in the snake pit!I take private Tuba lessons with a USF Tuba M.M. Grad. As for many, the MP quest has been a personal one, that is matching it to the horns (in sig below), the player, and the application (orchestra, solo, community band). I'm here to say that my recently acquired Blokepiece Symphony with a 33.2 #2 medium narrow rim and American Shank is simply the most comfortable, responsive (i.e. articulation, slurring, range -- high and low, intonation, etc.) multipurpose MP. Other MP experiences follow YMMV:
Chinese MPs Throwaway pieces of crap
Miraphone Rose Orchestra Had an older one. Sold it but now wish I kept it.
PT-70 My first PT MP. Beautiful sound but not the concept I was looking for with my CC. Issues accessing the extreme low range due to size and inexperience. Traded it for an LM-4
LM-4 Big and loud. Neither high nor low range particularly well in tune. Articulation and slurring troublesome. Probably too big for me. Still have it.
PT-24+ Wanted to try something smaller but too small for my purposes. Still have it.
PT-50 and PT-48 Now we're getting somewhere. More comfortable with the PT-50 than the PT-48. Nice overtones, but ease of articulation and intonation not like what is to follow. Still have both.
G&W Bayamo Wow! An immediate difference. My orchestra director took immediate note. Powerful yet controllable. Articulation great in the high range but the size of the bucket and SS internal slipperiness sometimes caused a loss of traction (lips a flappin') in the extreme low range. I was also picking up a bit of a double buzz slurring up to the first space A in the staff. Still a bit too deep for my level of embouchure development but it's a keeper. Caution "slippery when wet!"
Blokepiece Symphony (as configured above) Everything the Bayamo is with better traction all around due to the inner cup texture. A comfortable fit for my lips due to the slightly reduced depth vs the Bayamo with no sacrifice down to the Bb below Pedal C (my current limit). Beautiful intonation in all ranges with less effort. Just as powerful and controllable as the Bayamo. Great articulation and response all around, a pleasure to drive.
We all go on our MP and horn journeys but I think I'm done for now. Thanks to Tom McGrady at Mack Brass for his outstanding support, products, inspiration, and for recommending Bloke's MPs. Thanks to Bloke for his great design and to Dave Houser and his folks for making them. Thanks to my Teacher and Tubenet and it's members for helping along the journey.