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I am looking to purchase an F tuba, but am unsure which one would be a good one.

Any recommendations?

B&S rotary
Yamaha 621 or 822 (pistons)
Meinl Weston (45slp)
Willson piston
Miraphone rotary
Gronitz...
Hirsbrunner...

Roughly in that order according to popularity.

quinterbourne wrote:B&S rotary
Yamaha 621 or 822 (pistons)
Meinl Weston (45slp)
Willson piston
Miraphone rotary
Gronitz...
Hirsbrunner...

Roughly in that order according to popularity.

I am interested in the Yamahas and MW 45SLP. How do the 621 and 822 compare? A couple of "bad" things that I have heard about these horns: 822 lacks color, (nice low end though); 45slp's money register is actually hard to tune;...I don't know much about the 621. What are some thoughts on these issues?

I've owned 4 f's.One each of the yamaha models,the B&M for sale at Baltimore Brass and an older B&S(pre-symphonie model,but looks like one).The yamahas are very functional and really excell from Eb below the staff on down,but both tended on the flat side above the staff for me.The sound quality on the yammies was indeed a little vanilla,but still nice.The rotaries both took a lot of work from D below the staff on down,in the staff and above were quite superior on intonation,high register,and especially sound color.The yammies had great low C's,the other 2 don't...for orchestral exerpts,i'd rather have a rotary.for quintet,i'd rather have a yamaha. Just my take based on the 4 horns i've known....

I recently started playing F here at school, and, since i'm an equipment whore, have been on this big kick looking at F tubas. The tuba the school has for students is a B&S PT-16 rotary. the cheapest F I've seen for sale around that looks to still be worthwhile is a 5 valve B&S simphonie for sale at bassclefbrass.com, how would these compare? (or is there very little comparison ?)

As for F-tubas:
If you don't already play an F-tuba and your just starting-out, you might consider purchasing a used 4-valve F and woodshed for a year or so befor bank-rolling a high end tuba. You can usually pick-up some very inexpensive ~$1000 4-valve F-tubas (Cerveny, or B&S...or their respective stencils) that sound great with a good mouthpiece in the "real" register that you would consider using an F-tuba.

As for F-tuba mouthpieces:
I’ve been using the Mike Finn MF-3 mouthpieces for about 5 years. Later, Mike brought out the MF-3H and I liked that jez fine…..the MF-3H has become my standard all-around mouthpiece on my larger BBb horns. When I bought my little pea-shooter Cerveny F tuba nothing worked, so I contacted Mike and was recommended his MF-4. I’ve never used the MF-2, but apparently the basic set-up is similar for the MF-4, but the cup depth is shallower. Bingo, I could actually make some tuba-like-sounds. So I've been working on building the synapses needed for fingering this cute little tuba…..it’s slow at my advanced age! This past summer Mike sent me a draft version of the soon to be released MF-4H. Same as the MF-4, but with a sharper inner rim entry. Mike claimed that the demo was not up to his standards yet, but I said I would give it a whirl. I’ve been practicing for some recording sessions and have been switching back and forth between the MF-4 and the MF-4H. I’m liking the “Hâ€

clagar777 wrote:I am interested in the Yamahas and MW 45SLP. How do the 621 and 822 compare? A couple of "bad" things that I have heard about these horns: 822 lacks color, (nice low end though); 45slp's money register is actually hard to tune;...I don't know much about the 621. What are some thoughts on these issues?

Well, the Yamaha 621 has a small bore (.689) and a bell (14 3/8) while the 822 has a large bore (.768) and bell (17 1/2). So, the 822 has a larger, fuller sound... it's a whole size bigger than the 621.

I'd say that the 822 is more suited towards orchestral music while the 621 is better for solo and chamber music. However, I'm sure the 822 is a good solo/chamber music horn and the 621 is good orchestral horn. Also, the type of sound is very similar to CC (especially the 822) so if you like the CC sound, that might be a good choice for you.

Yeah, the Yammies don't have much in terms of color, compared to their European counterparts. They do have a nice big, full sound with good intonation and solid low registers.

If you get something like the 45slp it probably has color, at least more compared to the Yamahas, but has a tough low register and intonation problems. However, I think it is easier to overcome stuffy low register and intonation problems than it is to overcome "color deficiency." But, that's just me...

RoyceLandon wrote:You could just learn to play high on your CC tuba.

Stupid, OUT!

Me looking for an F tuba has nothing to do with wanting to play any higher than I already do....ah forget it...I've seen you other posts...

RoyceLandon wrote:
You could just learn to play high on your CC tuba.

Stupid, OUT!

Clagar77 Wrote:
Me looking for an F tuba has nothing to do with wanting to play any higher than I already do....ah forget it...I've seen you other posts...

I second that.
Whats up with this Landon guy?

Whats up with this guy?

He's the color commentator. I forgot who does the play-by-play and who does the statistics comments around here. If we could only get Howard Cosell and O. J. Simpson over here, then we'd have a broadcast booth to beat them all.

YES!

What the elephant said a few posts ago...

I play a lot of pay gigs on my 621. Old Reliable.

I bring a bigger horn to the gig if I need more beef. That doesn't happen as often as one would think. Quintet players on treble clef axes love small tubas that don't drown them out. The treble clef players are often the ones doing the hiring.