EEb tuba?

[ftempas]

Maybe I'm being very picky, but doesn't the double letter designation imply a contrabass instrument? CC and BBb instruments are contrabass, but Eb and F tubas are bass.

It just seems like people are trying too hard, or they don't know the difference.

Rant over.

[DonShirer]

Pehaps they are after the extra cachet the additional letter gives their blurb. At any rate, it is unlikely that anyone would convince them otherwise!

[Donn]

Not the first it has come up, of course.

Some aren't impressed the general idea of using octave notation this way, and they'll talk about Bb tuba - I mean, I suppose really everyone says "B flat", not "B-B flat", right? so really I mean they'll write about Bb tuba.

But if you're using Helmholtz pitch notation ("BBb tuba"), you'd want to use it correctly of course. In which case, I'm pretty sure that's the only double letter pitch in the family. The octave starts at C and extends upwards, so CC is below BBb. As is EEb, though not as far below of course.

The popular story is that Besson made the EEb business up to promote the notion of an Eb tuba that could serve as a contrabass. So it's common usage in England and thereabouts, not so much in the US.

[iiipopes]

The popular story is that Besson made the EEb business up to promote the notion of an Eb tuba that could serve as a contrabass. So it's common usage in England and thereabouts, not so much in the US.

Yes, with the introduction of the 19-inch bell Sovereign.

[MikeW]

The popular story is that Besson made the EEb business up to promote the notion of an Eb tuba that could serve as a contrabass. So it's common usage in England and thereabouts, not so much in the US.

Yes, with the introduction of the 19-inch bell Sovereign.

Actually, B&H were calling it an EEb long before the 19" bells appeared on the scene, and long before the Sovereign was even thought of. It was probably a marketing ploy for the Imperial 4-valve compensator, which AFIK dates back to the 1930's, possibly earlier. I certainly remember being told in the early 70's that "they call them double E's, but that's just marketing".

[sousaphone68]

+1 on what MikeW wrote.
One of the bands I play with has a a very old library of music and I regularly see ads for EEb monster bombardons etc. on the rear of the music.
In Ireland and probably the UK when a band member asks is that an EEb tuba what they are checking is that it has 4 valves.

[iiipopes]

And going the other way, by strict nomenclature, a CC tuba should actually be called a C tuba, but CC it has become in order to class it as a contrabass tuba instead.

[peter birch]

It is really of no significance at all. The EEb name is given to the larger, professional models such as the big Bessons (the 980s), the single Eb are the student models (the old Regent size). the range is the same and the pitch is the same and the music they use are the same. Beyond that, there is not really much more to say.