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I saw a while ago that there are trumpets in Eb/D and that the key is changed by using a different set of slides. Does anyone make a similar sort of tuba, for example, in Eb and F or Bb and C?

There are some CC horns that have an additional, longer main tuning slide that, when used in conjunction with pulling all the valve slides out, can turn it into a BBb horn. I haven't seen one for F -> Eb, but I assume there must be one out there.

Oberlin used to have a CC 163 with an alternate tuning slide for BBb. It was a great horn in both keys. Unfortunately, some smarmy scofflaw stole it.

J.c.S.

If you go to tubatinkers website and go under the projects section most of the way down the page is a picture of a CC to BBb slide he made for a Miraphone 184 CC. It's a neat concept if you want the benefits of both a CC and a BBb.

tubatom91 wrote:If you go to tubatinkers website and go under the projects section most of the way down the page is a picture of a CC to BBb slide he made for a Miraphone 184 CC. It's a neat concept if you want the benefits of both a CC and a BBb.

Now... don't send me your CC with instructions to fit it with a BBb main tuning slide. Adding 2 feet of cylindrical tubing to the open bugle of a tuba is not necessarily a good thing to do!

Mirafone actually offered this as an option once upon a time. There's a good reason why they don't force the issue.

I like MY CC the way it is . Ijust thought it was a neat idea that related to the topic. (sorry if you get over run by requests for converter slides)

tubatom91 wrote:I like MY CC the way it is . Ijust thought it was a neat idea that related to the topic. (sorry if you get over run by requests for converter slides)

The question now is, are the "convertable" tubas just as good as one made in a specific key?

Although not advertised as such the rotary B&S Neptune CC does have the facility of switching sides on the 5th valve to in effect turn it into a BBb by putting the air through the 5th valve slide by default. I used this quite a bit playing the BBb bass part in brass bands before I had a 'real' BBb.

Does it work as well in BBb? Well obviously some notes are a little more stuffy, but otherwise it works very well with its usual broad tone and no unmanageable intonation problems. The only reason I bothered to get my Cerveny BBb was that switching over and adjusting slides became a fiddle once I was regularly playing BBb in a brass band.

I don't know of any tubas that work satisfactorily in both F and Eb.

The problem with a convertible tuba from Eb to F, which is no different than a Bb to C trumpet, or an Eb to F alto/tenor horn, is that to add that much cylindrical tubing usually really screws up the intonation on the horn, making some notes very out of tune because the partial nodes line up in different places, and are influenced in their tuning differently by the different proportions of cylindrical tubing.

As you will find on research, there aren't any Eb to F alto/tenor horns around anymore, and there aren't many Bb/C trumpets, either. And when was the last time you saw a french horn player actually use the Eb crook that came with a lot of french horns?

iiipopes wrote:...when was the last time you saw a french horn player actually use the Eb crook that came with a lot of french horns?

I've wondered that, as well...particularly when accompanying a student on the Strauss Horn Concerto No. 1.

I asked a very good horn student last year why he wasn't just playing the piece on an Eb horn (he was runner-up in the OSU concerto competition). His reply was interesting..."It's not that hard on the F horn."

That pretty much says it all, including the reason why you don't need little devices to change the tuba from one fundamental pitch to another. "It's not that hard."

my hometown town band had peck horns with slide extensions--just on the tuning slide by the 70s--for F to Eb. Pitch was probably miserable, but it couldn't have been any worse with the slides than without.

iiipopes wrote:....... when was the last time you saw a french horn player actually use the Eb crook that came with a lot of french horns?

I'll bet I have 20 of those slides hanging up in the shop!

There's an interesting experiment one can try just to experience what happens when you add cylindrical tubing to the open bugle.... Take a four-valve Eb tuba (4th valve = 1 & 3) and tie down the 4th valve... effectively putting the horn into the key of BBb. Yeah, you can use BBb fingerings on the first three valves but it sounds like crap. In order to get the horn halfway in tune as a BBb, you need to yank tuning slides 1-2-3 waaaay out.

TubaTinker wrote:I'll bet I have 20 of those slides hanging up in the shop!

I see future lawn ornaments...

TubaTinker wrote: There's an interesting experiment one can try just to experience what happens when you add cylindrical tubing to the open bugle.... Take a four-valve Eb tuba (4th valve = 1 & 3) and tie down the 4th valve... effectively putting the horn into the key of BBb. Yeah, you can use BBb fingerings on the first three valves but it sounds like crap. In order to get the horn halfway in tune as a BBb, you need to yank tuning slides 1-2-3 waaaay out.

Put the flat whole step 5th valve down on an F, you have a FLAT Eb tuba. Same with CC...

I believe Getzen made slides for the G50 that changed it from CC to BBb. None of the people who posted here about playing one were very complimentary about it, though.

The Jackson wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:I'll bet I have 20 of those slides hanging up in the shop!

I see future lawn ornaments...

Send them to Bloke, he'll come up with something!

Nick Pierce wrote:

The Jackson wrote:

TubaTinker wrote:I'll bet I have 20 of those slides hanging up in the shop!

I see future lawn ornaments...

Send them to Bloke, he'll come up with something!

My guess is that Bloke has a bunch of 'em already! I'm thinking they could be used for some form of backyard 'ring toss' game.

Ring toss? Sounds like an activity for BlokeFest, which seems to have not happened.

MA

MaryAnn wrote:Ring toss? Sounds like an activity for BlokeFest, which seems to have not happened.

MA

Yeah! What happened to BlokeFest? I've been training for throwing the horns to measure their size. I've been throwing a gunnysack half full of sand but wish I had a real horn to use. I haven't tried it with one of *my* horns but was wondering if "'Phant would send me one of his to practice with.

Jeff "What about it, Wade" Benedict