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So, all I have ever played on is a Helleberg (120S) and I think it is time I get a new mouthpiece. I find the helleberg pretty nice, but I want something with a little bit less of a dark sound.

My limit for a mouthpiece is about $200-though I am open to suggestions of more expensive ones if you truly believe they are "the best mouthpiece on earth."

Any suggestions?

The Yamaha Canadian Brass Replica is their Helleberg-like MP. A little smaller and brighter than the 120.

Another that I think is still fairly close to the 120 for rim size and can produce a medium bright, crisp sound is the PT-44. The rim might be a little rounder than the 120. It was one of my favorites until I developed a skin reaction to the plating on plated MPs.

Take a look at the Josef Klier "Exclusive" line. There is a wide of array of cup diameters and cup depths, so you can dial in just about whatever you want. Dillon Music carries them.

Why are you really wanting to change mouthpieces? Any reason except for personal preference or just to see what's out there? Instead of blindly spending money on a mouthpiece, since you go to school where you do, use the $$ to take a road trip to see Matt @ Dillon Music, and even Dave @ Baltimore Brass, take your current mouthpiece along, and have a discussion with each of them where you want to go with your playing, and what you want a mouthpiece to do that your current mouthpiece does not. Then talk to your tuba professor when you get back to school and see if he agrees before you purchase a mouthpiece.

Rochester2013 wrote:So, all I have ever played on is a Helleberg (120S) and I think it is time I get a new mouthpiece. I find the helleberg pretty nice, but I want something with a little bit less of a dark sound.

My limit for a mouthpiece is about $200-though I am open to suggestions of more expensive ones if you truly believe they are "the best mouthpiece on earth."

It's high time you got a new mouthpiece. $200 will be more than enough. The mouthpiece you get may very easily indeed be the best mouthpiece on earth ... for someone, anyway, maybe for several people.

One kind of standard solution to your dilemma is to purchase the whole Kelly plastic line (not all the colors, just all the models.) That will give you a Helleberg (theoretically like yours), and a Bach 18, 24AW and 25. With some variations, don't depend on them to be 100% faithful to the original, but the point is that they represent a reasonable introduction to a range of mouthpiece features, 4 different mouthpieces and you'll have money left in your budget to buy another mouthpiece. And when you go on to buy other mouthpieces, as you no doubt will, your old brass mouthpieces will just be paperweights, but the Kellys aren't worth a damn for paperweights but are unusually handy for the occasional odd outdoor gig or coat pocket spare.

Honestly, I'm not sure what a 24AW is, and the merit of this approach to the problem somewhat hinges on that. Used to be terribly popular, perhaps not so much any more, I think it's a somewhat funnel shaped mouthpiece, deeper than the 18 but about the same width interior.

Sadly, those 4 Kellys do not include an extra large (ca. 33mm) example of the sort that was especially popular a couple years ago. I'm not saying that's likely to be what you really need, but it would be nice to be able to rule it out at Kelly prices. The "For Sale" section is another good way to pick up some mouthpieces without blowing your whole budget on just one.

I have a Bach 24AW. I can't say much about the cup in comparison to anything, but the rim is incredibly cushioned. So much so, that I was having trouble getting any sort of articulation on the big horn. Definitely a nice sound, but I couldn't get it to work at that point for me.

To answre Donn, the 24AW is a fairly standard Bach mouthpiece. It has a fairly small diameter rim with a huge bulbous cup. The cup diameter is actually wider than the inner rim diameter, hence the shape of "bulbous". It reminds me of the old King 26 sousaphone mouthpiece with its round cushion rim. I do not know if it was patterned after the King or not. The 24 refers to the Bach rim size (just an arbitrary model number not a measurement of any kind. On Bachs, the larger the number the smaller the inner rim diameter. The 24's rim diamter is smaller than the 18 and Helleberg. Like I said it has a huge round deep cup, this is what the "A" refers to in the name and "W" refers to the wide rim.

It has been noted that many English Eb tuba players use this mouthpeice (made popular by John Fletcher) and the Denis Wick 3L is supposedly patterned after it minus the cushion rim.

As to the original post, I would not try a 24AW if you are looking for a "brighter" sounding mouthpiece. the large cup makes it a very full sounding mouthpiece with more covered articulations.

A very general rule of thumb for mouthpeices is the "shallower" the bowl the "brighter" the tone.

If you like the Helleberg rim find a mouthepice with a similar rim diameter but a shallower cup.

ken k