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In the last six months or so, there has been discussions of small travel tubas. MW makes on, Perantucci has one and I've posted a picture of a c1900 Cerveny Tournister tuba.

If you have wondered what one actually sounds like, check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrcsnrHb ... re=related" target="_blank

It actually sounds pretty good. People in the comments section say this is the MW travel F tuba. Someone else says it's a Cerveny. Either way, it's pretty cool!

What a lame low F#!

GPT wrote:I'm pretty certain that isn't the Meinl-Weston... the bell throat is too large and the bell itself too small. Definitely sounds good for the size, though!

The bell isn't attached.

It is a MW 14 Travel tuba, but why anyone should play without its bell and then post on YouTube, I cannot imagine?

I tried one of these at WWBW last year and they are nice little tubas with a surprisingly good tone. However, their big weakness in my view is only having 4 valves, which on an F tuba is rather limiting - so many pieces that one would want to play/practice (such as the RVW) include a low F#!!!

I've never played one, but I'm willing to bet one could "develop" a pretty good F# on these using 2-3. These smaller-bore horns tend to (to me, at least) always have stronger false tones than their larger-bore brothers.

Just sayin'...

I wonder why this player does not post a video demonstrating the fully assembled travel tuba.

Klaus

Somebody posted this video or a similar video without the bell. They said it "sounded better" . I thought the travel MW played exceptionally well considering the size of the horn. If I had the money I would consider it very strongly. Although it doesn't serve much of a role in an ensemble, unless you sit in the french horn section, it serves a great role for practicing when you can't take a full sized tuba where you're going. My overall impression: impressed .

.

With luck, James, you will become so rich and famous that MW would give you one and, if they didn't, you would just buy one for giggles.

I like to hike in the mountains and I think it would be cool to go way up and play in a mountain valley...

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I would look at it from the opposite side. If the horn allows me to stay in shape or improve my skills, then there is the option to make MORE money with it and your other horns. I would just love the opportunity to make the bassoon player suck wind in Mahler 1 - just once.

Roger

tubashaman2 wrote:Ben, do you own one? I am not dissing the tuba or any owners. I just can't justify paying that much for a horn that would not bring me any money. Though going up in mountains to play a tuba with miles of nature and no people to bother sounds super cool!

Take it easy, man! Sometimes, it's not necessary to justify the price of something to really like it. As I was saying, hopefully, you'll be so famous, they will buy one for you. And I mean that, James!

The travel tuba may seem expensive, but they appear to be selling well. One German dealer has it listed as their Number 1 selling F tuba.

I wanted to try one when over in Germany last October, and could not find a dealer who had not "Sold out"

Having one is no doubt a luxury, but something nice to have for travelling tubists that have the spare money, or an orchestra willing to pay for one.