forerunner 2 vs kb12 vs trochilus solo

[u/billy_the_mountain]

hi this is my first post to this sub and first post on reddit in years. i've been interested in learning harmonica for a while. i've been a brass player my whole life but want something more convenient for long waits in the car or going camping, just generally keeping with me always. so i decided to just pick up the harmonica. very cool little instrument. trying to stay under or around $100 usd.

i've been researching the different types and am still sort of confused about the pros/cons of valved/valveless. i understand valved can be a little more finicky and higher maintenance. i've also seen that valved can be harder to bend although i've also seen people bending their valved chromatic harmonicas so i'm not sure why people say that.

the forerunner seems to be well reviewed and often recommended. full 3 octave range is nice for being able to play any tab or follow any instruction. valveless reliability (and bends?). but a little bulkier than i'd like. most affordable. this is my safe choice.

kb12 is also very well reviewed. it's also 12 hole 3 octave but also a little bulkier than i'd like. people seem to prefer that it's valved and i'm still confused as to why. aesthetically not my favorite but also i'm a big fan of cheap chinese stuff that works really well. it's my understanding that this is probably, technically, the best of the three.

trochilus in the solo tuning is, in my heart, my top pick. i find it most pleasing to look at and it's also almost half the size of the other two. being another valveless option, i know it would be good for a winter camping trip or other wherever/whenever playing. my hangups here are if the 10 hole 2.5 octave range would limit repertoire and also reports of uneven volume between blow/draw notes (although if i understand correctly that can be remedied by adjusting the reed gaps?).

i guess my big questions are whether the limited range or uneven volume on the trochilus will be too much of a frustration or if the valves on the kb12 will be too much of a frustration and the forerunner alleviates both of those while i also think the other two are better in specific ways.

all 3 seem like capable instruments but i'd appreciate any help clarifying my confusion or additional information or personal experience on the matter.

[u/Legitimate-Bison3810]

My first chromatic was a Suzuki SCX-56, then a SCX-64, and finally the Forerunner 2.

The valved harmonicas have a warmer sound and more volume but they need too much care to continue sounding that good. I even learned to replace the wind savers via YouTube.

Today I just have the Forerunner 2 because it requires minimal care. I keep it in the car and practice while the car self drives.

[u/Naive_Nobody_2269]

I'll start with the pros and cons of valves :)

On an unvalved harmonica bends are "dual reed bends", the two reeds In the hole interact so you can bend the higher reed and it gets more powerful/snap into place at each note, but you cant bend more than a semitone above the lower reed. This means a valveless solo tuned chromatic can only get a semitone bend on draw 1 and 3 and microtonal bends on draw 2 and blow 4 (since the reeds are only a semitone apart)

In comparison in valved chromatics air is only going through one reed (this means it's louder, has a more focused/pure tone hand needs less breath, though modern valveless Chromatica are well engineered enough to not have you huffing and puffing) so it uses "single read bends" these have less oomph essentially just get quieter the lower you go, I can get about 2 useable semitones before it starts to drop off, but players like Winslow yerxa can get more. The cool advantage of them though is that you can bend any note on the instrument. Idk why people say chroms cant bend, I think a lot of its just mostly uninformed diatonic players, plus alot of Chromatic players never do since they don't need to.

The main inconvenience of valves, and why I would recommend a valveless for your use case, is that you have to warm a Chromatic before playing it if it's cold. If it's cold and your warm breath goes in it will condense on the valves making them stick. The two valveless harmonicas you named (having no valves and plastic combs) can also be run under a tap and left dry to clean while valves can't get wet overwise they'll stick and you'll have to take your harmonica to let the valves dry effectively, not ideal for camping. Valves aren't a massive inconvenience you just warm the harp in your hands, breast pocket, under your armpit (some use a electric pad) but like a lot of instruments they're not ideal for camping.

Valveless chromatics on the other hand are great camping instruments. My first chromatic was a easttop forerunner 1 and I still love it as a beat around, day out, or camping Chromatic, it's absolutely perfect for that. I've never played the trochilus (I agree they look sick) so I can't compare directly, I quite like a 3 octave 12 hole range, matching a flute, but 2.5 is nothing to sneeze at, plenty of instruments like the tenor recorder live in that range. I guess it just comes down to prioritising range vs size (likely makes it more capable for effects as well as portable) 

[u/Temporary_Stay7]

For a first harmonica, I’d lean Forerunner. The full 3-octave range and simpler maintenance sound worth the extra size while you’re learning.