I think the Schilke 51D is the prototypical mouthpiece for large-bore compensating euphoniums. I played on the Willson 51D that came with my Willson 2900 for 20 years, in large part due to the Euro shank (between the much more common small and large shank) that severely limits options. These days I ...

Thomann won't ship to the states.


I placed an order with Thomann on September 10 and received it September 18. Tariffs paid online prior to delivery through UPS. The only additional hassle was that signature was required on delivery, which meant heading to a local Staples store to pick up the ...

[...] 5-valve Bb tenor tuba. It sounded amazing [...]


I asked a bandmate who used to own the instrument, and apparently it is an early 70s Miraphone, silver-plated but otherwise similar to the current model 565 B♭ Kaiser Baritone . The German "baritone" is closer to a euphonium than an American ...

A few summers ago I was playing euphonium next to a woman who was rocking a 5-valve Bb tenor tuba. It sounded amazing (though she would have sounded good on lesser instruments too). If I remember correctly it was a restored old Miraphone of some sort, but maybe not... Anyway, I'm increasingly ...

BERP offers a potential for supplying a similar amount of RESISTANCE to that which encourages the lips to vibrate JUST AS THEY DO WHEN PLAYING, but - with most any BERP (to achieve this) a large percentage of the available openings need to be shut off.


Yep, I have two of the four holes covered ...

I've rarely buzzed with a mouthpiece except when directly instructed. And free buzzing is right out. The main issue I've had with buzzing is that it's too different from the act of playing; being good at buzzing is a separate skill. But back in January I was trying to solve a playing problem on my ...

I tried three Sierman CC tubas this spring, really liked the Galaxy. Build quality seemed fine at a glance, but I didn't pull things apart to look closely. Since then I've also tried the B&S 3198 which it copies, and really liked it too. But the trials were too far apart to make a nuanced comparison.

There's also a Conn/Geib CC on horn-u-copia that looks even larger:

http://www.horn-u-copia.net/instruments/Conn/Conn-Tuba-CC.jpg


I just saw this tuba on Tuesday at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, SD. Here's what the placard said:


Tuba, C

C.G. Conn
Elkhart, Indiana, ca. 1908 ...

I'll second the Willson 3400S "Gabriel Carpet" recommendation. I've had mine for a year now, and it is a dream to play, my favorite instrument of any sort, ever. It's as if the instrument glows in my hands. The tone is clear and sweet, the intonation excellent. It is an ideal quintet horn, and ...

I really like Gregory Fritze's Twenty Characteristic Etudes for Tuba.

So far as I know none of my three tubas has vented valves. If one did, what would I look for?

[...]

Is it worth doing to either my new Willson or my Big ol' Martin?


The first valve of your Willson 3400S is vented (mine is, at least), but using a different method than typical. Notice the ...

I'm also looking for rotary valves because all of the pistons that I have dealt with so far have been really sticky, no matter what I do. Unless someone can convince me that pistons can be not bad, then I might consider a piston horn, but otherwise a 4 valve rotary


My observation has been that ...

I don't want to sound like I'm telling you that you're wrong, but I do wonder:

I've played several "show demo" tubas that were also not good players. I wonder if something was/is wrong with those particular instruments you didn't like? Maybe hastily assembled, out of alignment, or some other ...

I attended NWRTEC in Boise last week and took some time the first day to try out various tubas. There aren't many opportunities to try out instruments on this side of the US, so even though there were only three vendors (in separate rooms, thank goodness), my horizons were significantly broadened. I ...

In choosing whether to learn C fingerings when you already know Bb fingerings, I think it's important to consider learning efficiency. A teacher who specializes in C tuba may not adapt well to teaching a Bb student, studio rehearsals/exercises may be a weird key mismatch for the odd Bb player, etc ...

A new Willson 3400 showed up at Baltimore Brass a couple weeks ago: https://www.baltimorebrasscompany.com/p-18306-willson-3400-5v-eb-tuba.aspx , the first new one I've seen since starting to pay attention over a year ago. And they still have one new 3400S as well: https://www.baltimorebrasscompany ...

I've read about MAW valves with interest, but there's clearly a lot I don't understand about them (and tubas in general). Don't different tuba makes/models have different entrance/exit angles, spacing, bore diameters, and casing diameters? I would expect MAW valves to need to exist in myriad ...

I have a Denis Wick 4AM (gold plated) that I put away after brief testing. If that's close enough for your needs, PM me.

This thread piqued my curiosity re: the Besson 984, and I found a couple videos of James Gourlay playing one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLk4xesyWDM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c61svXdmX7s

The thing that jumped out at me is his use of a trigger to manipulate (I think) the 1st valve ...

I believe the compensating Eb has the same bugle and bell as the front action 5v model. It is an awesome horn. Probably still sitting because of the 3+1 layout.


Some brass band/brass band player will love that instrument. Truth be told, I prefer the front piston designs, but will never tell ...