tl;dr
On an Adams F2, I'm having trouble obtaining that creamy tone quality as I ascend above an E at the top of the staff. Is it me, or the flugel?
Background:
I'm a comeback player (trumpet after 30 years), but I always loved the sound of flugelhorns. So when I "came back", I did so with a flugel-only approach. I have an Adams F2 (red brass, 170mm, #2 leadpipe) and a Taylor Phat Boy Signature (copper, 160mm).
On the Taylor, I can get the sound I want throughout my range (currently limited to an A below high C). It's creamy, fluffy, and dark, which is the tone that I'm trying to achieve.
On the Adams F2, the tonal characteristics seem much broader. It can sound very trombone-ish in the lower registers, and very bright in the upper ones. However, I can achieve that same creamy, fluffy, dark tone that I want on the F2 in the lower and mid registers. But anything above E5 just seems to lose that quality I want. It brightens up.
My go-to mouthpiece is a Denis Wick 4FL, but I get the same results with other mouthpieces such as the Wick 2FL, Lotus 2XL, and 7XL.
If there is anyone with a similarly spec'ed Adams F2, I'd love to hear your experience. I'm trying to determine whether it's the F2, my approach, or perhaps a combo of both. My instructor has a Yamaha (731, I think) and can achieve creamy tones into the stratosphere, and is encouraging me to experiment with a few different techniques on the F2, but so far I have not been able to achieve what I want tonally with the F2. So any tips would also be appreciated.