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The Balu mutes are gaining popularity, they are very nice and don't seem to have the general extra intonation issues associated with mutes...



Humes and Berg not that good? I still like mine, even though I have to move the slide a little.

I recommend the Apperson tuba mute, it will work well with a 1291. Great pitch and a nice "bite" to the sound when you push it. Response in all registers is quite good.

The Balu mute is certainly beautiful but it doesn't actually mute much. It does change the color, giving it a mellow/woody sound but I did not find it balancing well with other muted brass, it stuck out. I will say that it blows freely and the intonation is good. Outside of the looks... I'd still recommend the Apperson.

I second the Balu mutes. I have one and if you look hard, you'll see that some much more influential tubists than myself have also tried and own them.

The Balu is a nice looking mute, but it's a lot of hardware to carry on the road and is a little fragile. One of my students bought one and it arrived in two pieces (but was replaced w/o hassle or charge).

I'm an old-fashioned Humes and Berg fan, although I agree that they are fussy about intonation and position. My next one is probably going to be an Apperson.

I've heard alot of great things about the schlipf mutes, but I have not tried one myself...

Tubaguy56 wrote:I've heard alot of great things about the schlipf mutes, but I have not tried one myself...

Yes...they are excellent mutes. My first encounter with them was during a trip to Austria.

Hard to get in the U.S. and very expensive, but I still want one.

Orders have to go through Schlipfinger directly. He does not not speak English well (he's in Austria, after all), but can manage to correspond via email about if his mutes can fit certain tubas, his prices, and shipping cost. It helps if you have some functional knowledge of German, though.

I will share one piece of a story in hopes that he builds a strong reputation here in the states...

He was not sure how well his "Vienna" mute would work in an Alexander 163, so he told me he would find out. I was not really expecting to hear much of it after that point (to be honest). A few days later he sent me an email saying that he prepared a mute, went to Mainz, Germany and tried it in a couple of 163s just because I asked! He was pleased with the results, by the way.

Does Trumcor make tuba mutes? Their horn mutes are top drawer.
MA