I ordered a JP piccolo after reading Gordon Hudson's reviews of the Jinbao piccolo - he surmised that the John Packer was the same instrument and that it would be worth a try given the very attractive price.
I believe that this is the Jinbao piccolo, and it seems to be a very good performer so far. In this clip I had not properly tuned the piccolo (crucial) and you will hear a couple of intonation issues. This is user error :) (especially that low D - E trill... the 3rd valve slide was not set). It also sounds a little flat to concert pitch as I was practising with my young brother who plays on a rather flat Eb Tuba.
The clip is a mash up of the Te Deum by Charpentier - nothing like the original :) I played this on the Bb side in Concert Bb major. I used the tight mouthpipe with my standard Curry 3M. trumpet mouthpiece.
Apologies for the poor sound and video quality. You would have seen me correct that low D and play on, but the video got terribly out of sync - it wasn't worth posting. The good news is that I will have a Zi8 to record with soon! Sadly it will take a while longer before my playing is better ;)
A very good resource on Piccolo Trumpets is found here. There is great detail on choosing one, tuning etc... The only thing I would say is to try one of these Jinbao piccolos. While the market is swamped with terrible instruments from the Chinese manufacturers, this instrument is different. It plays well and is apparently well made. I can vouch for the John Packer Trombones and Cornets as I have played (not owned) them. I can also vouch for the Thomann FH600S Flugel Horn, as I have owned one for five years now and while it cannot touch my Kanstul 1525, it is a very worthy instrument that I don't want to call "budget" because of the negative connotations therein.
These horns in the UK are called "John Packer" they are made by Jinbao (to the best of my knowledge) and go under the name of "International Sound" as well as "Jinbao". Dillons in the USA also sell cheap piccolos which seem to get decent reviews - with a decent returns policy (as John Packer has) you can hardly stand to lose. My bank just loves how I buy stuff but hardly ever feed it monies :)
If you are interested in this piccolo, John Packer are very good to deal with, very friendly and accommodating. They can be found here:
http://www.johnpacker.co.uk/default.aspx
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