TubeNet

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Very nice Mark, glad this will work for you. I have some of these arriving this month, can't wait to play them.

Tom

A well thought out review--thanks!

I am sorry to report that my experience with my tenor tuba was not as positive, as Mark's.

Mine has some pretty serious pitch issues, and the tone is actually lighter than my YEB-642.

Jedi Master wrote:I am sorry to report that my experience with my tenor tuba was not as positive, as Mark's.

Mine has some pretty serious pitch issues, and the tone is actually lighter than my YEB-642.

Can you please expand on this? I am sincerely interested on the problems with your horn.

Jedi Master wrote:I am sorry to report that my experience with my tenor tuba was not as positive, as Mark's.

Mine has some pretty serious pitch issues, and the tone is actually lighter than my YEB-642.

Hi!
Please respond with your issues! I have play tested 2 of the Mini's, and they both sounded GREAT, with a full warm sound. IMHO, they sounded much more like a small Tuba than a Besson Euphonium ( no where near the "syrupy" sound possible on the Besson and it's copies), but more "German" Than a 321...
The valves were smooth and fast, and the bugles were in tune with themselves. The 1st. valve circuits were way too long on both of my testers, though! I had an inch taken off of the first axe, and will have my Daughter's horn doctored in the near future.
I am reasonably sure that these Minis are not JinBao made. Neptune located what appears to be the source during his China trip, and that horn is pitched in C, with a Bb slide that looks identical to the Mini's MM, Mack and Myself sell. I have not had one of the C/Bb instruments on my lap, but hope to try one against a tuner in the near future...If they turn out to be the same axe, my new source is much cheaper, but I'm worried the valve circuits may turn out to be too long for the C tuning slide, thus negating any savings for my clients...
May I ask were you aquired your defective Mini? MM, Mack, and I all offer warranties in the case of lemons. Did you get yours used, or off ebay? I am unaware of any other sources/sellers of Minis.

Thanks,
Al

The one I played at the Army conference played fine and had a nice low range, but had at least a very flat 5th and more of a bassbone/baritone sound.

I have a batch of the C/Bb tenor tuba currently on route from the factory (which is the same as the F travel tuba) and will report on how I find their tuning with both C and Bb slides.

If there are any issues with being flat, I am in direct contact with the factory to get changes made to correct. I also plan to post video on YouTube, so you can hear how they sound. From my playing at the factory they have the potential to be a great orchestral tenor tuba.

jonesmj wrote:But as a tuba player and for what I wanted that voicing for-at certain times-I decided to go with the JinBao Bb Tenor Tuba--and so far I am very happy I did.
mark

I'm curious what people use these things for (and by "these things" I mean something that is generally referred to as a "tenor tuba" rather than a "euphonium"). I got my Amati oval euphonium (which I think is really a "tenor tuba") primarly for kicks, but I wonder what "social" uses these things have in, for example, ensembles in the US.

My understanding is that many (most? all?) German bands prefer the sound of a tenor tuba to a (Besson-like) euphonium while the tenor tubas are regarded as somewhat odd (crude? inappropriate?) in British (and most American) bands. Is this correct?

How reasonable would it be, for example, to show up at a community band with a tenor tuba and plop down in the midst of a euphonium/baritone section? Are there issues of "blending" that would irritate the residents? Although I hardly play my oval euph with any facility at all, I do have to concur that in the middle and low range it exhibits tonal characteristics more akin to a bass trombone.

bydlo

To set the record straight, I acquired my "tenor tuba" from Ebay, directly from a dealer in China.

That being said, from a visual perspective, it is the same horn as the JBBB-350L.

On my horn, the scale is not good. The low Bb & the middle Bb don't even line up! I also hoped that the tone would be "thicker", more tuba-like.

I just figured that I would chalk it up to experience, since trying to return the horn to China would probably be more trouble than it's worth!

ghmerrill wrote:My understanding is that many (most? all?) German bands prefer the sound of a tenor tuba to a (Besson-like) euphonium while the tenor tubas are regarded as somewhat odd (crude? inappropriate?) in British (and most American) bands. Is this correct?

How reasonable would it be, for example, to show up at a community band with a tenor tuba and plop down in the midst of a euphonium/baritone section? Are there issues of "blending" that would irritate the residents? Although I hardly play my oval euph with any facility at all, I do have to concur that in the middle and low range it exhibits tonal characteristics more akin to a bass trombone.

I think you're correct that an oval euphonium is quite uncommon in the US. But as far as sound, blend, etc., I don't think any community band would kick you out. I almost think those oval euphs are sort of like the slightly older US bell-front euphs, and there are certainly plenty of those to go around. Both probably have a brighter sound than the large bore euphs that seem to dominate today.

And if nothing else, I think having more variety in a (strong) low brass section is a good thing, and makes for a more interesting section sound. I love the sound of Austrian and German bands with full sections of tenorhorns, flugelhorns, and all sorts of other rotary brasses (and only a few trombones)!

Jedi, you could stick the valve set on something else and sell the body as a project horn. I might be interested in the valve set.

Jedi,
too bad about your experience! I'm not sure how the Chinese ebay sellers are getting their horns. Could be there are "factory seconds" or rejects? I've only had two other issues besides the 1st. valve issue, those being a botched 4th. rotor on a C Tuba, and a piccollo Trumpet that appeared to have been dropped. If the C/Bb's pan out, I'll be happy to get you one at my cost + your horn in trade, so keep your eye on the forum for Neptune's review...Oh! Are your valves aligned? I had to have the bumpers shaved on both of my Mini's.
Al

Now things start to be even more interesting when there seems to be at least two, maybe even more, makers with Jinbao and Huashen. There is one company in Germany that sells the horn as Classic Cantabile, origin unknown though. Let us know if there are differences both regarding how they are built and the quality and playability. It would also be great to know if intonation will be OK with both C and Bb tunings.

ghmerrill wrote:I'm curious what people use these things for (and by "these things" I mean something that is generally referred to as a "tenor tuba" rather than a "euphonium").

Could be used as;

1) Practice instrument (for tuba players) remembering it will take small shank tuba mouthpiece
2) Playing the euphonium/baritone part in concert band
3) In orchestra for French repertoire (which was written for C tuba)
4) In orchestra for playing any high register parts
4) For playing ophicleide parts in orchestra

Jedi Master wrote:To set the record straight, I acquired my "tenor tuba" from Ebay, directly from a dealer in China.

That being said, from a visual perspective, it is the same horn as the JBBB-350L.

On my horn, the scale is not good. The low Bb & the middle Bb don't even line up! I also hoped that the tone would be "thicker", more tuba-like.

I just figured that I would chalk it up to experience, since trying to return the horn to China would probably be more trouble than it's worth!

That is a good reason why not to buy off ebay from China. No support if there is a problem and may well be seconds/rejects. And who actually made it is anyone's guess? I was recently told there is an incredible 3000* factories manufacturing brass instruments in China and in many cases the same model!!!

*I don't know how accurate is this figure, but it came from a knowledgeable source?

Neptune wrote: Could be used as;

1) Practice instrument (for tuba players) remembering it will take small shank tuba mouthpiece
2) Playing the euphonium/baritone part in concert band
3) In orchestra for French repertoire (which was written for C tuba)
4) In orchestra for playing any high register parts
5) For playing ophicleide parts in orchestra

I actually got my oval euph mostly for purpose 1 -- and because I thought that it would be easier to sit around with it in the evening, practicing informally. So it was important to have front action valves and a Bb horn -- at which point I discovered that I had overlooked the fact that since the instrument was an octave higher, fingerings would be different in a number of places. Silly me. It is still great fun.

I have done my best -- with a brief exception in college -- to avoid playing in orchestras. (I did not play tuba then, and it seems that orchestras generally regard saxophones as even less desirable than tubas, as well they ought.)

Additional reasons, for me were:

6) To have something rather robust physically that I could easily port to things like Tuba Christmas without exposing my big soft Cerveny tuba to crowds of clumsy zombies.
7) To play the euph solo in Second Suite, if only to myself (without springing for the cost of a real euphonium).
To see if it was possible to actually play tuba parts with the thing. In this regard, the mouthpiece it came with was absurdly useless and got tossed in the trash. I tried the highly recommended 51D with only similar results. The Denis Wick SM3M exposes the low range pretty much all the way down -- although it has a tendency to scare the cat. Note that this horn takes a "medium" or "european" shank euph mouthpiece. If it would fit my Schilke 60, it would probably be even scarier. It also has a bore size of about .590 in the valve section, or about .678 on the downstream side of the tuning slide.

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ghmerrill wrote: To see if it was possible to actually play tuba parts with the thing. In this regard, the mouthpiece it came with was absurdly useless and got tossed in the trash. I tried the highly recommended 51D with only similar results. The Denis Wick SM3M exposes the low range pretty much all the way down -- although it has a tendency to scare the cat. Note that this horn takes a "medium" or "european" shank euph mouthpiece. If it would fit my Schilke 60, it would probably be even scarier.

Hmmm ... a Schilke 60 with a medium shank. Something like this?

http://www.mouthpieceexpress.com/catalo ... s_id=18554

A tad pricey, but if you're going to do a proper job of scaring the cat ...

Gary, I think there's a SM2M now and Josef Klier has mps in that notquiteBritish medium shank. And you could always grind something down.