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I am going to try my hand at playing tuba to help out a little church group . I am really a euphonium player but they need a tuba more then they do a euphonium . So I have borrowed this Yamaha YBB103 from a middle school and I need a mouthpiece. I don't know what to get . I just need a cheap one that will work well for an inexperienced tuba player like my self .

What's do the tuba gurus here suggest ?

For a new player, USUALLY (with appropriate caveats for your mileage may vary, etc.) a smaller rim with at least medium thickness helps.
And if it needs to be cheap: Kelly 25.
A little more expensive: Conn 7B, Yamaha 66D4.

Perhaps a Bach 30E would be the type of mouthpiece you are seeking.

It's a very small tuba mouthpiece, but that might play into you hands as a euphonium player.

The Wick 3L knockoff on ebay is a pretty good mouthpiece. When I needed a mouthpiece for Eb at the interim between Besson going under and Denis Wick establishing his own retail network and couldn't get one, this turned out fairly well.

Oh, yeah: Kelly 25 or 18 are also good.

Faxx and Blessing 18's are also good doubler's mouthpieces.

I agree on a smaller tuba you may need the deeper cup of the Conn Helleberg to get good tone.

You might want to consider a Yamaha 65 for this horn or, possibly, a 67C4. They are both rather small with comfortable rims and should fit the horn well. Look on eBay for used ones or at a large music store that takes in trades.

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I doubt that aside from this occasional church group and perhaps another church group at Christmas I will be doing a lot of tuba playing. The euphonium is now and always be my first true love.

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet because I use a stainless steel LOUD now due to a metal allergy. I don't want to drop some big change on yet another S/S mouthpiece.

I like Mr. Schleppster's suggestion of the gold one. BLINGAGE !! However I doubt I can overblow even this student tuba. I struggle with air capacity now with my euph. I guess the only descusion left is to go with a bowl or funnel cup. I play a bowl cup now on the euph. Should I stick with it ?

It has great reading all the responses from everyone and would like to encourage more of it.

From what you've described, you do sound like a candidate for a Kelly 18. It's a tad deeper than the Bach/Faxx/Blessing 18's, so it will give a little more fundamental, but it is a bowl cup so it will give you the same feedback as to what you're used to. @$30. I play one exclusively for outdoor gigs, because it gives good tone and projection as well as indifferent to temperature so I don't freeze or sear my lips at Christmas or Independence day.

Since you're playing it on a tuba that is prone to overblowing anyway, you won't need to do anything to it except play away. If you ever get a larger tuba and start cracking at high dynamic levels, just wrap a piece of golfer's lead tape around the outside at the throat and it will center up the louder dynamics just fine.

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet

Now that the easy decision has been made, here comes the tough one: What color?! Decisions, decisions.

I've found the crystal orange is a good balance between the trashy radical green and a blah mundane color.

SplatterTone wrote:

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet

Now that the easy decision has been made, here comes the tough one: What color?! Decisions, decisions.

I've found the crystal orange is a good balance between the trashy radical green and a blah mundane color.

Agreed. I picked the same.