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I choose the 6/4 tuba, because it is bigger.

Ask your teacher, THEN choose the 6/4 because it is bigger (but use an American Eb mouthpiece).

You may be "compensating"

I don't know why anybody would choose any other option. How is "choosing the 6/4" NOT at 100%?!

6/4, because its all I've got!

I actually have three reasons, aside from always wanting to own one before I leave this rock. Reason one.

A very prominent tuba player in a very major American orchestra told me that he uses a very large CC tuba because it helps him compensate for having a less than great lung capacity. I have the same problem, due to scarring in the lungs from having had asthma and sarcoidosis - an autoimmune disease that primarily attacks lung tissue. The sarcoid has burned itself out, as it often times does, and the asthma pretty much only kicks in on stairs and steep inclines. I feel that I don't work as hard playing my rotary Neptune, and am capable of making a bigger dynamic range. I like that. Reason two.

In the leather gig bag it came in, the Neptune is SO big and sooooo heavy that I feel pretty safe leaving it in the back seat of the car - doors locked, of course - for a few minutes at a time. Trust me, I won't push my luck with that trick. But it would be difficult to fence such a big tuba some place. Reason three.

If I hadn't bought Neptune, I wouldn't be the owner of really cool mouthpiece that Bloke put together specifically for my Neptune.

Barry "I'll get an F tuba someday" Guerrero

Your poll must be akin to those 'polls' the results of which defy all logic (media, political, etc.). I'm proud of you, Bloke, for giving us so many choices but to my eye they all look identical...it seems you're getting the hang of polling.

Tampaworth wrote:

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Yes. Hahaha.

barry grrr-ero wrote:the Neptune is SO big and sooooo heavy

I consider having the 6/4 Neptune on my back (let alone on the tuba stand in front of me) akin to a badge of honor.

But bloke, a piece of music that "calls for 5/4" tuba? Really?

"You can tame a lion, but you can not make a mouse roar." some wiseguy once said that.

On the more serious side, the 6/4 has a great harmonic complexity even in the PPP passages. And ... when you finally master blowing that piece of tubing, it is surprisingly responsive and nimble.

PaulMaybery wrote:"You can tame a lion, but you can not make a mouse roar." some wiseguy once said that.

That's a good way to put it! Although I've barely had my Neptune for a week, I can certainly relate to it. I have not yet played it with an ensemble, and although I'm sure it has "destroy" potential, I think that largely comes in the form of "power in reserve." Who wants to constantly push a tuba to its limits anyway?

Beyond that, why a 6/4 over a 5/4? Just for the fun of it. I've had a few 5/4(ish?) tubas, and while they were all nice and fun to play, none have given me the same sheer joy of playing as the 6/4 does.

Again, just 1 week in. But it was a really fun week.

Those would only be enjoyable sounds if they were followed by "okay, I'll take it."

Jason Smith did a really cool thing in his master class at SERTEC. A college player turned up with a really lovely sounding 6/4. (I was sitting with the young man's teacher and asked him what it was, and he didn't seem too sure, possibly a Gerhard Meinl.) So Jason put a sound level meter on the stand set for something like 90 feet away and had him play a mid-range note (D?) and low Bb.

The point was that it is a lot harder than most think to produce an even sound out in the hall with a huge tuba. This is one of the ways being under the bell keeps the player from knowing what is really going on. The low register is A LOT of work on a huge tuba when you get a more objective sense of what is being heard out in the hall.

It was interesting to watch.

*

This poll must have been devised in the Soviet Union.

...or maybe by Henry Ford: "you can have any size tuba you want, as long as it's 6/4".

PaulMaybery wrote:"On the more serious side, the 6/4 has a great harmonic complexity even in the PPP passages. And ... when you finally master blowing that piece of tubing, it is surprisingly responsive and nimble.

+1

Honestly, I think a 6/4 tuba does more damage visually than it does sonically.

P.S. - If you really want to scare the sh*t out of a conductor, show up with a recording bell 6/4 tuba; it's a lot of fun.

I choose a 6/4 because I always put 150% into what I do!!

I choose a 6/4 because I don't have a 7/4 and my 8/4 is currently ventilating my house.

Me thinks perhaps a new subculture is emerging, but in the process seems like the 6/4 is becoming too commonplace and the world needs more 7/4 or 8/4 tubas.

And oh yes! Order mine in CC and in silver with pistons. A token rotary for the arthritic thumb is of course understood.

BTW, that thumb rotor actually helps the horn sound more "teutonic" when playing Wagner. Many have mentioned that rotarys are preferred in Germany, so there you have the best of both worlds.

Valhalla, I'm coming!!!! Brunhilde, put the bacon on. I'll try not to wake up Fapfner when I come in. I know, he really gets steamed.

Paul "who just had too much coffee since 5AM" Maybery

The difference between my Cerveny 701-4 (bell 50 cm) and my Cerveny 783-4 (bell 36cm) is only optically (and wight, of course)