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Hello, All

I'm looking for an General answer and good advice. I currently use a loud but it makes the sound of the tuba bad. Thank you all

This is going to depend on you. Take your Tuba to a shop that carries a wide variety of mouthpieces and try as many out as you can. Properly warm up and play material that you know and are used to. Some Tubas are picky. I have 4 mouthpieces. My Tuba only sounds good with a Helleberg. Someone else might have a different experience.

Some places do mail order and you can try mouthpieces on a trial basis, allowing you to check out quite a few, keep the one you like and send the rest back at your expense.

I knew someone who liked to use a PT-36.

Denzel--
Your signature line lists seven other mouthpieces that you have-- Have you not tried any of your others

clunkertruck wrote:Denzel--
Your signature line lists seven other mouthpieces that you have-- Have you not tried any of your others

I have those mouthpieces but I've let people borrow them so as of now I only have my Loud and PTs and taku

How did those fare with your Yamaha 641? Curious . .

Jaks wrote:How did those fare with your Yamaha 641? Curious . .

The LM-5 with the 641 made the horn sound better. The PTs didn't but the 641 is a not so good tuba.

pauvog1 wrote:I used a LM-3 on one of these I tried out at SERTEC. Sounded nice. That little horn really projects though. How does your current set up sound "bad". If you can tell us what your current line up is doing poorly, and what you want it to do we *may* be able to help guide you a little better. Specifics really help with this kind of thing.

Other things to consider:

- Do you want a more bowl or funnel shaped cup? A hybrid of some form?
- What type of rim do you like: sharp, flat, rounded?
- Rim thinkness: wide, narrow, in between?
- Rim diameter - Do you have any preferences, or a mp you'd like the new one to feel comparable to in this respect?
- Throat size: how open do you want it to feel?

When I'm playing with the LM-5 I can't control the horn like I want to. I recently bought a Alan Baer MMVI after hearing really great things about it. Primarily I want a mouthpiece the feels good on the lips and easy to control. When I'm tuning the tuba while playing the horn I'm sharp. Someone told me that it could just be the mouthpiece. I don't think theres an problem with the tuba. I hope not.

I would think the PT-50 in your signature would work fine, but only you can tell what suits you.

I too have a 2145 and am in search for the best mouthpiece. Here's what I found.

I have a Dillon PS (Patrick Sheridan) 02
I extended the leadpide receiver to allow more mouthpiece to enter in the shank...This gave it some more bite and center for each note. The mouthpiece theoretically should go right up against the receiver, but this is not always possible with the MW "universal shank receiver"

I've been having problems centering pitch on an Ab...a problem I never had with other horns. I adjusted by backing away slightly for that note, which I'd rather not do. SO...I set out to try and fix this by a new mouthpiece.

I tried a friend's Monet and love it's ability to center pitch and project with great ease! The only downside is I had a hard time centering notes in the low to pedal range. It could have been the model Monet I tried was meant for an F horn. I've been looking to try more, but nobody really carries them in stock to play.

I recently went to Dillon and tried at least 20 mouthpieces (but no Monets). I went home with a Miraphone TU 31 (their version of a Helleberg) and a Dillon F2 (which was weighted)

The F2 had a similar effect like the Monet, but mellowed off my tone which I didn't like. I use this mouthpiece in Quartet settings to help blend better with Besson Euphs. I don't recommend it for band or orchestra settings. It's great for recording as you won't crack notes!

As for the TU 31, it's great! Very similar to my PS O2, but has a slightly smaller rim diameter. I went back to my PS O2 because I missed the flexibility of a larger mouthpiece.

You should try all of these and if you can get a hold of the 2nd or 3rd model of the Monets let me know what you think!

Kevin

Yes, a Helleberg or variation in a good place to start. I've found that the original doesn't work well, but is the most comfortable for rim. All of mine are Helleberg rim. Bach 18 is basically a weighted Helleberg, but does not have the rim.

KCarubia wrote: Bach 18 is basically a weighted Helleberg, but does not have the rim.

The Bach 18 is a "bowl" mpc while the Helleberg is a "funnel" mpc. They play and sound quite different from each other. The Bach 18 has more of a rounded 'cushion' rim while the Helleberg tends to have a more narrow, sharper rim. There are, of course, wide variants of each mpc style.

The best sounding player I ever heard using one of these was a fanatic for the Shilke Helleberg II. It certainly worked well for him.