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I heard that 5 valve CC tubas can play in Bb when the 5th valve is held down. Is this true?

Not really. MOST 5th valves are tuned to a FLAT whole tone, the pitch closer to A, than B-flat. Also, since the instrument is tuned to CC, all of the valve slides are too short to play in tune in BBb.

Actually, the rotary valve Neptune came with two leadpipes and two 5th valve slides. You used the medium leadpipe and the longer slide to play it as a CC tuba, and the large leadpipe with the shorter 5th valve slide, reversed the 5th valve linkage (which it was designed to do easily), and it becomes a pretty good BBb 4 valve tuba. There was a lot of nifty imagination that went into the design of that horn. Hats off to Mel.

Roger

tclements wrote:Not really. MOST 5th valves are tuned to a FLAT whole tone, the pitch closer to A, than B-flat. Also, since the instrument is tuned to CC, all of the valve slides are too short to play in tune in BBb.

Yes. The fifth valve is tuned to the same length as would be used for a G tuba's first valve. That's what makes the 4th-valve low G play an in-tune low F when the fifth is also engaged. To work as a Bb tuba, it would need to be about the same length as the C tuba's first valve.

The slide can be shortened, or it can be left short at the factory and pulled for that tuning. I have a feeling that back in the day, the fifth valve was indeed a switch valve of sorts for playing the instrument in Bb. Some instruments (the Getzen G50 comes to mind) had a fifth designed for switching to Bb, as I recall. But it required retuning the other slides, of which only the fourth is likely to be too short.

Rick "whose F-tuba fifth is the same length as a C-tuba first" Denney

Works on my Yamaha 661, with 1/2/3/4th valve slides out. Can be really handy for the odd fingering trick and trill etc. (I normally don't use the whole instrument as a Bb though, so don't need to adjust all 4 valve slides).

This riff is much easier on a Bb or F. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ahq9mutuL30" target="_blank

Although it was actually recorded on an Eb 4 +1. Sometimes I play it on C and pop the 5th valve down and the first valve out.

The helicon was just for the video ... that thing had a tuning world of it's own ...

I modified a YCB-661 with a reversible 5th and optional 1-step tuning for someone who hadn't made up their mind as to BBb/CC. It played nicely as a BBb with an ascending 5th valve, and of course very nicely as a CC.

J.c.S.

I should also note I went to school where they had an Alexander 163 with CC and BB tuning slides, and it was exceptional in both keys. Sadly, some a$$hole stole it and other students no longer get to enjoy it, and the school no longer has a professional level BBb.

So if I am playing in both bands and orchestras I should stick with buying a Bb tuba?

Not sure why you'd need it, but Sam Gnagey made some of of his horns with this feature.

Bob Bigalard wrote:So if I am playing in both bands and orchestras I should stick with buying a Bb tuba?

Instead of a C tuba.

Bob Bigalard wrote:So if I am playing in both bands and orchestras I should stick with buying a Bb tuba?

I don't know what that has to do with your original question. I think I understand the relation between the two questions, but if you think about it, such a fingering trick shouldn't change the characteristics of the tuba, so it would be just as suitable in the bands and orchestras regardless of how the fingering works.

Right? Someone please do correct me if I'm mistaken.

In very BBb tuba, there's a CC looking to break free...