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I was recently looking at these. Does anyone have a Rudy 6/4 BBb? RM 56 i believe is the model number. Looks like a beast of a horn. How do they play? and do you know anyone that plays one professinally? I would like to own one someday!

I played one of these at Rudy's shop in Diespeck. It sounded wonderful, played great, but it sure was an air hog. I felt as if there were no way I could have ever filled that horn up with air - it felt like a bottomless pit!!

TUbajohn20J wrote:I was recently looking at these. Does anyone have a Rudy 6/4 BBb? RM 56 i believe is the model number. Looks like a beast of a horn. How do they play? and do you know anyone that plays one professinally? I would like to own one someday!

I have played one. In fact, I have a date with one in a few weeks.

They are beyond huge. Next to the Rudy, my Holton, a true 6/4 grand orchestral tuba, looks like a 52J. The bore is close to .9 inches, and the 22" bell is not particularly wide on this tuba.

The amazing thing about these tubas is that they are not only playable, but they actually play quite easily. But it's a challenge to keep the sound from from going woofy. I have no idea about intonation, and such niceties as dynamic range, but the intial response was favorable.

HOWEVER, it is a tuba to pull out once in a great while when a particular statement (visual as much as anything) needs to be made. It is far from an instrument you could just drag to any old gig.

Oh, and then there's the $20K-plus factor.

Rick "awed by it" Denney

Hi-
I believe Mike Lynch has a silver one of these in his collection--awesome looking instrument!

Regards-
mark
jonestuba@Juno.com

tofu wrote:There seem to be a fair amount of the 5/4 horns around (at least as far as Rudy Meinls go) and they seem to be well liked by their owners.

Mine is certainly well-like by its owner.

Mine will have to be pried from my cold, dead fingers.

TubaRay wrote:

tofu wrote:There seem to be a fair amount of the 5/4 horns around (at least as far as Rudy Meinls go) and they seem to be well liked by their owners.

Mine is certainly well-like by its owner.

Mine (Bayreuth BBb) too

I find the 5/4 Rudolf Meinl to be quite large enough.

I can't imagine actually wanting to play something that takes more air than the 5/4.

The 6/4 Rudolf Meinl reminds me of one of these, just big for the sake of being big.

TUbajohn20J wrote:do you know anyone that plays one professinally? I would like to own one someday!

On the Rudolf Meinl website,

http://rudolf-meinl.t3-kundenserver01.de/seite5_2.html

Dorothee Krause of Thüringische Philharmonie, Suhl, is pictured with one of these horns. The implication, which may be accurate, is that she plays the Rudi 6/4 BBb in that orchestra.

Having spent a few minutes "playing" one of these,I'd have to see and hear her in person to believe she could play it at a pro level.

Steve Marcus wrote:

TUbajohn20J wrote:do you know anyone that plays one professinally? I would like to own one someday!

On the Rudolf Meinl website,

http://rudolf-meinl.t3-kundenserver01.de/seite5_2.html

Dorothee Krause of Thüringische Philharmonie, Suhl, is pictured with one of these horns. The implication, which may be accurate, is that she plays the Rudi 6/4 BBb in that orchestra.

I know that Manfred Hoppert is actually pictured with a 6/4 BBb.



However, if you page through the "catalogue", the pictures of the horns the players are holding don't seem to necessarily correspond to the catalogue pictures they are next to.

While I may be wrong, It would appear to me that in the picture of Dorothee Krause, she's holding a 5/4 Rudolf Meinl in front of her. The tuba in front of her just doesn't have the shape or width and girth of the 6/4.



While the tuba above looks huge, the person behind it is of small stature. This picture indicates to me that she's not a very tall person.
http://www.thueringen-philharmonie.de/i ... to_big.jpg

yes that is the 5/4 she is holding