New Cerveny F (Horn dorn)

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 8:14 am

Very nice!

How are the valves on the Cerveny? I have heard their quality control has improved in recent years.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:24 am

The horn has very quick, smooth valves. Mine has the miniball linkage, which I like very much. Compression is good, as is the overall quality of valve construction.

My old Cerveny BBb had a valve "problem" on the fourth valve, in that it didn't quite seat perfectly vertically within the casing. I would agree that the overall quality control has improved for Cerveny over the past 15 years or so.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Mon Aug 27, 2007 5:15 pm

the elephant wrote:Did you get the time to bang around on one like mine or only on the Baby Arion 653? If you were able to play both can you make a direct comparison?

Or â€“

Can anyone here who has played the 653-5 and the 654-6 offer up direct comparative information?

Senior Elephant, unfortunately I have never played the 654-6, and have little experience with a quint valve. I can see how that could be really useful, though. I'd love to try the 654. Overall, I've played a lot of F in my day, but this little bugger is definitely a keeper by comparison.

Alex F · Post by **Alex F** » Tue Aug 28, 2007 9:45 am

I'm not looking for an F tuba but have seen a 4v Cerveny F posted on Steve Loeb's web-site (Yankel's warehouse a/k/a Bassesonline a/k/a Ideal Music). Steve has posted here as "greene" a few times. I've just completed a double bass deal with him and found him to be a straight up, accomdating, and very helpful guy to deal with. You also get to talk with his mom, Kate, who is also very nice to deal with.

For those who don't know, Steve's father, Jack, ran Ideal Music in NYC for about 50 years prior to his death in 2001. His widow, Kate, and Steve are selling off thousands of violins, violas (Oh my), cellos, basses, woodwinds, and brass. Most of the goods come from the former Eastern bloc countries like Czechoslovakia, East Germany and Romania. These are mostly student/intermediate instruments of good quality and the prices are hard to beat. Based on my experience, I recommend checking the inventory out.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:03 pm

pierso20 wrote:I am SUPER excited to be getting my 653 soon........only.....20 more days or so????

thanks for posting the pics....now all we need is a sound byte???
haha

OK, so I have an MP3 of an "spur of the moment/just for fun" Sear duet I played after a studio session, I'd be glad to let people listen, tired lips and all, if I could figure out where to host the MP3. Any ideas?

The nice thing about the duet is you get to hear both ends of the middle range, and quite a bit of dynamic contrast. At least that's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 7:15 pm

Here's where I posted it:

http://minorcrisis.net/files/Stereo_pri ... 5B1%5D.mp3

A fine tuba, to be sure. Don't know about the player, though . . .

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:22 pm

the elephant wrote:The low end sounds very good through my tiny laptop speakers. I will listen later with headphones. Generally, the pitch and low end sound great. How much time did it take you to get this thing under control? Or was there pretty much no break-in time, just point and shoot . . . so to speak . . . ?

Thanks for the kind words. I think the recording turned out a little "tubbier" than the horn sounds live, but I'm not sure what has been tweaked on the recording. For me, the tuba has been very point and shoot. The intonation is stable and predictable. The second-space C is a bit high, but I'm aware of it and manage it without much effort. The top-space g is best when played with the 4th valve, but 1 works well enough in faster passages. Typical tuba intonation quirks. Low range is very nice- easier response below low CC than many CC's I've played.

pierso20 · Post by **pierso20** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 8:42 pm

I am very much drooling in anticipation of mine...I want it NOW......

Very nice playing and recording and THANKS!

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:08 pm

Bob, I haven't really needed to use false tones, but I'll give it a spin tomorrow and tell you how they work. This little bugger is a whole lot of fun to play. I'll let you know how the false tones turn out. Time for bed now. Good night.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 3:36 pm

OK, so there aren't any false tones on this, but here's another "one take" track:
http://minorcrisis.net/files/Tuba_Trk_2.mp3

I'm going to check out the false tones in a minute.

BTW, I talked to my brother, the recording engineer, and he said the take is "as is," no compression, just a touch of reverb on this one and the duet, with just a smidge of high overtones reduced to give a sense of space. [/url]

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 7:26 pm

Bob, I just verified the existance of the false tone low Gb. It was right there with 1&2, but is a bit "thinner" in tone than the same valved note (1234&5). So I'm sure you could make it work.

Edited to change false tone fingering to 1 & 2 from 2 & 3. 1 & 2 works better for the Gb, after playing it for a while.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 1:24 pm

pierso20 wrote:I am very much drooling in anticipation of mine...I want it NOW......

So, pierso20, have you recieved yours yet?

pierso20 · Post by **pierso20** » Sat Sep 08, 2007 2:32 pm

not yet. When I originally ordered it, I had to cancel it immediately after for financial reasons, but then about a month ago I ordered it again. Put a deposit and everything!

So, I don't know...I should get it quite soon. I'll of course let everyone know when.

k001k47 · Post by **k001k47** » Sun Sep 09, 2007 5:16 pm

Very nice horn; makes me wish I lived near Dillons

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:25 am

It's interesting to hear the differences from the orchestra perspective. I've been a fan of the Yamaha 621 F's as well, I hope to be able to AB it with my little Cerveny at some point in time.
I've been playing the Cerveny in our local community band (Cobb Wind Symphony) and we're playing a couple of sets this afternoon at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center. We're working with cut down numbers due to short notice for the concerts, so I was a bit nervous about bringing the F instead of my 188, but we had 2 CCs and a BBb show up, so the F really helps add definition to the sound of the section and functions well at the softer dynamic levels we're using (due to the smaller section sizes in the clarinets, trumpets, horns, etc). Overall, the low range on the little guy leaves very little to be desired. The real difference is not in response, but in tone. The F has a more centered and defined sound, whereas the contrabass is far more broad and foundational.

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 8:28 pm

Bob1062 wrote:Maybe I should just get a new one (I think I'll wait til Brooke gets his to see if they can be decently consistent) and use it as my main horn (I am part German!).

How did you happen on it Jones?

I can't tell you how I agonized over getting an F as my main horn instead of a contrabass some years ago. If I had to do it all over again, I have to say I'd go with an F. I'm sure A LOT of people here would disagree with me on that, but the Germans definitely don't. The real difference, to me, is in the tone department. All the notes I need are there, and then some.

How did I find it? I was in the market for an F (again) and basically looked at used and new horns online. I've played quite a bit of F, so I knew I wanted something for quintet, tuba quartet, and solo literature. I didn't need a gigantic F (that's what I have the CC for), so I really considered 4/4 and smaller F's, with the Cerveny and the Yamaha 621 being the main contenders. The price got me the horn NEW from Dillon's (THANKS, MATT!!) and the playability made me a fan. That's about it. Just go for a new one, Bob. And get the 5th valve!!

Kevin Hendrick · Post by **Kevin Hendrick** » Mon Sep 17, 2007 9:18 pm

Bob1062 wrote:Wade, I believe that either Dillon's or the US Amati/Cerveny warehouse (not sure of their relationship) has a new 6 valved model. I don't know if it is a 653 or 654 though.

However, if the 653 is better than the 654, than a 653 WITH a quint valve has gotta be one bad little horn (though maybe you could add your 654 quint valve to a 653! )!

Dillon's actually list two Cerveny 6-valve Fs -- the 654 (like Wade's) and the 661, which is a larger bore (20 mm vs. 18 mm for the 653 and 654) F:

Cerveny CFB 654-6 F Tuba
http://www.dillonmusic.com/HeleoCart/Pr ... %2faPik%3d

Cerveny CFB 661-6 F Tuba
http://www.dillonmusic.com/HeleoCart/Pr ... 03sdTu0%3d

jonesbrass · Post by **jonesbrass** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 7:07 am

Kevin, you are correct. Unfortunately, I believe the real issue is having them in stock. It would be great if one could go and A-B-C them against one another and other F's, but I don't believe anyone here in the US is carrying any stock of the Cerveny F's.

pierso20 · Post by **pierso20** » Tue Sep 18, 2007 10:06 am

Yes, having these little cerveny's in stock is the real problem. One would wish to be able to make comparisons...but not likely.

I'm pretty much a blind man right now. I had to place an order and I am still waiting to hear about the horn.

But as long as consistancy plays in, then I believe I will have a fine horn. You don't know unless you try.

A week or so ago, I was told 20 days and I would find out of it's in....sooooo we shall see.

This is all cool information. I was looking at the Yamaha 621 for a while, but after hearing of this 653 Cerveny, I had to at least give it a try.....maybe we'll get everyone on the 653 fad....hahaha

pierso20 · Post by **pierso20** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 10:24 pm

October 10th is the date the horn comes in. I'm counting down now.

TubeNet

New Cerveny F (Horn dorn)

MP3 ready - how to post?

here's a little bit of sound

Unaccompanied Telemann recording