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Venus AS300 vs Selmer Reference and Selmer Mark VII

Guenne

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,370
Location
Austria
Hi,

one of my students forgot to close the zipper on his case while walking out the classroom, so the horn (from music school) fell down, bumped on the floor and was bent like a banana.
Today I got the horn back from repair (not the shop where I normally have my horns repaired, more of a brass specialist :) ) and decided to try if it is playable before handing it over to the 8 year old boy (in the meantime I found a YAS 23 which is now overhauled, we will swap horns when it is finished). Repair was €60,-
The horn is a Venus AS300 which I bought about 12 years ago for €510,-. It has been rented several times and never had any repair or maintenance.

I thought I'd try it against my 2 Selmers, a Reference 54 which is my backup horn and a silver Mark VII I normally play.
So I recorded 2 songs (My Foolish Heart and Stardust) using the Venus and in one song the Ref 54 and one song the Mark VII.

Can you tell the number of the expensive horns?

1,2 is My Foolish heart with one of the Selmers and the Venus.
3,4 is Stardust with one of the Selmers and the Venus.


Cheers, Guenne

(and don't forget: this is just fun and curiosity :) )
 
I have no idea which is which, but I prefer take 2 over take 1, but then for 3 and 4 I really can't say I prefer one over the other.
 
I would not want to play the Venus as my main instrument, but it is not as bad as I thought.
At least soundwise. I doubt it could stand being played every day like the Selmers or Yamahas for a long period.

So, yes: 1 and 3 are Venus, 2 is Reference and 4 is Mark VII.

Recordings are all a bit on the brighter side, that's more or less due to the Sony mic.

Thanks!
 
Iv got a venus curvy sop. I lost a pearl…plastic button actually. It does feel pretty cheap but it meets my needs as a play test horn for mpcs I make or repair. If I cared to play sop (I dont), Id invest is something better. But like you say…its not as bad as it could be.
 
…its not as bad as it could be.
At least the MPC is a Philtone-refaced Meyer, hehe.

Tomorrow I will get the overhauled YAS 23 back, this will definitely be in a different league, I hope the boy will finally start practicing....
 
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