I have been using the TR 500 S trumpet for about half a year and have been playing almost daily and I am very impressed by the quality of this trumpet.
Pros:
The trumpet has a great tone, the silver plating adds much needed weight and allows you to have fullness to your tone throughout the range of the trumpet.
It is quite free blowing with a moderate amount of resistance, putting a mute onto the trumpet still allows you to play freely despite the added resistance that comes with a mute.
Note slotting is very good on the trumpet too. Tuning is good on accidentals and on alternate fingerings. The tuning of the trumpet is great and there's plenty of room for tuning up or down on the tuning slide.
The valves are smooth and run very well, even on occasions where I have had to play without valve oil on hand.
The silver plating looks great and the engraving on the bell gives it a unique look which I personally like but it may not to everyone's liking.
The quality and sound of the trumpet is fantastic for this price point. Even when playing trumpets that cost 3 times as much the TR 500 S can still compete.
Cons:
There are very few considering the price point, however, compared to more expensive Yamaha and Carol Brass trumpets it doesn't respond as well in the upper range.
The solder on the third tuning slide came off at a joint and there's a small air leak (sometimes oil too ). The oil leak can be a nuisance but this hasn't affected the quality of the sound coming out of the bell so not a major issue. It is unexpected and I couldn't find a good reason for why this happened.
Summary:
Overall, this trumpet can't be beaten on price. If you need a back up or you're on a really tight budget this will do the job, and very well at that. A good choice for a first trumpet too, it's easy enough to play that you don't fight the trumpet to sound good and that can only be a good thing when learning to play an instrument.
