A 46K experience

[Tuba Guy]

Terrific class of tubas, my friend...I've had a King Giant and currently have a 24(?)K getting a valve job (though tonight I used my King fiberglass pos and we had a great time). A suggestion for lifting a heavy horn...I usually wedge my foot underneath and get it into motion with a hand jerk combined with foot lift. The two lifting points make it more bearable. Then you just dive into the instrument when it's at the peak of its trajectory. Do it a couple of times to get the feel for where to hold. The more graceful, the more points and the less it hurts!
Beyond getting it onto your shoulder...have fun. I traded that King for a 186 and I'm scared for when I get the Conn back. Heavy motherf...s...

[iiipopes]

I am surprised about your comment how it didn't carry the ensemble outdoors. I played a 38K once, and it not only carried the ensemble, the conductor actually had to give me the hand a time or two. But for my back deteriorating, I'd have one again in a heartbeat. Was it meant to be played in parade? Well, let's put it this way: indoors, I had to pull the tuning slide a little more to tune. When I did, I noticed a tell-tale ring around the inner tubes about 5/8 inch from the bow. I did not think anything about it until I had to play it outdoors for another event on a crisp, clear October Saturday. Guess what: to tune, I had to push in the main tuning slide to exactly the tell-tale point on the tuning slide. Yes, they are great for outdoors. The fact that you didn't think it carried, being under the bell, probably meant that it did its job perfectly and carried better than you think. Welcome to the joys of larger sousas.

A bowl mouthpiece, like a Bach 18, or a Perantucci 82, or a Geib, works well with the larger sousaphones and helps the projection better than a funnel mouthpiece, like a Helleberg or that ilk.

I encourage some workout calisthentics to strengthen everything, like the Pilafian/Sheridan "The Breathing Gym," or similar, and focus on posture when playing.

[iiipopes]

The more rounded cups will get more overtone development and more out of what the souzy has to offer.

[Dan Schultz]

.... The sound? Eh. It has a huge sound but not the type of sound that carries over a group. More like the pedal of an organ that you feel more than you hear. The low oom-pah's below F are a little too organ-like for my taste? Someone on these boards once described huge inefficient horns as "air hogs." ....

My 48K seems to be a very efficient horn and certainly is not an 'air hog'. The problem with playing a horn like this is that you are behind the bell and are not in a good position to judge exactly what the horn is doing. The same is true with any sousaphone. I often get 'the hand' even when playing my POS fiberglass 'parade sousa'.

[Donn]

I'm also kinda confused. Everyone says use small cups for big horns, yet some people say use bigger cups for big horns.

That isn't just confusing, it's paradoxical, unless the latter group are actually saying both things.

I think the bottom line, though, is that online mouthpiece advice is pretty useless. Don't listen to me, that's for sure. I have a dozen or so mouthpieces, I don't know, a few more than I need anyway. Among them, I've got a couple of least-favorites, and I've taken the opportunity once or twice to speak ill of them here. But recently acquired a new-to-me tuba, and one of those least-favorite mouthpieces is now most likely to go to play out this weekend. You play what you like.

They're right, though, you can't hear yourself very well in back of the sousaphone. It's a real skill, getting the sound you want out of a sousaphone without being able to hear yourself accurately! If you like the sound of the 46K inside, it has that same sound outside. In a band where the sousaphone has to be a nasty-blaster, it's not worth lugging around to struggle with that job, but many bands playing outdoors can sound very good with a cleaner tuba sound.

[Steve Marcus]

My 48K seems to be a very efficient horn and certainly is not an 'air hog'. The problem with playing a horn like this is that you are behind the bell and are not in a good position to judge exactly what the horn is doing.

I'm in perfect agreement with Dan. When I play my 48K in a room where it is possible to hear the reflection of what is coming from the horn, the big, warm tone is extremely gratifying. Depending upon the situation, I have taken the advice that some have offered for playing 6/4 concert tubas of using a mouthpiece with a somewhat shallow cup (after all, people have commented that the 46K/48K is essentially a circular-shaped 6/4, if not 7/4 tuba!). This is particularly helpful when taking solos in Dixieland/trad jazz bands; a "woofy" sound would be undesirable. Band members have all had very positive comments about the sound of the Jumbo.

Coincidentally, rascaljim and I played in the same Labor Day parade this week. I was playing my 48K while sitting with the 6-piece band on top of a vintage fire truck. Jim walked by, F tuba strapped to his back, on his way to the quintet with whom he was playing. "When I saw the big horn, I figured it had to be Steve," Jim remarked. I held that horn on my shoulder for the 2 1/2 hour parade. So far, with all of the gigs on which I've played the 52-pound Jumbo, there has not been any deleterious effect upon my 57-year-old shoulder and back that I can perceive.

A couple of years ago, I played a series of paid engagements in which I marched (strolled) with the Jumbo and then played a sit-down wind band concert. The conductor wanted me to bring my CC tuba for the concert, which I did for the first performance. But I asked him to listen to the Jumbo for a couple of the selections. At the end of the concert, he admitted, "You don't need to bring two horns to the remaining performances. Your Jumbo sounds great--like a very big tuba. I just didn't expect that nice a sound from a sousaphone."

[tofu]

To get an accurate idea of how you sound with the band have somebody video the band coming up the street and then down the street while playing. We ended up playing in the rain for the entire Labor Day parade. We use a match set of excellent 1930's Cleveland built King 1250's but we were missing a couple of folks. I was surprised when I saw the video. From the back of the band I didn't think the sound was carrying and sounding that good. Gotta give you props for marching with a jumbo - takes a lot of brass to haul that much brass down the street!

[iiipopes]

The bell collar is not that big of an issue. There may be a leak upstream somewhere that a tech can diagnose for you.

[Steve Marcus]

If you treat the inner and outer surface of the tenon as you would any of the tuning slides to keep them adjustable, the bell will be much easier to insert and remove. I spread a thin layer of anhydrous lanolin on those surfaces at the collar. It makes transportation and preparation for a performance with the Jumbo much quicker.

Regarding the efficiency of the horn: Have you had a technician check the entire path of air from the receiver through the gooseneck through the branches and large bows to confirm that there are no obstructions? When Lee Stofer reconditioned my 48K, he removed a high school newsletter dated April 1, 1951 (no April Fools!) and some Wrigley gum wrappers with logos from the 1950s. No doubt that if those items had not been removed from the horn, it would not have been as free-blowing as it is.

[iiipopes]

As far as valve oil for worn valves, please do not use Hetman's "classic," because it will gunk up on you.

Instead, take a standard one-ounce dispenser bottle, fill it 3/4 full of a standard valve oil (I like Roche Thomas) and add one drop at a time pharmaceutical grade mineral oil. Shake after each drop to disperse, then clean and oil the valves. Stop when you sense that the mixture goes beyond sealing the valves and starts slowing them down, and add a little bit of valve oil to bring the mixture back to a viscosity that balances between sealing the valve and slowing it down.

[Tubajug]

These are odd things, as I was regularly using the Jumbo when I had it. Hmm... Perhaps, as you have said you "just started" on tuba, you just need more practice playing on a larger tuba? Take it over to BBC or Dillon's and see if one of the tuba players (Dave at BBC or Matt at Dillon's) there can give it a toot and see what they think?

So I figured it out!!!! Rookie mistake!!!

I accidentally switched the 1st and 3rd valve which is why the jumbo has been playing like crap since I got it. Just tried it today and it plays AMAZING!!!! Very efficient. Huge sound. Now I have to wait til veterans day for another parade.

Well at least you figured it out! Congrats! I say just take it around the neighborhood marching and playing to celebrate!