The Lineage of the King 1120 Mellophone

The King 1120 is a marching mellophone that has been one of the most popular since its introduction. While the Yamaha YMP-204M is the current standard of the mellophone world, the 1120 still sees a lot of use in marching bands, most notably HBCUs. The current version of this model is the 1121, which has an angled leadpipe, re-wrapped 3rd valve slide, and other small changes.

But the 1120 was not designed in a vacuum. In fact, the design has direct ancestry back to the bad old days of the drum corps G bugle.

All three of these instruments have the same wrap, and all three were designed by the same person: Zig Kanstul.

The instrument on the left is the genesis of this mellophone design, the King K-50 mellophone bugle in G. This was the best of the 2-valve mellophones, and it is an absolute screamer.

When three valves were legalized in DCI in 1990, Zig Kanstul came back to the K-50’s basic design and updated it for the 3rd valve, but this time under his own brand. Pictured in the middle is an early pattern Kanstul KAB-175 alto bugle in G. Sadly I have never seen an early pattern KMB-180 mellophone bugle for sale, or else I would have used that in this photo comparison. But the KAB-175’s noticeably smaller bell diameter is the only difference between it and the KMB-180.

You’ll notice that the 175 deviated slightly from the K-50 design by having the leadpipe enter the 1st valve from the other side, rather than angling to get around the 1st valve slide and entering the valve from that side. The leadpipe is also shorter than the K-50’s, with that length moved to the taper after the valves. The two instruments do not play the same (impossible when adding a 3rd valve), but they do have a similar feel and great slotting all the way up into the highest register.

On the right in the pictures above is the King 1120. This was also designed for King by Zig Kanstul, after the Kanstul company had moved on to a different design for their mellophones and alto bugles. The older design clearly still had life left though, as Zig stuck very closely to the K-50/early Kanstul design. It is most similar to the K-50, sharing its longer leadpipe and leadpipe routing. But it also copies the 3rd valve design of the KMB-180/KAB-175, with that unmistakable 3rd valve slide wrap.

KAB-175 (top) and 1120 (bottom) 3rd valve slides

The King 1120, then, is essentially an updated version of both the K-50 and KMB-180 designs, lengthened to play in F. It plays great, as a Kanstul should.

P.S. As an interesting final note, the Yamaha line of marching mellophones was based on the preceding Olds marching mellophone wrap (which was stenciled by quite a few makers including Bach, Blessing, and Reynolds). The Olds marching mellophone was the first F marching mellophone, derived from the G mellophone bugle and designed by…you guessed it…Zig Kanstul!

So, the two mellophones that have dominated the marching arts for years are either an actual Zig design or a derivative of one. In fact, as the Jupiter mellophone is also essentially the same design as the Yamaha, the only current marching mellophone that isn’t a Kanstul derivative is the Adams MM-1, which bears a closer resemblance to the Dynasty mellophones.

Marching French Horn

The marching French horn is an enigma. Sure, it’s been used by high school marching bands and drum and bugle corps, but there are very few recordings of them on the Internet. They also carry a bad reputation with them…they’re impossible to march with, they sound worse and not as loud as a mellophone, and are generally pointless. Or so people say.

Some of these claims do have some truth to them. Picking out pitches on a Bb or low G single horn with a narrow horn rim while running around a football field is certainly not easy, and the drum corps “Frenchie” lines earned notoriety for lots of cracked notes. The marching horn (regardless of key) also does fall short of the mellophone in terms of raw decibel output. Additionally, band directors often don’t know what to do with them. Do they read Bb parts or F? (The correct answer is F. Always F.) Are they worth the additional expense over a mellophone? Why do some have bent leadpipes and some don’t?

Despite all this, I think the marching horn is unfairly maligned. A good marching horn with the right player and mouthpiece behind it really does sound pretty close to a “real” horn, and you certainly can’t get that sound with a mellophone.

It is also important to understand the marching horn’s integral role in drum corps G bugle hornlines before the legalization of 3 valves. While mid-voice instrumentation in drum corps back then was full of experimentation, French horns were a common choice. Why? Because being twice as long as the G mellophones (or flugelhorns, alto bugles, or meehaphones) meant that they could access many crucial notes in the mid-register that simply did not exist on the other 2-valve alto instruments. This was huge for the arrangers of the time, and a good French horn line added a huge amount of depth and flexibility to a hornline.

A 2-valve piston/rotor Olds Ultratone French horn bugle in G

However, the top corps had begun to streamline their mid-voice to just mellophones even before 3 valves were legalized in 1990. While the tonal colors of a varied mid-voice line were great, unifying to one type of instrument meant tuning and blend was much easier. That said, a few small French horn lines did survive briefly into the 3 valve era, most notably in the Cavaliers and Santa Clara Vanguard. Both lines used the Kanstul KHB-185 3-valve G French horn bugle, with 8 made for SCV and 6 made for the Cavaliers. It is likely that no other examples of the model were made (despite it remaining in the Kanstul catalog for most of the company’s life), which would mean there are only 14 in the world.

Here’s one!

This is the Kanstul KHB-185 I used to own, which was one of the Santa Clara Vanguard horns (it is even stamped as such on the bell!). SCV used these only through the 1992 season, after which they moved to all mellophones.

This horn is a great player. It is certainly not point-and-shoot like a mellophone; you have to work for the right notes just like on a single F horn (which is only a whole step lower). But the reward for your efforts is a bell-front instrument that really does sound like a French horn.

But don’t just take my word for it. Here’s a quick 8-part demo I recorded all on this Kanstul:

While the register of drum corps French horn parts meant that they really did not need a third valve, I certainly enjoyed getting to use the full range of the instrument in this bite-sized piece.

Being fully chromatic also means that an instrument like this could really be the solution for playing French horn into a mic that’s placed in front of you. I have played many gigs where I doubled on French horn, and the only solution with a normal horn is to physically turn 90 degrees to the left and hold the bell up the mic like you’re playing Mahler. It is awkward at best. This Kanstul (which sounds like a horn, but points forward) is the perfect solution for a gigging brass doubler. I do feel that more typical a Kanstul 285 Bb marching horn is a better compromise just for the fingerings - I (along with most brass improvisers) am much more comfortable improvising in Bb than G - and this is the reason why I ended up selling the the KHB-185. I have also played a session here in LA where everyone was on marching instruments and one of the mellophone players also played a Kanstul 285 on some cues, presumably to fatten up the section sound.

The only other non-marching band use of a marching horn I’ve seen is by the fabulous Solo Hornist of the Munich Philharmonic, Matias Piñeira. He has a custom-made small bell Bb marching horn that he uses for salsa playing in addition to his normal Alexander 103. He uses both instruments in this video:

Here’s a brief trip through some other interesting types of marching French horns.

First up is the previously-mentioned Kanstul 285 marching horn in B-flat. While you could be forgiven for thinking that the Kanstul 185 marching horn in G above was based on this, it’s actually the other way around. Zig Kanstul started his company making G bugles only, so this Bb horn is actually a derivative of the G. It has the same up-turned leadpipe to allow for a typical downstream horn embouchure while holding the horn above parallel. Other brands’ marching horns do not have this feature. The B-flat marching horn is the most common type of marching horn, and a few manufacturers (Yamaha, King, Adams) each have a model in their current lineup.

Kanstul 285 B-flat marching horn

Next up is the Kanstul 284 marching horn in high F. High F marching horns are not commonly known, but they have been produced by Kanstul, Dynasty, and Blessing. Since Kanstul closed up shop in 2019, I don’t believe there are any high F marching horns currently being produced.

Kanstul 284 high F marching horn

There have been some very odd-looking marching horns throughout history as well, such as the Holton MH-100, 101, and 102. These Dr. Seuss horns play as oddly as they look, but at the same time they play concerningly well. They have a trumpet mouthpiece shank for some reason, which allows you to put lots of different kinds of mouthpieces in it. Most inexplicably, they have been copied by Jinbao. Every aspect of this instrument’s existence seems like it came out of a fever dream!

Holton MH-101 B-flat marching horn (MH-100 = screw bell, MH-101 = fixed bell, MH-102 = fixed bell, slide kickers)

The Low Alto Bugle

Speaking of marching horns with trumpet shanks, Kanstul also made a very odd variant of the KHB-185 3-valve G French horn bugle presented at the beginning of the article. They called it a “Low Alto”, and it is the same as the KHB-185 except for a different leadpipe (trumpet shank) and main tuning slide arrangement. As weird as it is, 6 were built and it did see some drum corps use with the Marauders and later the Kingsmen Alumni.

Top: Kanstul KHB-185 French horn bugle in G
Bottom: Kanstul low alto bugle in G (no model number)

Because it has a trumpet shank, the low alto bugle can accept many different mouthpiece types. As I have adapters for both trumpet to horn and trumpet to cornet, I was able to see how it sounds with mouthpieces that use all 3 shanks. As it is a Kanstul G marching horn at heart, if you use a horn mouthpiece with an adapter it plays and sounds pretty much like the KHB-185 French horn bugle. It’s a little harder to play accurately and a little more work to get a centered horn sound (I suspect mostly due to the adapter), but it’s there if you work for it. And unlike the 185, the low alto has a whole toy chest of other sounds to explore by using different mouthpieces.

From my time with the low alto, I found that horn, tenor horn, alto trumpet, and very small trombone mouthpieces worked the best. I do think that a mouthpiece that truly matched the instrument well would have to be custom made. But rather than talking about it any longer, I’ll just let you listen. I recorded a small collection of short, improvised excerpts on 11 different mouthpieces (and adapters when required), each meant for a different instrument.

Lastly, here’s a back-to-back comparison of the 2 marching horns with trumpet shanks: the G low alto bugle with horn mouthpiece (via adapter) and the Holton MH-101 with horn mouthpiece (via adapter).

Meehaphone

The Meehaphone is an enormously rare breed of 2-valve competition bugle in G, built and used from 1987 to 1991. It was designed by Jack Meehan and Zig Kanstul for the Concord Blue Devils drum and bugle corps, in an effort to streamline their middle voice section from three types of G bugle (mellophone, flugelhorn, and French horn) to one.

The exact number built is not certain, but as the meehaphones were built by Kanstul specifically for the Blue Devils, it is likely that there were only enough made to fill out the corps’ mid-voice section. It seems that at the time the Blue Devils’ mid-voice was consistently 14 players, based on instrumentations noted in this Middle Horn Leader interview with Wayne Downey and my own studying of the relevant footage online. It is thus reasonable to conclude that there were most likely 14 production meehaphones built. There was also at least one prototype built in F with 3 valves, which is now owned by Bobby Pirtle and resembles a giant flugelhorn.

According to the late Ken Norman, the meehaphone has a bell flare identical to the Olds BU-10 and Conn 92L French horn bugles, mated to a 2-valve .415” bore flugelhorn body. It is essentially a bell-front field descant horn in G. At the time, Terry Warburton made custom mouthpieces for the meehaphones, labelled “Downey BD”. The Blue Devils used an all-meehaphone alto section for the 1987-1990 DCI seasons, and in 1991 they used 4 mellophones and 10 meehaphones. The meehaphones were shelved shortly thereafter when new 3-valve G flugelhorns from Yamaha arrived.

According to all accounts, they were the loudest alto bugle ever created. In fact, on the bell is stamped “MFL”, which does not stand for “Marching Flugelhorn” but “Mother F***ing Loud”! They had a darker sound than mellophones and projected very well, but notes above written G at the top of the staff (sounding D5) were very hard to center. Here’s the Blue Devils’ 1988 show on YouTube, with plenty of meehaphone action to go around. After 1991, the meehaphones fell off the map. Most of them were lost in a single shipment, which has never been found. There are only a handful whose whereabouts are known, and all but one are on display in various states of functionality in drum corps-related museums.

So, that’s the lore…now, here’s my practical experience.

Here is an original Kanstul meehaphone, serial #1028, that I had the privilege of owning for a while. It was previously owned by Ken Norman, and is the single known example not in a museum.

When played softly, it has a French flugelhorn-like quality to the sound, which makes sense considering the .415” flugel leadpipe and valve block. When pushed, it gets bright with a trumpet-like edge, but without what I would describe as the mellophone’s tearing metal zing. It’s a very interesting sound that’s clearly related to my other alto bugles, but at the same time standing apart from them.

But don’t let me just talk about how it sounds. Have a listen for yourself!

These clips were all recorded close-miced into a Cascade Fat Head ribbon microphone and SSL2 audio interface. The ensemble excerpt in particular provides a good summary of the meehaphone’s qualities…both good and bad. The notes above the staff live up to their squirrelly reputation; while I could play them effectively (I suspect thanks to my Conn 16E experience), it is certainly a treacherous register. In general the intonation isn’t the best, but it’s nowhere near the worst I’ve played either.

It’s important to note that I did not have an original Downey BD mouthpiece made by Terry Warburton for the meehaphones. Mine came with a Burbank F mouthpiece with a cylindrical shank, and while it worked I didn’t feel that it was an ideal mouthpiece for the instrument.

For more playing and practical information about the meehaphone, check out this video:

Meehaphone (left) next to Couesnon flugelhorn (right)

Alto Bugle

“Alto bugle” typically refers to a type of competition bugle pitched in G for use in drum and bugle corps. Of the four main types of mid-voice bugle used in drum corps history (mellophone, French horn, alto, flugelhorn), the alto bugle is probably the rarest type. Usually based on a G mellophone bugle but with a much smaller bell, they didn’t make a lasting impression on the field. However, they offer intriguing possibilities for use outside of drum corps as they are essentially big flugelhorns in G. (There were actual G flugelhorns in DCI as well, but those were generally standard B-flat flugelhorns with tubing added.)

Many alto bugles had 2 valves, as that was the rule in DCI until 1990. But there are a few models of 3-valve alto bugle that exist. These are as follows:

• Dynasty III alto bugle (late 1970s): Likely the earliest 3-valve alto bugle to be made. As DCI was over a decade away from legalizing 3 valves, the complete Dynasty III bugle line was made (mostly by Willson) for the European market. Surviving examples of any type of Dynasty III bugle are extremely rare today.

• Dynasty late-pattern alto bugle: This one was based on Dynasty’s existing mellophone design rather than a separate one, and was made in-house instead of by Willson. (The link calls it a flugelhorn bugle, but the Dynasty 3-valve flugelhorn bugle was a different beast made by slapping longer slides on a DEG Signature 2000 Bb flugel.)

• Kanstul KAB-175 (‘90s, early model): This early model Kanstul alto bugle design resembles a smaller King 1120 marching mellophone, and as both instruments were designed by Zig Kanstul, is probably where the King design originated.

• Kanstul 175 (late model): The later model used a totally new wrap and was made until Kanstul went out of business in 2019.

At one time I owned the only Dynasty III alto bugle I have ever seen. I haven’t been able to find any record of another individual example on the Internet. As none were made for the US domestic market, it may be the only one in the country. But rare G bugles have a funny tendency to show up in the weirdest places, so there could be others hiding in the States. I bought mine from Canada.

The following picture shows the Dynasty III, and also my DEG 1220 alto cornet in F for comparison, also made by Willson around the same timeframe and also very rare (but much more common than the Dynasty III!). It’s easy to see the family resemblance between the two instruments, even though they actually sound quite different.

Dynasty III G alto bugle (left) and DEG 1220 F alto cornet (right)

As the names imply, the alto bugle sounds like a flugelhorn, while the alto cornet sounds like a cornet. The alto bugle has a fat, dark flugel sound; the alto cornet has a brighter, leaner cornet sound. Both instruments play very well.

I also used to own an early pattern Kanstul KAB-175.

This instrument had a fabulous flugelhorn sound with a tenor horn mouthpiece (the same one I used in the Dynasty alto bugle and alto cornet). It was smoother and a shade darker than the Dynasty, and was a really refined sound. Which is not to say the Dynasty was rough; compared back to back with my Couesnon flugelhorn the Dynasty sounded quite close, just with a bit more beef in the sound. But the Kanstul took it a step further and makes the sound a little rounder and sweeter still.

Unfortunately, with this mouthpiece the instrument also played quite flat with the tuning slide all the way in. This is likely because it was designed around the classic Mello 6 marching mellophone mouthpiece. I have one of those, and putting either it or my Hammond 5MP marching mello piece into the Kanstul fixed the pitch and felt like the right match for the horn size-wise…but also entirely lost that lovely velvet flugelhorn sound. With the Mello 6 it predictably sounded like a more focused, direct marching mellophone. Very bright and trumpety, but much fatter than any trumpet (or G soprano bugle). There may be a niche for this sound, but I couldn’t find it and the big flugelhorn sound is really what I want in an alto bugle, so I eventually sold this instrument.

Physically, the Kanstul was fantastic. The valves were the best I’ve ever owned in any kind of brass instrument…lightning fast and whisper quiet. The instrument itself felt like it weighed nothing in the hand, owning to its light weight and great balance. I’m sure it would be a pleasure to march with, as instant horn snaps and moves are a piece of cake. The left hand grip is comfortable, there is a 1st valve slide kicker…it has everything you want. It feels like a massive leap forward in alto bugle design from the Dynasty, although the Dynasty’s super-compact form factor is definitely convenient. It is a shame then that the Kanstul doesn’t work out of the box with the tenor horn mouthpiece that the Dynasty happily accepts without issue; it could be that that early alto design was based around a larger, more tenor horn-like mouthpiece.

Although I never found a real use for the Kanstul and thus sold it, it’s one of the most enjoyable brass instruments I’ve ever played and I do miss it.

To hear the Kanstul meehaphone, Dynasty III alto bugle, and Kanstul KMB-175 alto bugle, check out this video:

The Marching Alto

Just as the mellophone bugle in G begat the marching mellophone in F, the alto bugle in G begat the marching alto in F. And as rare as the G alto bugle is, the F marching alto might be even rarer. Unlike the alto bugle and its limited use in DCI drum corps (especially in the 2-valve era), I know of nobody who ever fielded a line of marching altos. (If your high school or university marching band did, I’d love to know about it!)

These are the types of marching alto I know of:

• Kanstul KMA-275 (late model): This is the F version of the late-pattern 175 alto bugle. I have yet to find evidence that Kanstul ever made an F marching alto version of the early pattern KAB-175 G alto bugle, or that any other maker made a smaller-bell version of their mellophone. It could be the only purpose-built marching alto ever made.

• Nirschl E-102 mellophone: This horn wasn’t intended to be an actual marching alto, it was just Nirschl’s poor attempt at making a marching mellophone. It also works no better as a marching alto as it does as a mellophone…in fact, there is nothing it is good at. But it technically counts?

• Andalucia AdVance Series Alto Horn: This is a current-production instrument in F, based on the Kanstul Meehaphone. The Meehaphone was a 2-valve instrument used from 1987-1991, and while it was built around a French horn bugle bell and was essentially a field descant horn in G, it successfully fulfilled the same role as an alto bugle (darker sound than a mellophone, but more projection than a flugelhorn).

As an aside, although they are not really marching altos, there are also bell-front alto horns, aka “solo altos”. These are mostly instruments from turn of the 20th century meant for alto horn soloists and shaped like large cornets. They are usually in E-flat and have much smaller dimensions and a smaller sound, as they are based on concert alto/tenor horns rather than marching mellophones. The Swedish maker Lars Gerdt had a marching tenor horn in E-flat listed on their website until recently.

Anyway, I recently acquired a Kanstul KMA-275 late pattern marching alto in F. It’s the first one I’ve ever seen in the wild; until it popped up for sale locally I had only ever seen the picture of it on Kanstul’s website all the way back in 2002.

The product page for the KMA 275 from Kanstul’s website circa 2002 (via the Wayback Machine).

My KMA 275.

While I knew the design had radically changed since the early pattern design, I assumed that this instrument would play pretty much like my KAB-175 did, just in F. But it actually plays quite a bit differently. Although it lacks the uniquely sweet sound the KAB-175 had with a tenor horn mouthpiece, the KMA-275 is actually usable with a tenor horn mouthpiece as it plays up to pitch without issue. In fact, the KMA-275 is happy with most mouthpieces you could throw at it.

Rather than describe all of these, here’s a short demo of some of the mouthpieces that work well:

I have to admit, although this instrument is very cool and as well-built and easy to play as you would expect, I would really love to find an early-pattern version of the 275. The KAB-175 was one of the most fun, satisfying instruments I’ve ever played and while this KMA-275 is excellent, it hasn’t made me unwilling to put it down yet. We’ll see if I get there.

Until recently I couldn’t find any existence of the early pattern mellophone/alto design in F at all, and I wondered if Kanstul only started making things other than G bugles after the late-pattern design was introduced. But an early-pattern Kanstul F mellophone recently showed up on eBay (for way too much money, or else I would have bought it already), so the early pattern in F has been proven to exist. But I am still in search of evidence of the smaller-bell 275 F marching alto in the early pattern.

The early pattern Kanstul 280 F marching mellophone from the eBay listing - stenciled as a Besson.

Truthfully, I’d love to get a hold of the complete set: 175 G alto bugle, 275 F marching alto, 180 G mellophone bugle, and 280 F marching mellophone - all in both early and late patterns. Add the King K-50, King 1120, and King 1121 for the complete lineage and I can then determine once and for all which ones are the best.