TubeNet

Ok decided to re-ask the question about MUSICAL FUNDIMENTAL PITCH?
I mentioned before the Eb tuba is easy for me as I can read paper and change the key signature. Granted this is an opinion question, so looking for opinions. Why do you play a CC or play a BB or why do you play an Eb/F.
Danke
Richie C

You didn't get it, did you?


The reason why people answered so off-track is that no good can come of people arguing over which tuba is the best. There are plenty of BBb vs CC threads on this board.... Some of them get sarcastic pretty quickly....


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PMeuph: thanks for the links I did a search and it said to many postings under the search parameters...

brassbow wrote:PMeuph: thanks for the links I did a search and it said to many postings under the search parameters...

Yes, the search on this board is quite inadequate.... I use Google and search something like: BBb vs CC site:chisham.com

Google is more more powerful than this sites search engine...

I play the tubas I do because of various circumstances in my life that wouldn't apply to anybody else.

(Well, except that I first learned BBb because that's what elementary, middle, and high schools in the US have. That applies to practically everyone, at least in the US.)

I played a CC for a few months recently, in order to learn, but I can't see any reason to keep it up when I'm so much better on BBb and play in no orchestras. I can get along on Eb, and do from time to time. F still to go.

Brassbow, what the heck is that picture in your signature?

That would be the south end on my cat Oscar. I was given the loan of a sousa and he wanted to explore the horn. His choice i did not stuff and click

brassbow wrote:That would be the south end on my cat Oscar.

¿ You have a purple cat ?

Thanks. I thought it looked like a worm exiting a metal carbuncle or something. Ew.

I play Eb for the reason that I imagine a lot of people share. When I finished the introduction recorder class at age 12 the band needed a tuba player and they had a BH 3 valve imperial eb bass and I was big enough to carry it.
In military and concert bands in the UK and Ireland the Eb bass is the nimble tuba mainly playing from Bb below the stave to the eb above middle C. The Bb tubas mainly playing the parts sub 8.
Out of necessity and lack of any alternative I played the only bass I owned an Eb new standard.
In the last few years I have been lucky enough to acquire an Eb sousaphone and a Bb euphonium and Bb tuba and a travel F tuba I can hold my own on Bb for some music but revert to Eb for any challenging music.
A good four valve eb gives me a useable controllable range from C 3 octaves below middle C to the G above middle C after that I become very hit and miss.
So while I can indulge myself with different pitches for my playing an Eb meets my needs.
I am not saying Eb is best but it is the one that I play best

I switched from trombone to Eb tuba in the 8th grade. Eb was the only tuba that ws available at my school. I was asked to take on the tuba after the tubist in our band was expelled for selling marijuana.

I learned the instrument quickly, and by the end of the school year I performed Tubby the Tuba at the Spring concert, not on the school's Eb, but on my own Mirafone 185 CC. My mother's first cousin is Lester Dropkin, who was a student of Tommy Johnson at USC and played tuba professionally in the Inland Empire for many years. When he heard that I had started playing tuba and heard me play, he suggested that I get a professional instrument. He helped my mother locate the 185, which I think was bought from the tubist in the Colorado or Denver Symphony at the time.

I received the CC only two weeks before I was going to perforrm Tubby, and wrote all of the fingerings into the music. I remember it went quite well considering. I've stuck with CC ever since.

Tommy Johnson suggested that I should get a 6/4 horn while I was at UCLA, and that's how I ended up with the Yorkbrunner. At the time I was SURE that I would be the next Gene Pokorny. Ha! I also bought my first F tuba in college per Tommy's wisdom. It was his own Rudy 4/4 6 valve horn that I eventually sold here on TubeNet. He bought that horn and a Rudy cimbasso at the same time from a dentist in L.A.

For anyone serious about playing tuba, a good contrabass and a good solo horn is almost a must these days. CC and F seem to work well for many, as does the BBb and Eb combination. I think for many of us, we ended up playing a particular keyed instrument not so much by choice, but by how our circumstances developed through our careers. At this point in my life, I don't see myself ever getting a BBb or Eb, even for fun, since I can pretty much play anything on what I have.

I've only ever purchased Eb tubas (and only one of them a real horn ). I play (only in the Army) and prefer Bb for contrabass. More crossover to sousa and marches, has more of the sound I want in a big horn,... Even though I'm a big Eb fan, if I were to get a big and small horn for reals it would probably be a large, decent Bb and the nicest 4/4 F I could get. I prefer pistons on horns I'd have to play fast on but rotaries are ok (for me) for big horns, which to me are really the secondary horn chosen mostly for the sound. If I were to be put on the spot right now to pick 2 such horns, I'd say a Miraphone 1281 F and some kind of Miraphone 5/4 Bb- a 191, 1291, or even, based on how it'd be a second horn for me, a 1291 copy. Probably 5 valves on the right hand on both for consistency, though I'd want a 2nd slide kicker on the F since it'd be playing proportionally lower.
Heck, anyone have a nice picture of a 1281 next to a 1291 Bb? I'd like a new wallpaper, please.

What I choose is the result of what I like, economics, and the groups I (increasingly rarely) rarely play in. I've grown weary of the "way things are" re: classical music so my interests have turned more to avant garde, brass quintet,...

Til such a windfall should happen my way, I'll keep on the hunt for a nice playing, cheap, front valve Eb though since I also play euphonium and low trombones a nice small Bb would be a nice partner for quintet and such.

In the context of my life, playing a contrabass and a bass tuba provides me a wide range of playing choices and opportunities.

I play Bb because that's what I started on and it's possible to play a wide range of instruments at all quality and price points. I have not been seriously tempted to switch to C. C tubas tend to be quite expensive, because of the target market for which they are made. But none of my really excellent Bb tubas cost me more than $4500.

And I picked up F because that's what the orchestra dudes play for a bass tuba and I was playing in an orchestra at the time. Also, there were good F tubas in the mid-price range at that time, while Eb tubas were either ancient things with wear and design issues or vastly expensive. There still are not very many really good Eb tubas that someone like me might be able to buy for maybe $3000-4000. The cheaper ones are not very satisfying and the better ones are much more expensive even used. But all of the three excellent F tubas I've owned fell into that range--there are just a lot more F tubas around and great ones show up on the used market frequently.

I'm not sure from any objective measure that a strong argument can be made for Bb vs. C, or for Eb vs. F. There are differences, but none that really affect the product out front, and none that don't offer enough trade-offs to keep the argument alive. And that argument is so alive that it never ends; hence the reaction when it comes up these days.

Rick "who still owns only one tuba bought new, and it was a demo" Denney

I think more should be discussed regarding the effective size of a tuba for its intended ensemble. For example, I currently play a 186 to support the concert band ensembles I play in. If I were to get another tuba, say an Eb, I would be much more concerned that it has the tonal girth to support the band, which some do, as opposed to getting a smaller, say, Conn 2J CC which I tried and does not have the girth for what I need.