,
Tommy - What do you feel the advantage of the dual bore slide is ? Interesting.

Randy

[calcbone]

When I tried out parts for my Shires (in 2008 when I was in grad school), I had always struggled with the low register. It was instantly opened up when I tried the .547/.562 slide. I’ve improved on it in general since then…but whenever I play the stock 42 slide on my 42 bell, I miss the openness of my Shires slide.

I wanted a heavier yellow brass bell than what I had with my Shires setup, which is why I bought the Bach in the first place (maybe someday I’ll build another Shires bell section with a 1Y or 7Y or something like that, but what I had was a 1RYLW). It’s just a personal preference, but that is the best large bore tenor slide for me.

[CheeseTray]

I second Gabe - use a complete 42. The practice of using 50 slides on 42 bells are are result of players emulating a setup that Jay Friedman used for many years.

[glenp]

Just saw this 42LT slide for sale. Looks pretty good.

https://trombonechat.com/viewtopic.php?p=169858#p169858

[MrHCinDE]

I have a 42LT slide and would tend to say that works very well for the wide variety of music I might typically find in wind orchestra and for nearly everything in symphony orchestra. Even for the really heavy symphonic playing, a 42 with LT slide can still churn out a massive amount of sound. Perhaps it doesn’t quite have the last couple of % of quality sound at extreme volumes that a non-LT, dual bore or bass slide could have. Then again, you have the 50 slide as an option for such occasions.

If you happen to have some Yamaha slides around, they could be worth a try. I tried my 612Rii slide with the 42 bell and it‘s a pretty good match. It fits the receiver and screw thread perfectly. The Yamaha is slightly shorter but actually this is manageable. It doesn‘t play that much different to the 42LT slide, I‘d say the difference from 42LT to a non-LT 42 is probably more noticeable than from 42LT to the Yamaha slide, which is also nickel silver outer btw.

In your position, I‘d consider trying a 42LT slide and sending the 50 (presumably non-LT) slide for a slide service. That would give you a lot of flexibility for a reasonable investment cost.

[rmb796]

Thanks MrHCinDE,
You have given me some much thought out and helpful advice. I believe I am going to exactly as you have suggested, including sending off the 50 standard slide for some repairs.
Thanks
Randy

[BrianJohnston]

Yellow brass 42 slide with sleeves removed and brass ark lead pipe is my slide of choice

[ScaryTerry]

There are so many good options. I personally use a Shires TB47 slide on my 42AG and it plays better than anything I’ve ever tried- same with when I was playing on an older 42B. There is a flexibility that it offers to the sound that doesn’t come as easily to me with the stock 42 slide, and this helps when playing in chamber groups. I also just prefer the way it feels, but to each their own in that regard. It’s a bit brighter than the stock 42 slide as well.

[chouston3]

I tried a regular 42 slide and a slide marked 45 which was a. 547/.562.

The 42 never felt right to me. I spent a lot of time trying to get it to feel right but it just never clicked.

Then I tried a friend's 42 and it felt completely different. It is worth trying different 42s to try to find one that agrees with you.

[JameyMorgan]

I've been experimenting with this for the past couple weeks, trying an Edwards 396A slide, a Shires TWJA slide (which slips a little due to a slightly different tenon), and standard weight Bach slides on my 42BOFG bell section. While all of them slot a more more comfortably with a warmer tone than my lightweight Bach slide, I found the best two to be the Shires slide and one of the two Bach standard slides. I was able to learn a lot more about my preferences when it comes to outer sleeve material, crook material, and crook shape. I found there's a certain clarity to the Bach slides that wasn't present with the shorter Edwards and Shires slides, which may be due to the longer length? I have preferred all the yellow crooks I've tried as the articulations are a bit softer but less brittle and easier to control for me, and I think the way wide tenor crooks slot works better for my playing than bass crooks. My lightweight slide was worse in just about every scenario that I threw against them: more wobbly tone in soft playing, MUCH more difficult to accurately slot notes, and a shift to a much more nasal tonal quality when descending from the upper-middle register down through the third and second partials.

I'm getting the leadpipe pulled on the better of the two Bach slides and I think it will be a toss-up between the Shires and Bach slides after that, despite the different sleeve material, crook shape, and length. I may look into getting a wide tenor crook at some point in the future as well! Not sure if buying a cheaper-than-new slide and modding it will come out to less money than buying a custom slide, but I'm also shipping back and forth to Hawaii which adds considerably to the cost. Someone closer to a reputable tech may find that route to be more of a no-brainer from a financial perspective. Trying as many options to see if you can balance all these variables toward a setup that works for you is the best bet.

[Burgerbob]

Somehow I never commented on this.

I have used a bunch of different slides on 42s. Standard 42 slides (probably a dozen+ at this point), a couple LT slides, a couple Edwards TBCN, and a Shires TB47.

I currently own a TBCN and a standard 42 slide (well, and a couple others that are on loan... who has those again?).

The TBCN is a clear winner in many ways. It's got easy, well-defined slots with a predictable response, more even low range, etc. But for some reason I really don't dig it lately. The Edwards has this boomy, strange lack of sound that I just can't get around.

My current Corp 42 slide is way less even, worse action, less predictable... and it's better. Ugh.

I think the worst slide of the bunch was the Shires TB47. Not entirely sure why, but it just didn't sound good or play well (with an Edwards tenon to fit 42).

I have had a couple good LT slides but didn't hold onto them.