When is a 4/4 best?

Chuck(G) · Post by **Chuck(G)** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:05 am

tuben wrote:Robert I. Coulter
(a rabid Bell model MW owner)

There's a vaccine for that, you know!

SplatterTone · Post by **SplatterTone** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:09 am

There's a vaccine for that, you know!

ALLORA!!

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 5:59 am

the elephant wrote:When is a 4/4 best?

About 90% of the time.

Honestly.

I would not disagree that a 4/4 is quite adequate 90% of the time, but would question if it is really best.

I used a Besson 981 (which in the UK is considered an "all around tuba") for all my gigs for over a decade and it did the job just fine - never a complaint from any conductor.

However, since using a Mel Culbertson Neptune for most of my orchestral playing, I repeatedly get conductors, other players and audience members coming up to me complementing the tuba sound.

There is no doubt in my mind that although an "all around tuba" will do the job, for most larger ensemble playing a 6/4 is best, providing a richer sound and better foundation.

Why use an all purpose tool for the job, when you can use the best tool for the job?

Tom Waid · Post by **Tom Waid** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 8:12 am

the elephant wrote:About 90% of the time.

I Agree. For me, all the jobs that I'm presently doing are well-served by either my 4/4 PT606P CC or my 3/4 YFB 621 F. The 606 is powerfull enough to do well with any orchestra I can expect to perform with. I really have no need for a larger tuba.

Gorilla Tuba · Post by **Gorilla Tuba** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 1:00 pm

I am jumping on the "90% of the time" bandwagon, too. My PT6 has been gathering a lot of dust. But then again, I don't currently perform regularly with any large orchestras. I have an F and a the PT6, but did just fine when my only instrument was a mirafone 186.

If I were to buy another tuba, it would be a 4/4 CC tuba. But I don't feel overly compelled to buy a tuba specifically for brass quintet since my F works fine... a little cumbersome on the low stuff, but quite workable.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 2:49 pm

BATman wrote:When is a 4/4 best?

When the line is running 32nd notes!?

I think it all depends on who you're playing with, what you're playing on, and what the sound in your head is.

Considering that the "/4" concept is defined vendor by vendor, I'd say that it changes minute to minute...

iiipopes · Post by **iiipopes** » Sat Oct 14, 2006 7:04 pm

Damn I wish I had seen this thread earlier. The elephant beat me to exactly what I was going to say, in one phrase.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 1:53 pm

Most of the responses are orchestra-centric. Unfortunately (and I mean that sincerely), only students, a few pros, and a very small number of adult amateurs get the privelege of playing in an orchestra. But it really dominates the thinking in most of the answers so far, it seems to me.

I played 4/4 tubas in bands for most of my playing years, which is closer to the fourth than the third decade. But it so much easier to put a floor under a concert band with a big horn than it is with a 4/4. In the small community orchestra in which I played for a few years, the BAT would have been far too broad a sound to go with the thin sound in the rest of the ensemble and the dead performing conditions where we usually played.

I have everything from a small F to a BAT, and the two instruments that get used most are the small F (for quintet) and the BAT (for band). If I didn't have those, the instrument that would get used the most would be the 4/4 Bb.

Rick "who still likes the sound of a BAT for a lot of orchestral work, in most halls and with powerful orchestras" Denney