TubeNet

Last December I posted the topic, "Small bore BBb tubas?". Many of you replied with excellent and helpful suggestions. Thank you! The Greater Seattle area is a poor one in which to play-test tubas. But I did find a Cerveny BBb Piggy, and a 3/4 size Weril CC. Interesting, but neither were for me. I then asked three different TubeNet Sponsor shops to send me three tubas on approval, a Weril J680, a Jupiter 482, and a Lidl 701. The Weril sounded to me like a baritone horn and was very stuffy in the low range. The Jupiter was a far better tuba. The piston valves were lightining fast. But the sound wasn't quite what I wanted, and the low range was just a bit stuffy. Then I tried the Lidl. Presto! I knew immediately that it was a keeper. It has a lovely sound from top to bottom, much bigger than what one might expect from a 3/4 size tuba. The bottom is just awesome! The four rotary valves are quiet and tight, and are breaking in very nicely. This link should take you to a pic and specs

http://www.lidlmusic.cz/josef/news/lbb701.htm

Lastly, I cannot say enough good things about the service I received from Lee Stofer at http://www.tubameister.com/
Lee chem-cleaned the new horn before shipping it to me. He also installed a cork pad on the back of the spit valve, O rings on the first valve slide, fine-tuned the rotary valves, and included the appropriate assortment of Hetman lubes. Thank you, Lee!

how much are they going for?

$3300 is what I paid for mine--and worth every dime! BTW, that includes the molded case with wheels.

I should have included in my previous post the name, Lidl sounds like "leedle", not "liddle", rhymes with "needle"---I checked with a Czech!

A friend of mine called me from Bruno Slovakia, he had walked into the Lidl shop there and was buying a double bell flugel horn for $150.

He wanted to know if I was interested in a 4 valve F helicon for $750. I hadn't heard of Lidl at the time so I declined the offer. Turns out that the flugel horn was a very playable, if odd (two bells?), instrument. I shoudda bought the helicon.

Norm in Bellevue wrote:Then I tried the Lidl. Presto! I knew immediately that it was a keeper.

That's great! Are you playing tuba exclusively in the low brass ensemble now? What happened to the 642?

Are you playing tuba exclusively in the low brass ensemble now? What happened to the 642?

I'm the ONLY tubist in the ensemble. Yikes! And we played a recital just days after I took delivery of the Lidl. We have a new eupher, but we miss you on your 191. I sold the 642 to Ed. He loves it. And, as you might imagine, he sounds way better than he did on the old bell-front Jupiter.