Nuvo jHorn Beginner Instrument for Trumpet, Euphonium & Tuba, 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.

It’s be great

I’m giving it 4 because of the marketing. It’s getting flack because it’s being promoted as a 3 in 1. While I do like the built in mouth piece and I think it’s fun and essential for kids and beginners, where this instrument really caught my attention was when I put my French horn mouthpiece. I have an assortment of mouth pieces and adaptors so I was able to try multiple combinations and this instrument excelled as a French horn. Think about it, the bore is too small for a full euphonium sound and all you can really get with the tuba mouthpiece is a very weak fundamental. Again, it can do both and it’s a cool testing tool but it’s a training French horn. Look at the videos where this instrument sounds great, it’s being played by French horn players. I treat this like an Excalibur of sorts, I have my students play on all 3 mouth pieces and if they excel on one of them, I go to round 2 and have them play the real thing. If you treat it as what it’s marketed for, you’ll be disappointed but if you treat it as a sorter and a starter French horn, you’re going to be amazed at this little horn.

It's very hard pushing out lower notes, but its a good gift overall

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.

Not as resonant as I had hoped. It's difficult to get the low notes. The spit valve takes awhile to close - You have to work at it; it's soft plastic and needs to be sort of "tucked in". But it IS a lightweight version of a baritone horn. I opted to use the C tuning tubes, for ease of reading. This raises the tuning by a whole step, losing a low note that I can barely spit out. Over all - just OK. certainly is light weight.

Love this horn for travel & students

I played the tuba from 7th grade all the way through college and this definitely plays more like a euphonium toy with the biggest mouthpiece so I found it unfulfilling. It has really bad resonance (just about zero) and intonation (very flat). It just didn't feel right as a brass player. If you're serious about playing a brass instrument, I would strongly suggest getting an entry level trumpet or euphonium. Tuba players, better cough up that $$$$ for a real one (I know, it hurts). My kids were amused but it didn't hold their attention long enough to keep it. I felt like it would teach them atypical or even bad habits when it comes to playing brass instruments too.

Poco più di un giocattolo, tende a stonare, è più adatto a dei bimbi. Nel complesso da 1 a 10 do' 6 e 1/2.

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.

Perfect starter instrument. Well made and you can feel the quality when you pick it up. Highly recommend!

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.

Strumento didattico valido per poter iniziare a suonare in tenerissima età. Preso per mio figlio di 4 anni.