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My old Marzan CC. For a while, it was amazing, and I loved it. Then I realized that the pains I was feeling in my arm and back were because of a wacky valve angle and top-heavy detachable bell. Great sound, but ergonomically it was a mess for me, so we broke up.

Alright, so at first having this tuba back in my hands was quite the euphoric feeling, and it was, and still is a nice fun tuba to play, but recently I received quite a bit of criticism on a solo I played. Really weak low register, iffy intonation, among some other things, afterwards my professor talked to me a bit afterwards and he really feels that the vast majority of the issue is the horn and not me. I'm not sure if he was being honest or just trying to make me feel better but part of me thinks he's right and now every time I pick up my meinl Weston 37 I seem to notice it more, I'm not saying in anyway that it's a bad horn but I just feel like its not the best horn I have, or maybe not the best horn for me.

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Some years ago I purchased a 186 detachable bell model with both bells, the stock recording bell and a retrofit St Pete bell, in order to have one "do-it-all" horn. At first it was great. I used a Curry 128D with the upright bell and got a really nice dark, smooth tone that played evenly. I had Jim at Kanstul make me a version of their 18 mouthpiece with a matching 1.28 cup I.D. for the recording bell to get better projection. All seemed to work well. Then after awhile I noticed the octaves were a bit compressed with the upright bell, along with a couple of strange intonation quirks that turned out to be node interference around the tenon; and I never could get the physical balance of the recording bell right. So I sold the bell stack and the two bells and put the Besson bell on. Ahhh.

Here's the link to the reconfigured Bessophone:
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=61956" target="_blank

My previous CC. My PT-20P sounded great, played on tune, and had very quick and easy response. Unfortunately it was killing my hand with that big valve block.

Is the PT10P the same valve block?

Yeah, well, you know, this one time at band camp I ... wait, I never attended a band camp. Never mind.

Besson 981 with Fletcher lead pipe. I played and loved for 10 years until I developed severe neck and back problems stooping to the lower leadpipe.

It has made me see the importance of good ergonomics playing tuba and made me determined to introduce higher leadpipe on Wessex Eb tubas and consider ergonomics with every new Wessex tuba

bort wrote:Is the PT10P the same valve block?

It's a bit smaller. It's big. But it's not BIG.

I fell out of love with my 5/4 Rudy Meinl CC. It was a big, wonderful horn with a beautiful sound (fell in love with the tone color), and good intonation; there were lots of players I admired that sounded great on it....it just didn't work well with me and how I play. And now I'm in a happier place....

bort must have a fickle heart.

After 40 years I finally threw in the towel on my old King CC string action rotary Ca 1940.
I know there are those who lust after them. BUT ...
When I studied with Abe Torchinsky back in the 60s I coveted his King and always wanted to emulate my teacher/mentor. In the early 1970s one came up for sale, and I spent my last dime to shake it loose from its owner. It was very used and basically trashed. In a few years I had the bucks to have it rebuilt and used it as my CC tuba for all that time. Even did some subbing in a major orchestra. I wrestled with it ergo wise. It was very hard to hold. The angle of the mouthpiece always dictated a weird angle. The intonation was 'goofy' so slide pulling had to become an art. It did not slot particularly well, so picking it up cold and trying to play really clean was out of the question. If you were in great shape and on top of your game, it could make an incredible sound for a moderately sized 4/4 horn.I was complemented many times in all sorts of ensembles. When the valves were sealed with a heavier oil, they were slower like a french horn. When I needed them fast, with thinner oil, they did not seal as well and were noisey.
So a couple of years back I off loaded it and picked up a nice BMB CC BAT of which I also have a 'love hate' relationship. But for now it is mostly 'love' Maybe it is all the remedial hours it has taken to learn the "Art of the BAT" but I finally feel that I have a tuba that lets me produce what is in my musical head. As I get older and more 'wobbly' it makes me think that eventually I will need a smaller 'old man's tuba.' But I can't really let myself admit that quite yet.

1989 Besson Sovereign Eb. Whilst I was very grateful to get it new, as I became better it seemed to get worse. The moment I fell out of love with it was playing Mahler 1 in a youth orchestra. It was very flat when playing the solo with the bass et al and very difficult to play down low with any force when jumping down from high a to pedal f(I think). Plus the reach to the 4 th valve constricted breathing. I had thought about getting it cut to make it in tune, have now read this modification was very common. That would have helped. Sold it and bought a pt6. Saying that I would like to get another Eb tuba, I played a Wessex solo model and that seemed nice. Also a willson piston Eb was good too.

I have, and have played, a lot of tubas. Mostly Eb's lately. Each one was fun and great to play in it's own way. A Meinl Weston 25 in High School was a great horn. I really didn't appreciate it as I should have. Now, my favorite horn is my Kanstul 66. I asked myself, if I could only keep one horn, what would it be? My hands down answer is my Kanstul. The sound, intonation and feel is right for me.

I fell out of love with my Alex yesterday.

Today we got back together and I fell in love again.

Been kind of like this for the past 20 years...

opus37 wrote:I have, and have played, a lot of tubas. Mostly Eb's lately. Each one was fun and great to play in it's own way. A Meinl Weston 25 in High School was a great horn. I really didn't appreciate it as I should have. Now, my favorite horn is my Kanstul 66. I asked myself, if I could only keep one horn, what would it be? My hands down answer is my Kanstul. The sound, intonation and feel is right for me.

Doesn't sound like you fell OUT of love with it!

My PT6p, I picked out of a batch of 3 horns and over the 9 months I had the horn, I just stopped liking it. Now I'm back on a BBb tuba for the time being until I have the funds to purchase a different contrabass tuba.

At least three years ago, I purchased a brand new VMI 103 BBb four valve rotary horn. It was the very first horn I had purchased brand new. I wanted to play a rotary valve horn and was excited to get started after just about 40 years of playing piston horns, including my King recording bass. I brought the horn home and upon taking it out of the gig bag, my partner found a large crease in the back. This was a bad omen for things to come. I took the horn back immediately to the store and had them repair the dent which had not been there when I looked at the horn initially. I realized very quickly that as someone on the jury here said, "You could not have picked a horn that is more different than the King". I was so stressed about any dents or scratches that it bordered on the obsessive to say the least. I found the horn very fussy and difficult to play and came to dislike it incredibly in a short period of time. I wanted to like it, I tried to like it, I just did not. I gave up after a year and donated it to the band I play in. My section partner was overjoyed to have it as it replaced his warhorse Alexander that was just worn out. He told me, "You'll like this horn a lot more when you do not own it" He was right and he sounds fabulous on it. For me, pistons are the way to go.

My first F tuba - B&S 5100 WGL perantucci -awasome instrument with great 3B minibal system and amazing easy to play solos and great in orchestra
In my opinion the best B&S tuba ever