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What's the smallest nice playing front action Bb tuba? It doesn't even really have to sound like a tuba. I'm not interested in a Tornister or anything like that.

The smallest one that I've personally dealt with is the Yamaha front action 3 valver, it's tiny for sure.

Weril makes a similar tuba with 4 valves. Same bore, same bell, more comfortable hand position, and still in production, I think.

Jupiter makes a tiny BBb with a full-sized rotary valve set. The sound is small, but good. The picture makes it look larger than it is. http://www.jupitermusic.com/jbi_instrum ... =1&pId=165

Art Hovey wrote:Weril makes a similar tuba with 4 valves. Same bore, same bell, more comfortable hand position, and still in production, I think.

Curious what they're up to lately, I checked their web site (http://www.weril.com.br/produtos_cat.as ... oria=Tubas ) and found a J690 but no mention of the J680. The J690 has the same bore and bell dimensions and apparently similar proportions, but very different valves (with very different hand position.) Also maybe wider bottom bow, so the bell doesn't exit quite so much at the characteristic yamaha angle. There's no mention of a J691 C, only Bb, and web search for the J690 turns up a lot of Brazilian sites and not much else.

So, not sure what to conclude from that, but those who intend to buy a Weril J68X at some point should probably get on it.

Speaking of pictures of small tubas - Yamaha's current small front valve Bb tuba, the YBB621 with same 14" bell etc., is depicted on their site as a left handed model.

Ha! One of the bigger points of the 680/1 seemed to be that it was not as annoying uncomfortable as the 621....

I'm sure this isn't a comprehensive list but the ones that come to my mind are:

Olds O-99/Conn or Reynolds equivalent .656 - 5/8
Miraphone 184 .705 - 3/4
Yamaha 621 .689 3/4
Kanstul 902 .689 3/4
Weril J681 .670 3/4
MW Hojo FA .669 4/4?

Anything smaller than these doesn't sound much like a tuba to me. The only one of these I haven't played is the Hojo and I would love to get my hands on one. I would bet it plays more like a 3/4 than a 4/4.

I forgot the Jupiters which I haven't played either.

482 .709 4/4?
780 .661 3/4

The Jestädt 82 Bb is the smallest I have come across
http://www.jestaedt-instrumente.de/modell82.htm" target="_blank

I tried earlier this month and it did not play too bad for its diminutive size, although I thought its intonation rather suspect.

Bob Kolada wrote:What's the smallest nice playing front action Bb tuba? It doesn't even really have to sound like a tuba. I'm not interested in a Tornister or anything like that.

Melton 186 - listed as a 1/4 tuba:

http://www.melton.de/index.php?id=115&n ... 3e69a31a27

Jos. Lidl makes one that is pretty highly regarded and cheap. The 701 (?) I think. 4 rotaries.

jonesbrass wrote:

Bob Kolada wrote:What's the smallest nice playing front action Bb tuba? It doesn't even really have to sound like a tuba. I'm not interested in a Tornister or anything like that.

Melton 186 - listed as a 1/4 tuba:

http://www.melton.de/index.php?id=115&n ... 3e69a31a27

Interesting technical thing going on here - because of the "[iid]" in that URL, the link is broken on this forum. If you copy and paste, it works.
Or got to this tiny url: http://tinyurl.com/yjyayz6

It would be interesting to do a side by side test of the Weril 680 and 690 - looks like they both have good and bad points. Anybody in the US selling the 690s yet?

So the tallest tuba player wants the smallest tuba ?

In all seriousness, are you looking for the smallest instrument possible in height and girth?

If so, the Yamaha Ybb-103 (three valves), ybb-621 (four valves), or the Weril "sortof" copy of the ybb-621 (4 valves) would probably be your best bet. These would all be around 34 inches tall and have bells under 15 inches.

Ybb-103s or the Holton stencils of the Ybb-103 can be had pretty cheap. I don't think you can touch the ybb-621 for less than $3k even used. I don't know what the Werils cost used.

The Miraphone 184 is quite small, but at around 40 inches, is also quite tall.

There's a table here that shows dimensions of tubas that fit in particular Glenn Cronkhite cases. Since it lists height and bell diameter, maybe that will help you out in your search??

http://www.hornguys.com/tubacases.htm" target="_blank

Yamaha ybb-103

cjk wrote:So the tallest tuba player wants the smallest tuba ?

In all seriousness, are you looking for the smallest instrument possible in height and girth?

I do like playing some big tubas!

This is more about sound than size, and probably more a matter of curiousity than any actual need. I suppose an alternate question could be "What small front valve Bb tuba is closest to a cimbasso and doesn't cost a lot?"

Bob, are you looking to buy? PM me...

Like 500 maybe?
Oh well.....

Bob Kolada wrote:Like 500 maybe?
Oh well.....

Will that amount buy you even an old small bore Eb with 3 top action pistons like those from Couesnon or Besson?

Klaus

It got me a clean front action King Eb and some slide work (got the 1st flipped).