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I've had a big Marzan (B & M) piston horn for a while and have been sort of 'shopping' for a slant-rotor cousin to go with it. The slant-rotor arrived today. Here's something you just won't see every day... The piston and slant-rotor tubas side-by-side:

Very nice, Dan. Are those larger 4/4 - 5/4 size horns? Kind of hard to judge without the yardstick 186. Both BBb I assume...

Eric "envious" L.

'Grats Dan! I'm slobbering just looking at them.

WakinAZ wrote:Very nice, Dan. Are those larger 4/4 - 5/4 size horns? Kind of hard to judge without the yardstick 186. Both BBb I assume... Eric "envious" L.

Sorry.... my 186 is out on loan right now. That horn to the left toward the rear is a Blessing B-450 if that gives you a visual comparison. It's sort of difficult to categorize these horns but I think they should be considered a 5/4 tuba. Although the horns don't stand very tall... about 37". The bells are 19"... and the bores are .760". The bottom bow and large branches are larger than the King 2341 and have girths that are 'York-ish'.

Very, very nice!

Dan,
between the two Marzans, which do you prefer? I have tried a few and found the rotory horns far superior, but that could be based on the horn itself and not the valveset.
As to size, bigger than a 4/4, but not quite a true 5/4.
HOWEVER, they can put out a LOT more sound than a 186 without the brassiness.

Wow, really cool. Wonderful pictures, too!

way cool. i've always wanted a slant rotor horn. nice collection!

the elephant wrote:.....
• Is the difference in the apparent wrap on the backside actually the 4th slide circuit?
• Are the rotary and piston sections are both @ .750" in bore size?
• Can you post some close-up photos of the piston 4th slide circuit?
Wade

Yes... some of the tubing you see on the backside is the 4th slide circuit. Below is about the best picture I could get. The wrap exits the 4th pistons and head toward the top of the horn. After about two inches it takes a 90 degree turn toward the rear... then another 90 back towards the top where there is a tuning slide. After the tuning slide it heads to the bottom of the horn after making a 'dogleg' near the thumbring. It's then hidden from view (indicated by the smaller red dots) and makes a full 360 degree loop and goes to another tuning slide in front of the bottom bow. It then goes up and returns to the 4th piston. Note that ALL tuning slides, including the main, are at the top of this horn. In my opinion... one improvement Dr. Marzan could have made to his horns would have been to have ANOTHER main tuning slide that could be left in position. It would be nice if the one on top could be left all the way 'in' to only be used for 'pulling'.


The bore through the valve section measures about .758" on both horns. I think they have the same bell, bottom bow, and large branches... with maybe some very minor modifications.

Very cool Dan!

Of course I knew you've got the tools and know-how for a string conversion, I just wondered if you were mildly interested in how someone else did it.

I have to say, that's the first non-lacquer slant rotor that I can recall.

... and one of the things that makes the slant rotors respond so openly is how quickly one comes to the valves in the over-all horn, even faster than the piston horn, so that the net effect is a bigger bore than just .758

When I got my CC, you couldn't wipe the stupid grin from my face! It was hard to keep my corners down!