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I may have asked this sometime ago but I would like to hear from people playing any type of EEb in a quintet. 3+1, 4 valve, 5 valve. Any videos would be appreciated.

Besson 983S 4-valve front-action compensating Eb tuba. I purchased this horn for blending in an ensemble as opposed to a more "soloistic" instrument, with a lighter timbre than my CC(s). It serves its purpose well.

I used my Yamaha 321/381 Eb on all of the recordings on this site: http://www.emeraldbrass.com/audio/" target="_blank

It is the quintet's preferred instrument of all the horns I have brought over the years. It seems to be the best balance of tone, weight, and nimbleness for me....

-T. J.

I played a 3/4 3 valve King Eb in my college quintet (with a euph on 4). Worked just fine.

I use my Conn Monster Eb in quintet and find that it works extremely well. The tone is lighter than a contrabass, and the volume level is easy to manage (so long as I'm not playing with a group that insists on playing too softly).

The 983 is a great playing tuba, but the 3 + 1 set-up makes low end fingerings even easier. Also, Gronitz makes their Eb tuba where the fifth valve tubing is long enough to be a 'tritone' valve, sounding the low A below the fourth valve Bb. That makes the low end fingerings very similar to CC ones. That's a real nice feature.

I agree about the 3+1 fingerings.

I haven't done any quintet work for 5 years, but when I did I used a Yamaha YEB321. Nice tone, intonation, and didn't have to worry about overpowering the others.

I have always wondered why Yamaha did not build the YEB-321 with front action. Great horns.

Back when I did a lot more playing (around 30 years ago) I would sometimes use a York Monster E flat in quintets and other types of groups. It had a beautiful tone and with the correct mouthpiece (very small, Bach 32E) I could get all ranges very well. The other musicians in the groups liked the sound of this tuba.

Mark

I'm curious about the players working 4-valved non-compensating Eb's. How do you play the low e? It's not an unusual to see in tuba repertoire. I can imagine low F on many of these horns might also be a struggle (intonation wise).
Or do you use a tritone (3 step) 4th valve and play the F and the Bb1&3?
-Pat

I use a Kanstul 66 for quintet. It works very well for me.

I use a Willson 3400 in quintet. It allows me to play with the nimble character of a bass tuba, but also has the power needed in the bottom register of a contrabass.

I used a York monster E flat on this album.


http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/mus ... s+here.htm" target="_blank

I use a Holton Monster 5v Eb in my quintets. No video, but we hope to get a commercial recording out sometime later this year in the "better" quintet...

Edit: Here is a (live) audio clip from one of the holiday gigs we did last year:
(skip over the intermittent sermons/messages after the preludes to get to the other music parts if you want)
http://www.firstlutheran.com/sites/defa ... ebsite.mp3

Not playing in a quintet right now. When I did I used my MW2141 5v.

pjv wrote:I'm curious about the players working 4-valved non-compensating Eb's. How do you play the low e? It's not an unusual to see in tuba repertoire. I can imagine low F on many of these horns might also be a struggle (intonation wise).
Or do you use a tritone (3 step) 4th valve and play the A and the D 1&3?
-Pat

False tone 2+3. It's a less than ideal situation, to say the least.

Most of my old horns played Ab as the open note; my 4 valve Conn Giant played A natural open.

I discussed this problem with Oystein Baadsvik when he play tested my Kanstul 66. The solution he suggested was to lip the open Eb up to the E. I have been doing this and it works for me and my horn. I guess this depends on your philosophy on playing. If you are a don't lip anything and pull slides a lot, then this option will not sit well with you. If you tend to lip things into tune rather than pulling a lot of slides, this may work for you.

I play a Yamaha 321 in quintet but I've had a fifth valve added for the low end.

Here is an audio recording from my former group: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAxWc03fwwE

And a video from my current quintet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VacaY-wov90

Bob