jHorn - Black

Last year before Christmas, my four-year-old son began telling us he wanted a tuba for Christmas. We laughed and dismissed it, thinking that he saw something on TV about tubas and it was just the "idea of the day." But as Thanksgiving got closer, and then came and went, he was still insistent that what he wanted most for Christmas was a tuba.So I started looking for "toy" tubas. Lots of toy horns out there. He already has some of them, and when show them on the computer, he would say, "That's not a tuba, that's a French horn." (Kid knows his wind instruments). So then I started looking for some kind of small-scale kid or "beginner" tubas, and was shocked that we couldn't find anything cheaper than a few thousand dollars. Tubas are serious business, apparently.As Christmas loomed closer, we started getting desperate, because he was doubling down on the tuba demands. He literally talked about nothing else than how excited he was to be getting a tuba for Christmas. I'll admit... I was starting to sweat.I started scouring the internet, and eventually stumbled on some "mommy blog" post from a few years ago, where a woman had literally recounted, practically word for word, our exact same story. Her four-year-old wanted a tuba. She couldn't find a tuba. Why are there no toy tubas? And the comments were amazing... for several years, that blog post continued to receive comments from people like her (and me), almost entirely parents of 4-year-olds (what is it about being 4 causes one to suddenly desire a tuba?), lamenting the same problem. Some people recommended finding toy horns, or trying to buy a used one. Finally, after scrolling through probably hundreds of comments written over the course of three or four years since the blog was first posted, someone recommended looking for something called a "JHorn."So I opened Amazon's website and searched. And lo and behold, here was an actual instrument that at least resembled a tuba, but was small enough that I could expect my four-year-old to handle it. And it was under $200.Our son was so excited, and I have to say even though my wife and I could barely get it to make any noise, somehow he managed to get some tuba-like sounds out of it on the second attempt.Like a lot of things that young kids ask for for Christmas, it was the focus of intense interest for a few minutes, and then he moved on to another toy. But even today, he still takes it out of the case and toots it for a few minutes every couple of days. I consider it money well-spent.

After having my jHorn for a little while now and practicing with it a whole bunch I can say that its a really fun little instrument. I come from a low brass background (trombone/baritone/euphonium) and the "large" included mouth piece feels pretty good. High notes sing out and sound mostly great and low notes aren't bad as long as you aren't going through a lot of tubing. there are a few things that aren't perfect when playing. TL;DR conclusion is this is a great toy for the price. I would recommend to anyone with a brass background just wanting a new fun toy to mess around with and leave out so its always easy to pick up and play. I would NOT recommend this as a student instrument or for kids wanting to learn to play brass instruments. Its harder to play than a real instrument and might discourage them. the pbone is a better student horn.I'm going to get a little detailed here so if you aren't a music person you probably don't care. Like I said previously the more tubing you ask the air to go through the more difficult it gets to get a good tone, I'm not entirely sure why, I don't know the math behind how instruments work, I just play them. It might be just something up with the 3rd valve's piping. Also, the open D above the staff sounds off pitch, very off. the open F above the staff also feels off pitch a bit. I have found that using 1/2 alternate fingering for both these notes gets them right in tune with the rest of the instrument but is a bit inconvenient.I tried all the different mouth pieces and like the large one best because of my background. the middle one is a bit like half way between a trumpet and trombone with the smallest feeling like a trumpet. I was able to fit a small bore trombone mouth piece into the lead pipe but just barely so it probably lowered my tuning a bit. I could play fine with it but I felt like the included mouth piece was more suited to the instrument. the rubbery texture was comfortable to play on for long periods of time.Overall I would recommend this product

To start off I’m a 30 year brass player, and teacher.There’s a number of this wrong with this. First off the mouthpiece/s are confusing: I understand having multiple cup sizes but the cups are pieces of rubber you wrap around a cheap plastic frame. And on top of that the bore is so small none of my actual mouthpieces fit without sticking out and extra few centimeters.The spit valve is a piece of rubber strapped over a hole so I found myself having to jam a finger onto it to maintain a seal.The instrument sounds and feels like it has half a load of laundry shoved down the bell and if you blow with any force you can feel air leaking out of the valves. And if you put down more than one valve the resistance grows so quickly it’s hard to push out a note.The tuning is absolute garbage: playing a C scale (Bb), D feels like something’s stuck in the horn, A is barely in tune and the E above middle C is so flat it might as well be D#.Lastly it comes with optional slides to turn it into a C instrument. First off thats incredibly stupid and serves no point whatsoever. Secondly the slides are so short and with so little texture on them I felt like I was going to snap the horn in two trying to pull them out and with the layout of the instrument you need the hands of a child to be able to reliably get fingers in to smoothly remove them.Overall I am extremely disappointed in the product and asked for a return immediately. If you gave this instrument to a child I’d be surprised if it would inspire any long term interest and the quality is so poor even owning it as a novelty instrument I’d feel ripped off paying any more than $20.

My daughter in in 7th grade band and went from trombone to baritone. The school provides the baritone at school but she has nothing at home to practice on. I bought her this and she loves it! Not as bulky but let’s get practice.

Para niños que inician con el estudio de corno, es muy práctico por que es un instrumento ligero en comparación con un corno normal.De repente las teclas como que se atoran y hay que ajustarlas, pero en general cumple con el propósito didáctico.

I like how light it is and easy to clean with three types of mouthpieces. I play valve trombone and the fingering is the same. The rotary valves, although efficient, make noise. It is a great instrument for rallies, sporting events, performing for kids and a lighter instrument for practising pieces.

ottimo prodotto per iniziare a imparare. Suona bene.

I bought this just to mess around at home. I’m a trumpet and euphonium player but do not have a euphonium. I ordered an alto horn mouthpiece as well since I had read it works better with a real mouthpiece. At first I thought it was pretty terrible. In the low register there is very little control. However, if you stop thinking about it like a low brass instrument , but more as a mid range instrument like a French horn or alto horn, it actually plays great. Obviously it’s not like a real one, but it’s a lot of fun and sounds nice for playing at home once you get used to it. I would definitely only recommend for an actual brass player, not for a child as a first instrument.

Creo que es IMPORTANTÍSIMO tocar con una boquilla profesional de metal mejor que con las de plástico que vienen con el artículo. La diferencia es increíble, incluso con alguien sin experiencia en este tipo de instrumentos. Muy cuidada la presentación y la funda en la que viene. Es ligero y parece muy sólido. El sonido me ha parecido más que decente por lo que he pagado. El único problema es que los pistones, aunque fáciles de accionar, son bastante ruidosos. Algo no muy importante teniendo en cuenta el volumen que saca la campana. Es una oportunidad única para practicar o empezar con instrumentos de este tipo, puede perfectamente servir para una orquesta menos seria como un ensayo , una chirigota, algo improvisado... Sinceramente, tiene mucha personalidad este instrumento, ¡sólo hace falta mirarse al espejo con él!