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No mouthpeice is absolute crap if it works for you. 24AW is used by many accomplished players. However, it is a bit narrow for many tubists. The Helleburg and Bach 18 are bigger and more commonly used by advanced players. If you can't afford $50 bucks for the brand name versions, there are several "knock offs" out there. Check out the brasswind at wwwandbw.com

Before you switch, you really should talk to your teacher, they probably have some advice on what will work best for you.

I recently did just that. I bought both the 24AW and kellyberg (actually several of them. My wife just loves the purple one ), and just decided after a few trials which was better. The one I didn't take (the 24AW) I sold to my teacher.

I kept the kellyberg because although we both liked the sound of the 24AW better, my attacks and accuracy were way better on the kellyberg.

Just a note: the Kellyberg is slightly bigger than a Conn Helleberg. That being said, I think the Kelly is a very good mouthpiece and you will like it.

Don't waste the money on buying a plastic kellyberg unless you have a specific need for it such as outdoor playing because there are many issues with them further away from the tubist. Save up the money for a metal helleberg and it will last you awhile.

KevinBock wrote:Don't waste the money on buying a plastic kellyberg (snip) because there are many issues with them further away from the tubist....

Sorry, English is not my native language, and I don't understand this sentence. What are the issues, and where do they occur?

I don´t know how it is in the US, but here in Europe you can order several mouthpieces for inspection / free testing. They send you what you were interested in, you try them out for like two weeks, keep (and pay) the ones you like and return (and not pay) the others. Ask your teacher if there is a kind of "faculty contract store" that might be happy to help out the future buyer of a state of the art instrument.

Best wishes from over the ocean

Hans

Welcome to the forum, Hans. I wish we had more dealers here in the states who were willing allow us to try out mouthpieces as you have described. G&W does this. I'm not sure of any others.

By the way. Welcome to TubeNet.

Faxx mouthpieces offer versions of the 'Berg and the 18, at substantial savings. You could probably get both for less than the price of a real one. I only know that their trombone mouthpieces are faithful reproductions of Mount Vernon Bachs, and no one ever has a bad word to say about them as reproductions, or as a company.

corbasse wrote:

KevinBock wrote:Don't waste the money on buying a plastic kellyberg (snip) because there are many issues with them further away from the tubist....

Sorry, English is not my native language, and I don't understand this sentence. What are the issues, and where do they occur?

I think it means that the mouthpiece may sound good to the player but it may not sound as good to someone sitting farther away.

Sou

I have some fairly expensive mouthpieces and still find myself playing on the Kelly 18 much of the time. The plastic mouthpieces deserve some respect! Hey Kellyguys!.... when's that Lexan PT-50 going to be done?

Hey, I agree with you Tinker. I love my kellyberg and I play it as my primary mouthpiece on my smaller tuba. I love the sound close up and far away and I personally think that they deserve a lot more respect. Just trying to translate the earlier post.

Sousie

Captain Sousie wrote:Hey, I agree with you Tinker. I love my kellyberg and I play it as my primary mouthpiece on my smaller tuba. I love the sound close up and far away and I personally think that they deserve a lot more respect. Just trying to translate the earlier post.

Sousie

Well, I was trying to get some clearer comments, or even evidence. Simply stating "there are issues, ...grammatically incomprehensible non-statement" just doesn't suffice for me.
(If I can read Dickens and Stephen Hawking in English, I should be able to understand Tubenet?)

I also like my Kellyberg, I would use it for the feel alone! I feel that any percieved or real issues with sound are my problem, not the mouthpieces.

Tinker, thanks for reminding about the PT-50. I was about to order a new batch for me and several colleagues, but I'll postpone it until the PT-50's are there.

I went online to http:/www.kellymouthpieces.com/ and got a recommendation on what plastic mouthpiece was closest to my Schilke66
and they recommended a plastic 24AW for my Eb tuba.I got it just when they said it would come for $35 U.S..It works fine for me and may be the cure for my allergic reaction to metal mouthpieces (including gold).
Happy boy.
tubatooter1940

corbasse wrote:Well, I was trying to get some clearer comments, or even evidence. Simply stating "there are issues, ...grammatically incomprehensible non-statement" just doesn't suffice for me.
(If I can read Dickens and Stephen Hawking in English, I should be able to understand Tubenet?)

As I have pointed out before, it is no longer standard in the US to back up claims with evidence. As for gramatical incomprehensibility (if it wasn't a word, it is now), it is all too common in debate.

Sou

By the way, that small writing drives me nutty

Captain Sousie wrote:....

Sou

By the way, that small writing drives me nutty

It's probably the settings on your monitor. On mine it looked fine and was perfectly readable.