First Trombones

Trombone’s for beginners are designed to allow a young student an affordable opportunity to own an instrument. In general these trombones have the smallest diameter slide tubes (known as the bore), allowing greater ease of playing to aid a beginner. These trombones should have smooth slide action, a minimal amount of resistance when playing, and a resonant tone. This selection of trombones has the least amount of customizable options. Each trombone has an 8-inch yellow brass bell.

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Step-Up Trombones

Intermediate trombones feature better quality in materials and craftsmanship and more handwork than beginning trombones. These instruments have slightly larger bore, allowing a deeper, fuller tone. This level of trombone offers different options for bell material, bell diameter, and some instruments can come with an F-attachment (a valve operated by the left thumb, allowing lower notes to be played).

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Professional Trombones

Professional instruments are an investment, and professional trombones are no exception. These trombones are made with the greatest care and highest quality materials. At this level of trombone the largest amount of choices are offered to the musician. There are two types of professional trombone, tenor and bass. The bell material options for either professional tenor or bass trombones are red brass, gold brass, or yellow brass. These variations are based on the proportions of copper and zinc in the brass alloy used for constructing the bell. Some professional trombones also have inter-changeable leadpipes, allowing the basic amount of resistance of the instrument to be customized. On many of these trombones there are also options of different designs of valves, allowing the performer to choose how much (or little) resistance there is while using the valve.

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BassTrombones

Bass Trombones are larger than tenor trombones and will naturally have a fuller, easier low register. While a tenor trombone bell diameter can range from 8-inches to 8 ½-inches a bass trombone bell will range from 9 ½-inches to 10 ½-inches. Bass trombones are available with multiple valve options. Some bass trombones have one valve, while others will have two. Options for double valve bass trombones are either “dependant” valves or “independent” valves. Independent valves can be used, as the name implies, independently from each other at all times, while on a dependant valve section, the second, or back, valve requires the first valve to be active to be used. Tuning systems for bass trombone valves can vary widely.