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Has anyone had any experience with Balu tuba mutes? Also, are they tunable?

UTTuba_09 wrote:Has anyone had any experience with Balu tuba mutes? Also, are they tunable?

Amongst others, a couple folks have previously mentioned them:

Alan Baer wrote: I have some pretty great mutes to choose from and the Blau is one of my favorites. Nice and light, the workmanship is great, and most importantly, it sounds wonderful.
Happy New Year everyone!
Alan Baer
_________________
Alan Baer
Principal Tubist
New York Philharmonic

Pete Link wrote:I own both the regular and XL versions. The XL is indeed for the 6/4 and the regular fits great in both my F horns. However, with the variable cork settings the regular would easily fit in a 4/4 sized horn. These are fantastic mutes with great response and pitch in all registers. You will not be disappointed.

Pete

Hi-
I own both sizes of mutes for my 6/4 and 4/4CC's and for my F--they are fantastic, and with the ability to change the cork for the different size of horns/bell diameter, they make playing muted parts very easy and in tune!!
Highly recommended!
Regards-
mark
jonestuba@juno.com

I love the Balu mute. Easily the best mute I've played.

Here is a link to a thread on the Balu Mutes:

viewtopic.php?t=25090&highlight=balu

I'm the proud owner of one of these mutes. It sounds fabulous and I use it in both my 4/4 Nirschl and my YFB-822.

Highly recommended.

Nobody's touched on the price! They're priced VERY resonably!

Buy one.

Are the mutes themselves tunable?

I wrote a post up a few months ago with these same questions about Balu mutes. So you may want to search for it for some more advice. With the comments made i decided to go ahead purchase both sizes. And i really like them alot!!! I use the smaller size for my Miraphone F tuba and the Larger on on my Large Gronitz 5/4 and have had great comments from other players about there sound. They seem to be, to me, a true dampening mute....very cool. allows the tuba remain a supportive voice in any ensemble setting and the work very well in Solo rep too.

They are NOT able to be tuned though.....to my knowledge no one makes a mute for tuba that can be tuned.

my advice.....get the mute! if you don't like it Ion has a great return policy

The Balu site says that their tuba mutes come in two sizes, and, "We recommend for the very large tubas (5/4, 6/4) our XL mutes."

A couple of posts mentioned the XL size for a particular instrument.

The Willson 3050R CC has been described as a 5/4 size. Any knowledge, opinions, speculation, or wild guesses whether the Willson 3050R CC would accept the Balu XL size, please?

I have an orchestral gig later this month with about ten measures calling for a mute, so I guess it's time to buy one.

Thanks, Dean E

Hi-
Yes, the XL Balu mute works fine for a 6/4 Holton--but you need all the corks on the mute--just the way it came with the mute--and then it just fits right.
Regards-
mark
jonestuba@Juno.com