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I bought a nice 3/4 tuba thaT belonged to a USN tubist who used it for quintet, solo and small venue gigs. I am wondering how many other CC players employ a small CC rather than an F? I am a euphonium specialist.

How many good (or bad, for that matter) 3/4 CC tubas even exist?

Yamaha 621
Miraphone 184
Lidl

Um...?

Maybe some sort of something from Kanstul? (they are such an unknown to me, and probably a bunch of other people too).

By name, the Rudy Meinl is called a 3/4, but its really a 4/4.

Nothing else comes to mind, but maybe something else exists.

What did you buy?

About 4 or 5 years ago, I met Alan Baer, and talked with him in his garage for a few hours while he worked on my horn. He mentioned a MW 3/4 project. I guess that was either the 3450 or the Ursus... Neither of which turns out to be 3/4. Must not be a market for it.

For years, I've used a 621 CC for quintet and trad. jazz. I've experimented with F for quintet, but being of the old school and not playing F a lot, (even though I own one), and not rehearsing weekly for a performance, I just felt I'd play better and sound better on a CC.

I might have to re-evaluate after today. I tripped over a door threshold carrying a music stand. I landed on my 621 and my butt, shoulder and my head hit against the wall. I'm pretty sore now. I had a headache, but Grangestone single malt relieved me of that discomfort. The 621 is now in an Austin repair shop. The poor tuba got the worst of it, although we'll see how this old man feels in the morning.

Harvey played everything...Extremely well..... on that Conn C.

Bill Troiano wrote:For years, I've used a 621 CC for quintet and trad. jazz. I've experimented with F for quintet, but being of the old school and not playing F a lot, (even though I own one), and not rehearsing weekly for a performance, I just felt I'd play better and sound better on a CC.

I might have to re-evaluate after today. I tripped over a door threshold carrying a music stand. I landed on my 621 and my butt, shoulder and my head hit against the wall. I'm pretty sore now. I had a headache, but Grangestone single malt relieved me of that discomfort. The 621 is now in an Austin repair shop. The poor tuba got the worst of it, although we'll see how this old man feels in the morning.

Bill-
Ouch....feel better!!
Mark

Thanks, Mark! I woke up with the same sore butt I had yesterday, but otherwise, I think I'm OK. I went to the gym this morning. I don't know about the tuba yet. There's no visible sign of why the 3rd valve has to manually lifted and depressed. The valve stem seems OK. The bell has a nice dent along the rim and there's a long dent in the bottom bow. Both of those should be easily fixed, I would think. The valve is another issue.

Sorry I hijacked this thread.

Ouch Bill!!!

Bill, if I recall, do you have a BMB CC? Did you ever try the smaller version of that - the J 834 CC? (basically a 3/4 size)
I've heard some chatter about how great it is. I did try the BBb version of it, and it would be fine in quintet as I would I imagine the CC. It does tend to look akin to a student tuba, but is definitely in the pro class.

I played everything through high school and undergrad on a Cerveny ACB-681 CC tuba, which I would consider now to be between a 3/4 and 4/4 horn. I realized only later that full orchestra and band were a bit of a stretch for that instrument, but quintet was really its sweet spot.

However, since purchasing a Petruschka my old Cerveny just sits in the closet

Hi Paul, I did own a BMB 4/4, 5 valve CC. I had shoulder issues reaching around the downward extending 5th valve tubing, otherwise it was a really fine tuba. I traded it in after a couple of weeks and bought the 4 valve version. It was more free blowing than my 5 valve version (but I find that to be true whenever comparing 4 and 5 valve versions of the same tuba - another thread). I only sold it because I came across a good used 1292 locally and I liked it better. I still have my BMB F, although it says Gemeinhardt on the bell. It's a really nice F tuba, but I find I don't have the need to play F often. I considered the 6/4, but ended up thinking I don't need anything that big and heavy, but I did love the sound. I do want to try the 3/4 CC. I've heard from a few that it's the best tuba of the BMB litter. And, I believe it comes with an option for an 18" bell. Hopefully, BMB will be at the DC Conference and at TMEA and I'll get a chance to try one. Dick really hit a HR with his design of the BMB tubas.

The small BMB C is a super zippy, fun to play horn.

For over 20 years I used my B&S f tuba for quintet and general purpose playing (my Willson CC being too big, often). I was able to buy a really good 188 in 2007 for a good price. One of the BQ I play in now boasts some really fine players who play in Major symphonies. I found keeping up,sonically, challenging so the 188 became useful and I'll admit I use it more than my other tubas. I also came across a Weril not long ago. It paid for itself in 4 months. It is invaluable when playing in church lofts an tight spaces. The pitch is really great, too.
So I own and play 3 CC tubas and a couple of F tubas and I feel it's a good practical collection for what I do. Even if weren't...so what?!

Kanstul 902-4C. a great small 3/4 horn.

I do the same thing except both mine are BBb. The big 5/4 Willson BBb for the big stuff, and my 3/4 Conn 10J for solos, and small ensemble with a Conn 2 mpc. For that lighter brighter sound. Easy to play real high on too. Who cares what everybody else does in my opinion. As long as the horn sounds good and gets the job done right I don't think people would care what key the horn is in.

For a long time I used my 184 for everything, and just went to a smaller mouthpiece if I needed help to cover really high stuff. Now I use my 983 instead of an F, the Gnagey as my main ensemble 4/4 horn, and the Neptune for the really big CC stuff. If money got tight, I'd probably sell the Neptune first.

I use my 4 valve Sear piggy for a lot of my quintet work.
Sometimes my 188.
Roger

I was messing around on my 2j this afternoon with an f mouthpiece. With its tiny bore and bell,it really does great in the high register. Makes me wonder if I could pull off high orchestra rep with it. Anyone have experience with this idea? I did use my 2145 with small mouthpiece on Hungarian March several times. The conn is even better up there.

Bob: You refering to the 845-16?

eupho wrote:Bob: You refering to the 845-16?

The BMB 845 is a CC tuba only available with an 18" bell.

The BMB 445 is a F tuba available with an 18 OR 16" bell

As someone with not a lot of experience with F or Eb tubas, how different is the sound between, say, a small bore 3/4 BBb/CC tuba like a Conn 2 or 3J and a 4/4 F tuba?