Thought I'd post about a trumpet I've had for a while, but know very little about. Thought I'd post about it here in case anyone else knows more, or is looking to learn about these.
This is my Boosey and Hawkes 607, made in England in the '70s or '80s. It was also released as a Besson Concord (exactly the same trumpet), and is the step up from the B&H 606 / Besson Crescendo. It's a step down from the even rarer Sovereign 906 and 907 trumpets. The difference between the 606 and 607 seems to mainly be the thumb hook and ring style pinky hook. Note, not to be confused with the Besson 600, a middle-of-the-road student horn.
It seems the 606/607 line was the product of a parts bin exercise by Denis Wick and George Reynolds of the LSO. B&H wanted a trumpet that could compete with the best models of the likes of Bach and Conn, etc in the USA, so they set about building the best trumpet possible out of parts that B&H already manufactured. The result was the 606, intended to be named "Sovereign", but they felt it fell slightly short of being as good as the best the USA could put out. Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=496446977195480&id=496446977195480
I'm unsure where this officially places in the student/intermediate/professional hierarchy, but my impression is as follows.
This is probably the most compliant trumpet I've ever tried. It's effortless to play, and the Microbor valves are like butter - a real highlight of the design - probably some of the nicest valves I've played. The valve block is set further backward than usual, but it feels pretty balanced in the hand with a standard Bach mouthpiece. It feels extremely robust and well made. The sound is lively with a solid core, possibly a little darker than something like a Strad, but opens up when pushed and it feels like a medium-large bore. It's often the horn I reach for simply because it takes very little effort to play. In my opinion the sound isn't as refined as my Strad, or my newly acquired Arioso Super, but its responsiveness makes it easy to play very expressively.
Would love to hear from anyone else who owns or who has played a 606, 607 or Sovereign trumpet, and your thoughts. It cost me a princely £30 on Gumtree about 8 years ago. A nice condition 606 recently sold on eBay for £485.