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I have just acquired an old small Conn Eb tuba The Mpc supplied is "Conn Standard" with a bass trmbn shank, & the reciever will not accept a tuba mpc. Question? What are the pros & cons of replacing the reciever for a normal tuba mpc?
Thanks.

I have a york mouthpiece that would work for that horn. It badly needs to be replated. I would sell it to you for $20. At least this would keep you from having to replace the leadpipe.

Mark

Lyle wrote:I have just acquired an old small Conn Eb tuba The Mpc supplied is "Conn Standard" with a bass trmbn shank, & the reciever will not accept a tuba mpc. Question? What are the pros & cons of replacing the reciever for a normal tuba mpc?
Thanks.

It's usually a pretty straightforward operation. Unsolder the old receiver, fit a new one. Cleanup and lacquer touchup (if necessary).

OTOH, you can get Denis Wick tuba mouthpieces in a smaller bass-trombone-sized shank. A DW2 or DW3 might be just the ticket. Just be sure not to get the "L" sizes; e.g., DW2L--those are the large shank varieties.

After playing a Sat. AM rehearsal about 5 or 6 years ago, I stopped into Dillon's because I didn't like the way my small Courtois Eb was performing on a no-name MPC with a cut-down shank. Matt Walters (who had previously done some work on the horn) immediately said Wick 4 (not 4L). Within 2 minutes I realized that it matched the horn perfectly. YMMV

Lyle wrote:I have just acquired an old small Conn Eb tuba The Mpc supplied is "Conn Standard" with a bass trmbn shank, & the reciever will not accept a tuba mpc. Question? What are the pros & cons of replacing the reciever for a normal tuba mpc?
Thanks.

My Boosey used to have the smaller receiver. The obvious advantage of replacing the receiver with a larger one is that you have more mouthpieces that you can use. I used to use the Denis Wick mouthpieces mentioned above number 2, 3 or 4. The 2 is sort of Helleberg-ish with a more comfortable rim, the 3 is sort of Bach 24AW-ish without the fat rim, but with a big bowl. The DW4 is a very small mouthpiece and while I used that for many years on my horn in my brass quintet, I had lots of trouble in the low range with such a small mouthpiece and often took the real low licks up an octave, which I felt usually sounded better anyway. Why have the tuba down so low in a quintet, an octave or more below everyone else. It sometimes feels like you are not part of the group. But anyway that is an arranging probelm not a tuba problem. The DW4 really centers your tone and makes a clear definite sound.

Anyway, if you are using the Eb tuba for fairly low parts like ina band, then a bigger mouthpece like the 2 or 3 would be good. You still have to play the low range just like a BBBb right? If you are using it more for higher tessiture stuff, like solo or quintet lit, then the 4 is OK.

I ended up replacing the receiver and ledpipe with the larger Besson 981 leadpipe and a Dillon Adjustable Gap Receiver. The difference was very noticable, but I believe that had more to do with the larger bore of the new leadpipe not just the receiver. My Boosey is a pretty large-ish Eb similar to the Besson 981/2, so the larger leadpipe really helped.

ken k