[Melodica-Me]

I would like to get some feedback on Bass Melodicas. I currently own the Hammond BB and would like to know if the Hohner Basso or the Suzuki 24 have a richer tone. I only use it for a few tunes but would like to use it more. I am not that happy with the BB simply because of the tone. I know the Hammond BB and the Suzuki 24 are basically the same? or are they.

Melodica-Me

[Daren]

I bought a Suzuki bass melodion B-24 earlier this year, but I sent it back because a lot of the lower reeds had about a seconds delay between blowing and speaking. I suppose you could get away with this in very slow music… Do you have this problem at all with your Hammond BB?

[Quetscher]

I bought a Hohner Basso at eBay about two weeks ago, which has a similar problem as Troy’s B-24, deep tones come very late and it’s difficult to produce double-tongues or really fast melodies. But perhaps some cleaning will do, there is a company called “Strings and Boxes” that offers a so-called “bath” for reed plates.

http://www.stringsandboxes.de/epages/es117831.sf/de_DE/?ObjectPath=/Shops/es117831_stringsandboxes/Products/%22SR%C3%96500%22

Melodica-Me, as for the richness of tone, I guess it’s only possible to compare directly. If I tell you that the Hohner Basso sounds rich to me (and it does), it won’t be any use to you as I don’t own another Basso melodica.

[Alan Brinton]

I have the B-24. It’s a pretty instrument and the sound is great, the best I think; but it’s very hard to play and seems to have gotten harder. There was some leakage, so I took it apart a few months ago and rubbed silicone grease (Trident) into the gasket. That helped a bit; but the air chamber, if I’m recalling correctly, has a rubber outer wall that expands and contracts, and I think that’s the real source of the problem. That would likely be the source of the delay issue. I wonder how much difference there is between the Hammond and the B-24, other than the pickup.

[Melodica-Me]

I think I deleted my post by accident. Troy I get the same results on my Hammond BB. I was hoping for a faster response but I think that I will only be able to use it on slow tunes. Not that happy with the BB but and it sounds like the B24 is not any better, this would not surprize me since they are both made by Suzukie. Are there any others beside the Basso? That you may have heard of?

Melodica-me

[Quetscher]

I guess all bass melodica players should be realistic about the possibilities of their instruments. As the length of the reeds double from octave to octave and get thicker at the same time, you simply have to move much more mass by blowing. This means the reeds react much slower. To change, no, let’s face it: to minimize this effect, you need reeds of extremely high quality like the a-mano reeds Victoria uses for the Vibrandoneon. But for those alone you would pay the price of a B-24.

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