The Yamaha pro quality horns have made great strides over the last twenty years. They initially imitated another company's popular and successful design and then attempted to refine it. They have the largest stable of artists and tend to listen to their comments about design. Some find Yamaha horns to have less personality than the horns they copy, however. Their construction quality is nearly always first rate and the horns are very consistent. Thus, they are a good risk for mail order or online purchase. Yamaha trumpets are available in Heavy Weight, Standard Weight, and Light Weights.
The third generation of Yamaha Heavyweight, their copy of the Bach 180-37, the medium large bore Xeno YTR 8335S, was introduced in Spring 2001. These have some incremental improvements (thicker valve casing braces, new mouthpiece receiver length, new valves stems, caps and finger buttons) to the 6XXX Mark II design and can be found for $1800 in silver. The most interesting of these new horns (i.e., the one I like the best), the YTR 8335RGS (called the 'Special Model' on the Yamaha web site), has a heavier gold brass bell and a reverse leadpipe design, which is $50 more. Yamaha also makes a lightweight horn that is similar in design to the Schilke B6 and B7, at several hundred dollars less than Schilke, the YTR 8310Z, designed with assistance by jazz trumpet player Bobby Shew. It has a smaller step-bore design where the bore is medium in some areas and larger in others. It is very easy to play, but can feel stuffy and be overblown by strong players. In silver, it is $1750. Bobby Shew himself recommends the lacquer version (and wishes they didn't even make the silver one) that is $100 less.
Yamaha also makes a line of limited production Artist model trumpets that are priced at around $3400, but are beyond the needs or budget of most. If you are reading this, they probably aren't for you.
Source:dallasmusic.com
