King 606 vs 606 Tempo

[arpthark]

Hi tromboneroos,

I am primarily a tuba player, so please excuse my ignorance here. I have owned quite a few King 606s. I recently picked up a horn that looks to be from the 80s/90s that looks like a King 606 (straight braces, etc.) but it is marked "606 Tempo."

What's the difference between the 606 and the Tempo version? It looks basically the same as another 80s/90s 606 I owned. (I also briefly owned a King Tempo made of nickel with the curved brace, but that's an entirely different animal.) Is the Tempo moniker geared more towards the student market?

[Finetales]

The bell stamp should be the only difference, they just tried out the Tempo name for a while on a few horns and then later got rid of it. For example, the 607 was called either just 607, 607 Tempo, or 607 Tempo II and they are all the same apart from the bell stamp.

Some models (1305, 1306, 1506, 306) were ALWAYS called Tempo, hence why we think of the 1305 as the "King Tempo" without modifier. But King had a complete Tempo line for awhile, which was generally student and intermediate horns.

[Chazzer69]

I recently acquired a Tempo 1306 nickel plated horn that needs the inners replaced. The plan is to try to find a compatible used horn that maybe I can steal a set from (assuming that's a thing that can be done). Does the Tempo (or not Tempo) 606 have identical inners?

[Finetales]

I don't know for sure, but the inners should be the same as they're both .500 and based on the same narrow chassis.

[Chazzer69]

I don't know for sure, but the inners should be the same as they're both .500 and based on the same narrow chassis.

Groovy, thanks!

[dbwhitaker]

Don't forget the 606 Cleveland, too.

So all of the various 606 models are essentially the same? I've seen some with nickel silver outer slides and others with brass.

[Finetales]

Don't forget the 606 Cleveland, too.

So all of the various 606 models are essentially the same? I've seen some with nickel silver outer slides and others with brass.

Yep, 606 Cleveland is the same as the others. Those are early examples, with the name carried over from the 605 Cleveland. Then they went to 606 Tempo, and finally just 606.

I think the nickel slide is a relatively recent change - I've only seen the nickel slides on newer (post-Cleveland or Tempo) examples, and the current model has the nickel slide without any option for yellow. So at some point they just fully changed over to nickel.

Conn-Selmer also recently renamed the 606 to KTB301, for...some reason.

[Richard3rd]

This is pretty interesting. In the cornet/trumpet world, the same model number horns of the three variants are not the same. I never compared the exact specifications, but I loved my king cornet and when I tried the Tempo version I was not impressed and sold it quickly. I still own a Cleveland, in fact several Cleveland horns and I think there is something quite special about them. Does anyone own a Cleveland trombone?

[Finetales]

Yes, I currently have a 605F Cleveland. It's a decent player, but I wouldn't call it special.

[TomWest]

I have a Cleveland, manufacturered in 1977. It’s had a tough life before I got it, but after it spent a little time in the repair shop it actually plays pretty well.

[Posaunus]

I had a King 606 (expertly refurbished rental) from ~1985 (SN 9775xx) that was extraordinarily good. A great backup to my precious King 2B. Would not have been ashamed to play it in any professional setting.

[Crazy4Tbone86]

This legendary design lives on. I work in a shop that handles large numbers of rental instruments. One of the recent Bach 301 student models (there have been many variations with this model number) is an exact copy of the King 606 except cork barrels and outer slides are all made of nickel. I just did repairs on about 15 of them in the last few days.