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I was wondering what everyone out there prefers.
Raw brass
clear laquer
colored laquer
Nickel
silver
or gold brass or anything like that

Clear lacquered brass 1st. Raw brass 2nd.

Raw brass, yellow brass
Raw brass, gold brass
Silver
Lacquered brass (either flavor)

For looks I prefer silver. For ease of care clear lacquered brass.

Good intonation
Even response
Sweet sound
Good low/high register
Solid and mechanically sound
Fun/not too much work to play
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Physical appearance

Must love dogs.

tubahero300 wrote:I was wondering what everyone out there prefers.
Raw brass
clear laquer
colored laquer
Nickel
silver
or gold brass or anything like that

All of the above. (well, maybe except nickel.)

POLISHED silver looks good. That's what I don't like about silver horns....

Plastic.

I like easy; therefore regular lacquer works best for me. I've heard many mentions one way or the other that lacquer darkens the sound, silver is brighter, raw brass sounds best, etc...

Tommy Johnson used to say that he could tell the difference between a silver and a laquer instrument. I never could. I like the sound of a good tubist with a good sound.

As far as sound goes, my general estimate is...

95% The Player (Ear+Chops+Musicianship+Attitude)
1.9% The Horn (Assuming that it is clean and in good working order)
.098% The Metal in the Horn (thickness -- how much zinc, copper, etc...)
.002% The Metal (or plastic sticker or lack of anything) on the Horn
2% The Mouthpiece
1% The Mystery Element (Sometimes we just can't tell what makes something or someone sound better)

LJV wrote:

bort wrote:Good intonation
Even response
Sweet sound
Good low/high register
Solid and mechanically sound
Fun/not too much work to play
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Physical appearance

The Bortster nails it.

Indeed.

In general:

Raw brass
Silver
Laquer

However, the horn I have now is a small one which I purposely got in silver, because I think small horns look better in silver. If/when I get a BAT, I'll be looking for raw.

The one thing I'll add is that gold brass is actually a different alloy than yellow brass. Every gold/yellow brass comparison I've done has had very noticeable differences to me (and probably 75%/25% I prefer gold brass). I do think it looks cooler than yellow brass, but that's a silly reason for me to justify the extra costs.

So I think "lacquer" should cover gold/yellow/rose brass.

I think the other options on your list are far more cosmetic (unless of course, you're a top-level like Tommy Johnson and can tell these things!).

I used to play in a band where the 1st trombone had one of those old King Silversonic (I think...?) trombones with the solid silver bell (right? or was he pulling my ear?). Either way, gorgeous horn. I always thought it would be neat to have a solid silver bell on a tuba, though clearly a terrible idea for so, so many reasons.

I seem to have a thing for "ugly" tubas, it doesn't have to look pretty for me to like it. It it plays with a big, rich, dark sound, that works for me. The 186 CC I used to had a very patchy/ugly finish and my current King 1240 has been bead-blasted. I can't say there's a huge difference in the sound pre/post blasting off the orange lacquer, but to me it's got a super dark, warm sound that I really like, so who cares what it looks like to me.

We'll see if I ever buy a "pretty" tuba (my wife always gives a groan and "look" when I show her an "ugly" tuba I'd like to own. She'd like to see something pretty for me to play )