3 Flugelhorn Showdown! ACB Doubler's vs Manchester Brass vs Adams Sonic! Which is the Best?

[Links in description] What's the best value flugelhorn in our shop? Of course we're known for our super popular ACB Doubler's flugelhorn, but we have some other fantastic options as well. Here's a quick comparison between our Doubler's, the Manchester Brass flugelhorn, and the Adams Sonic flugel. Each one fits its own particular niche!

Let us know your thoughts and opinions in the comments!

0:43 Overview
4:45 Comparison on "Tenderly"
7:30 Comparison on Charlier No. 2
10:13 Bell material comparison
11:17 Comparison on 2-chorus blues improv
Which flugel is your favorite?

Here are the links to the horns in the video
ACB Doubler's Flugelhorn: https://www.austincustombrass.biz/acb...
Manchester Brass Pro Flugelhorn: https://www.austincustombrass.biz/man...
Adams Sonic Flugelhorn: https://www.austincustombrass.biz/bra...
ACB Fab 5 Flugel Mouthpiece: https://www.austincustombrass.biz/aus...

I'll be totally honest, the Manchester and the Sonic are better flugels. Our Doubler's flugelhorn is designed to be the best flugelhorn at its price point, but there are some aspects where you just have to pay more to get a higher quality. If you're looking for the best budget-friendly flugel on the market, in my opinion the Doubler's is an incredible value. You won't find another horn at the price point with this amount of quality control, tweaks, and upgrades. But if you have the extra room in your budget, that does open up some additional choices.

This video will help you decide which model will be the best flugelhorn for your particular needs, and of course you can always call us with questions at 816-410-0826

The Manchester is built at the CarolBrass factory, a high quality factory in Taiwan. We do some proprietary tweaks to these horns like we do with our Doubler's flugels. The price is between the Doubler's and the Sonic, as is the quality. The case is also a little more robust, it's a large hard case with a full front pocket for music and accessories and a nice plush interior.

The Sonic is handmade at the Adams factory, so it's another jump up in quality. They do use a raw CarolBrass valve block which they then hone and fit at very precise tolerances. The CarolBrass blocks are a highly respected component in the industry, used by many custom trumpet builders [for their Custom Series, Adams uses their in-house-made Bauerfeind valves]. The Sonic comes with the Adams Gard flugelhorn bag. I use Gard bags pretty exclusively, I love the protective designs, and Gard Bags is one of my favorite companies.

The mouthpiece used in this demo is our ACB Fab 5. This is a great introductory flugelhorn mouthpiece with a medium depth and comfortable rim.

Audio is completely raw and unedited. The acoustic is pretty dry here in the testing room at the shop, so you're hearing a pretty accurate representation of what the horns sound like. Of course they will sound even better with reverb or in a larger room!

In terms of the bell materials, the ACB Doubler's has the highest copper content but it's not full copper. The Manchester and the Adams Sonic are both gold brass although each has a proprietary alloy.

Of course we have tons of other great flugelhorns available as well:

https://www.austincustombrass.biz/flu...

Austin Custom Brass is one of the world's premier brass  pro shops. We routinely have hundreds of instruments in stock.  If you are looking for something in particular please let us know  via  email at [email protected]  or call 781-944-6247 today!  

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