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I have never played a piston PT-6, so cannot compare.

However, I have heard that it was originally designed as a rotary tuba, with a piston version following, although many think the piston blows better. Also, I have heard that the piston version is heavier (in weight), which would be interesting to confirm.

I think the PT-6 is a great tuba, but personally prefer its even bigger brother, the Neptune.

I have heard (and somewhat agree) that the 6P has a sound that is more "American" and the rotary has a more "German" sound to it...what that means to you may be different than what it means to me. I went to Custom Music this summer and played 4 rotary and 4 piston PT-6 tubas. The first day I tried horns my favorite was a rotary because I thought that it was a little smoother, as far as changing notes. The second day however, I found another piston model that was not opened up and ready to play. I opened it and played on it a couple hours...back and forth...I ended up with the piston because I loved the sound and good mixture of "fatness" and "largeness" of sound that it had.

How many "pros" play the piston model vs rotary? I have seen more of the pistons.

I know Steve Dumain (sp?) won his job on a rotary
as well as Jeff Anderson.
Andy Miller had a rotary and sold it to get a piston
Carol plays a piston.
Ja Tik plays a piston
Dave Kirk has a rotary
Craig Sutherland has a rotary
can't think of any others off the top of my head.

Tubadork wrote:I know Steve Dumain (sp?) won his job on a rotary
as well as Jeff Anderson.
Andy Miller had a rotary and sold it to get a piston
Carol plays a piston.
Ja Tik plays a piston
Dave Kirk has a rotary
Craig Sutherland has a rotary
can't think of any others off the top of my head.

the guys is the West Point band all had piston PT'6's I believe.

bigtubadaddy wrote:I know I've had to have my valves degunked at least once a year since I got it in 2000. Its so much easier to keep pistons clean than rotors.

What are you eating before you play? I have had no such problem. I went for rotaries for their reliability and lack of maintenance, which has certainly been my experience.

personally, i'm a piston kind of guy. i've never really liked rotary horns. the only kind of horn i would prefer to have rotary valves would be on an F tuba. reason: for more of the quicker/faster literature i want a smaller amount of space to push down the valves. pistons take a little more time and effort to push quickly compared to rotary valves. this isn't to say i wouldn't take a nice piston F tuba that was within my price range.

i happen to think piston also looks better. no offense to rotar guys. it's subjective. everyone has different preferences.

-casey

i bought dave zerkels new cd over the summer and he plays a piston pt6 for a cc and he uses a pt15 (i think) rotary for an f tuba.

tubadaddy92 wrote:i bought dave zerkels new cd over the summer and he plays a piston pt6 for a cc and he uses a pt15 (i think) rotary for an f tuba.

PT6P
and PT10

tonytuba02 wrote:In my opinion its the player.

How very very true!

Also, different instruments suit different people.

i knew it was something like that. thanks for clearing it up.

figaro wrote:What about the noise level? I know I play a junker but I am thinking of a different used. My pistons are loud! Of course on my ybb104 they are right up there near my ear. I have been wanting a rotary because I figured it would be quieter and when I am able to play faster passages the note would change quicker and smoother.

Both piston and rotary tubas can have noisy, or quiet valves. Depends on the wear to valve and lubrication.

i am playing on a rotor PT6. for the first year i HATED IT. going from an american 4/4 piston CC to a large 5/4 rotary german tuba, i had huge issues with the way things blew into it. but after a year, im finally beginning to reallly enjoy the rotary horn a lot. i never thought i would.

I know That Craig knox played a PT6 when he won a ton of professonal auditions and did the recordings with san fransisco symphony and michael tilson thomas Mahler 1 and Mahler 6 on the PT6 Rotary horn. Its a great tuba i played The exact horn for a week and its wonderful. I highly sugest checking out the mahler 6 recording! Its SICK. it won a grammy as a matter of fact. anyway, that horn is actually for sale. Craig now plays on a Nirschl with Pittsburgh and is ready to let the PT6 go. if anyone is interested, please, let me know..

I owned a rotor PT-6 for 12 years and enjoyed it thoroughly. I thought it blew just fine, but then again I was coming off a 4/4 Hirsbrunner, so just about anything would have blown better. After the slew of recent auditions (while I was still in good shape), I visited Derek Finstermacher (a great student at BAMA who owns a great PT-6P) and test drove licks on my rotary vs. his piston. After I played the first lick on the rotary and went to the piston, the students who were there started laughing in disbelief...I started crying! The piston spoke SO much faster...it wasn't subtle.

Now then, my PT-6 was made in 1994, so take that into account. I don't really know how the current versions play.

Gary Offenloch and I met up at Custom Music when they had about 12 PT-6Ps in stock. I played them all and took notes, then played them for Gary the next day and compared notes. We ran the 6Ps through a rigorous audition process! I wound up with "the best one for me."

My personal observations...

My piston: smoother slurs, more even tone throughout all registers, quicker attacks (I noticed I came in early for about a week after I bought the thing!), takes more air (but then again, I chose the freest blowing one out of 12), new intonation discrepancies, heavier (but they're making both versions heavier now than when they did in '94)

My (former) rotary: had a beautiful sound, intonation was easy to manage, kinda had an "err" sound in the lower register (that's partly because I suck)

It's funny...when I first started playing the 6P in the orchestra, I thought it didn't project as much as my rotary. Truth is, the rotary was more easily heard up close while the 6P puts it out there.

Bottom line: both horns rock. Go play some of them and get what does "it" for you!

bigtubadaddy wrote:Even when I started oiling daily, it still got gunked up.

Hi Jason,
That is really strange - what oil are you using? I use Al Cass inside the valves and as I say, never have had a problem. If any of the Neptune valves gets a bit slow, or I can feel resistance, then I oil, and have never had one stick. Incidentally, I normally oil by turning it on its bell, pull out the main tuning slide and then drop oil down while wiggling the valves.