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Has anyone tried the new PT-18 F tuba? Thoughts? How does it compare to the PT-10p or even the rotary models?

J

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I know Perantoni went to Germany and was hands on with this horn.

It was at Midwest. Personally, I thought it was the worst F tuba at the B&S stand. Low end really sucked and pitch seemed funky to me. I put it down pretty fast. The JBL was way better, but still didn't have anything on the Kodiak. Just my opinion, nothing more.

If I have a chance tomorrow, I'll try it out and give my impressions on it (if they matter!).

By the way, Dan Perantoni has been at the Custom booth night and day at the TMEA convention (fyi).

I had the chance to spend a few minutes with this horn at Midwest this year, and my experience with this horn was the opposite of bububassboner's. To me, this horn had the rich sound of a German rotary F tuba. I felt like this was the closest piston F tuba to match the sound of my PT16. The low register felt significantly more secure than that of my PT16, but I cannot attest to how it compares to other piston F's. I did not have the chance to put it to a tuner, but there were not any notes that immediately jumped out to me as being drastically different than the intonation tendencies of my PT16 and so far out of tune that the note was actually located in another booth (which says a lot because Custom has a decent sized booth!). Any intonation problems seemed well within reason and quite manageable.

DISCLAIMER: If I remember correctly from what Mr. Perantoni told me, that particular PT18P was the only one in existence at the time and was his personal horn. The PT18P was just finally making it to the production line, so the really question is how do the production horns compare? Are there any at TMEA?

Bottom line: From what I could tell, this horn seemed to meet in the middle and have the best of both worlds regarding your typical characteristics of piston F tubas vs. rotary F tubas, without making large sacrifices. Is it a horn I would be sight-unseen? Nope. But it is definitely a horn worth keeping on the radar for the next opportunity to spend more time with and to take into serious consideration.

This horn is here at TMEA right now. It has a really sweet colorful sound without the ergonomic issues of the older piston F's. Seemed way more comfortable to play than I remember the piston B&S horns used to be, that was always one of my big issues that my hand would hurt after playing them (just my opinion!). I have no idea what the production models will be like, but this was a very nice horn. Definitely worth a try.

I have had the great pleasure of spending quite a lot of time on this tuba.
My impressions is that it meets in the middle and gets the best of both world, piston and rotary.
It got a fantastic rich sound like you would expect from a rotary B&S and at least for me it won over the smoothness and the evenness in the low register.

If I wouldn't have bought my F a couple of month before I first played the 18, the 18 would have probably be on my list.

As I talked with Mr. Perantoni Facebook, PT-18P is a PT-15 pistons, imagine a tuba wonderful ...

I tried one of the production horns (I believe) at NABBA, and really enjoyed it. The ergonomics were pretty good, with my only gripe being that I had to rest the horn on my legs. The pistons worked well, and it really seemed to play very evenly from range to range (reminding me a lot of my PT-6). It compared favorably to my MW 45-SLP, and another tuba player in the tryout room commented that it sounded great. I might end up considering it when I eventually start looking for a new horn. I've been in the "new F tuba" mood for a while now, but I still haven't found anything that has really convinced me to get rid of my SLP. However, the new B & S was close, and I might give it a second consideration.

I played this horn for a few minutes at the Midwest convention in Dec. 2011. Bububassboner had a very negative impression. Perhaps it was mouthpiece choice? I played my PT-65 on it at first and was very dissapointed. Dan handed a newer PT-64S to me and the horn played very well. Bydlo was very easy on it. It does not play as heavy as my PT-10, but few F tubas do. It struck me as more of a solo instrument, but there are ways to make a brighter horn play heavier. I did not find the low register to be difficult once I switched mpcs. It has a beautiful sound.
Tony

Hello guys!
Talk a little more about the B & S MRP-F ...
Seems like a tuba wonderful!

My perceptions of the PT18 at the most recent Midwest Regional tuba conference were just as negative as Bububassboner. Perhaps that specific horn needs some sort of TLC. I tend to enjoy nearly all B&S tubas but that horn did nothing for me.

I've only gotten to play the ones Mr. P has at his home, so they might be the top of the heap. Plus the use of the MAW valves improved the instruments.

The ones I've played have been superb. Very much a German/Rotary sound-lots of core and lots of color. Even response up and down; no worries about the low register whatsoever. Also, they had the easiest intonation of any F I've played. Don't tell my sponsor I said that!

Again, I believe I got to play only the very best examples of this model. I can't comment on conference display instruments.

I'll comment because I've owned one of these for almost a year now after purchasing last summer. To add to what Alex has already said...

I picked this instrument because of the color, intonation and response. The issues I HAD with it were moot now that they've been effectively eliminated with the addition of a set of the MAW valves by way of Martin (A.) Wilk. These valves have made the horn very much complete and should be standard in my opinion. The degree of consistency between registers, response, resonance and color are all within the rhelm of outstanding. I purchased this instrument over the very popular MW2250 because of the liveliness and color I preferred. I really can't imagine playing anything else anymore. I'm contemplating one more modification to the main slide but I'm VERY happy with this instrument.