Melton 25GM

[oedipoes]

Dear experienced tubenetters,

Did anyone play a Melton 25GM in goldmessing? (did not find any threads here)
How are your experiences, compared to the standard yellow messing version?
(sound, response, intonation...)

Also, would this instrument be suited to play in a wind band (+/-50 people) ?

Thanks a lot!

[iiipopes]

I have never played a Melton 25 (known in the USA as a Meinl-Weston) in the gold brass. But there is one in the stable of the university where I have played in their community band, and I have tried it out. The 25 is a good standard 4/4 tuba imminently suitable for a band. For me, it didn't have all the response of some other tubas, like the Miraphone 186 or the Rudy Meinl 17" bell, but it is a good tuba and it played in tune well with fairly consistent tone. Your mileage will vary.

In general, the conventional wisdom is that gold brass, with its higher copper content, is a mellower tone than yellow brass. But for an instrument as large as a tuba, there are many other variables that affect the tone more than the alloy.

[Wyvern]

I have played such a gold brass 25 and it sounded very nice, but I have not played a yellow brass one to compare. However, I owned a yellow brass Melton 2040/5 Eb prior to my current gold brass one and the gold brass is certainly mellower - a more luxurious tone. How much of that is due to the metal, and how much down to the gold brass models being hand hammered I do not know?

I understand that for the Melton 25, the gold brass version is the preference of professionals in Germany.

Also, would this instrument be suited to play in a wind band (+/-50 people) ?

Depends if you are the only tuba? If one of a section yes, but if the only tuba you might find the extra weight of a Kaiser tuba, such as the Fafner better.

[oedipoes]

hi

I'm not the only tuba, there's a besson Eb tuba next to me for the upper tuba part.
I currently play on a band owned Yamaha 321 BBb, and I dislike the sound and volume.
The Eb can blow me away sometimes, (hate that, the yamaha breaks up when playing louder) and the sound in quiet parts is too cold.
My instrument of choice would be the Willson 3100 FA-5 or 3100TA-4 or a Hirsbrunner BBb piston valve, or a Rudy 5/4 (costs almost 1/2 more than the willson) but my budget needs more time...
But I ran into a reasonably priced Melton 25GM, so I was wondering if that would be enough of volume.( I thought no, but it was worth asking on this forum)

To be honest, I like the piston valves (4 front+1rotary) or 3+1 top action piston valves more, but that's only a matter of getting used to , I guess.

Keep the information coming !! thx

[Søren]

I played on a Melton 25 once. And because I did not have any other 4v contrabass tuba at the time, I used it at a studio session for a brass band cd (which is the only cd that you can buy at record stores with me on tuba )

It is a standard German rotary BBb that is a nice "plug and play" tuba, and a horn in the better half of the spectrum. You will not get an "Alex" sound from it, but then again you will not have to deal with the tuning issues that an Alex has.