John Packer Bass Trombones

[Driswood]

Anyone have experience with these? A friend is looking into one as a gift for her husband and asked me to check into it for her.
Any information would be appreciated. I’m not well versed in bass trombone quality.

[Finetales]

I've played the JP232, it was pretty good. Much better than most Chinese basses, or even a typical Xeno.

[BGuttman]

It is Chinese. It's just that Packer does some QC on it so you don't get a real lemon.

As a first bass trombone it's probably OK.

If he's already got a decent but used bass, don't bother.

[StephenK]

I've a friend who has one for doubling. Seems happy with it, though had to try a couple of mouthpieces. Linkage may be a bit noisier than some, but maybe he doesn't maintain it.

[GabrielRice]

I have student with one. The linkages tend to be a bit noisy, but it plays well. It's not holding him back.