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Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2010 10:50 am
by Wilco
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 3:53 pm
by Dutch
Anybody familiar with this Hirsbrunner HBS 192?
Seems to have run out of production pretty fast?
Dutch
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 4:48 pm
by jamsav
A tube net forum member(iiipopes) had sent me info on this very model horn. He had been in contact with Herr Hirsbruner and although not in their cataloque, it remains in production. A favorite of military bands and amateur players in Switzerland...Hirsbruner tone and compensated , sounds too good to be true . It is also reasonably priced , given its heritage....jamsav
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:15 pm
by iiipopes
Yes, and what's best of all: you can play G and D with 3rd valve alone, in perfect intonation, and not have to worry about 1+2 being slightly sharp and have to lip or pull. OK: you lose the near-pedals from low E nat down to pedal BBb. But hey: it's made for marching military and community band. Who in their right mind is ever going to play those notes, except for a singular cadential reinforcement note here and there, on any regular basis? Outdoors they wouldn't be heard anyway. Indoors, unless the room is large enough and the band is in tune well enough to stack the overtones, they won't have any good effect anyway.
Yes, I am an absolute proponent of 3-valve comp horns, whether Besson or Hirsbrunner, for any average junior high, high school, or community band. The advantages of damn near perfect intonation outweigh everything else in these settings.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:16 pm
by TUbajohn20J
Hmm..I might have to get me one of these. After all, real men can make music on 3 valves alone.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Mon Apr 05, 2010 10:53 pm
by Bob Kolada
I'd much rather have a regular 3 rotary valve tuba with either a kicker or usable slides.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 2:19 am
by TexTuba
TUbajohn20J wrote:Hmm..I might have to get me one of these. After all, real men can make music on 3 valves alone.
Tell you what...
Send me your Willson and I'll send you a "real man's" horn...

Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 1:41 pm
by iiipopes
Bob Kolada wrote:I'd much rather have a regular 3 rotary valve tuba with either a kicker or usable slides.
Hey Bob - have you ever played a concert on a 3-valve comp? Try it sometime. It might change your mind.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 3:43 pm
by TUbajohn20J
iiipopes wrote:Bob Kolada wrote:I'd much rather have a regular 3 rotary valve tuba with either a kicker or usable slides.
Hey Bob - have you ever played a concert on a 3-valve comp? Try it sometime. It might change your mind.
Dont know about Bob, but I have. An old Besson Imperial 3 valve BBb. Used them for MANY concerts and loved it. Also have played many concerts on the 20J including a TMEA all state band concert back in high school.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 7:49 pm
by Lee Stofer
I saw one of the Hirsbrunner 3-valve compensating BBb tubas at the factory some years ago, and spoke to Peter, Sr. about it. I played a little on it, and thought that it was a really nice player. I asked him if they offered a 4-valve version. His reply was basically, "For what? The community bands don't need to play below an E-natural, and the usable range of the instrument is in tune. And, the instrument costs less with fewer valves".
It seems that, in Europe, the amateur players don't feel that they have to have professional model tubas. It's not that they don't play good tubas, but rather, that they play instruments that are more economical versions of the pro-line horns. In Switzerland, it was the 3-v. compensating BBb, a horn the size of an HB-2P for half the money, and in Germany I saw fine amateur bandsmen playing Melton (Meinl-Weston) and Mirafone 3-rotor BBb and 3, or 4- rotor F-tubas, which gave them a good usable range for what they play, and a fine quality instrument. And, the community band I played with while stationed nearby in Heidelberg, Germany had an Amati 3-rotor F that I used in the band, plus they had two 3-front-piston Alexander BBb's, with detachable recording bells, no less! On the occasion that I'd bring in my Rudi 5/4, 5-rotor CC to a community band rehearsal in Germany, it was just as much of a rarity there as it is here.
Re: Cool tuba: Hirsbrunner 3 valve compensator
Posted: Tue Apr 06, 2010 8:29 pm
by Bob Kolada
Lee Stofer wrote:It seems that, in Europe, the amateur players don't feel that they have to have professional model tubas. It's not that they don't play good tubas, but rather, that they play instruments that are more economical versions of the pro-line horns. In Switzerland, it was the 3-v. compensating BBb, a horn the size of an HB-2P for half the money, and in Germany I saw fine amateur bandsmen playing Melton (Meinl-Weston) and Mirafone 3-rotor BBb and 3, or 4- rotor F-tubas, which gave them a good usable range for what they play, and a fine quality instrument. And, the community band I played with while stationed nearby in Heidelberg, Germany had an Amati 3-rotor F that I used in the band, plus they had two 3-front-piston Alexander BBb's, with detachable recording bells, no less!
I (probably more so than most people) support playing tubas with fewer valves than "normal" and such, but it (see above underlined part) had better cost MUCH less than half a HB-2P for me to consider it!
