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Hey guys,

Is it easier to make a bright tuba sound dark, or a dark tuba sound bright???

I'm playing a concert that includes the Dvorak Cello Concerto and the Marquez Danzon.

I played a couple of rehearsals on an HB-2, but found that it wasn't dark enough for the Dvorak. I brought an old style King 1241 B-flat tuba to the rehearsal tonight, and I thought that it sounded much better on the Dvorak but too dark for the Marquez!

I really would rather not bring two tubas to the gig, so I'm considering trying out different mouthpieces.

What kind of mouthpiece would you suggest for the King 1241 to make it sound brighter? I am currently using a PT-48.

Conversely, what kind of mouthpiece would you suggest to make the HB-2 sound darker? I currently use a Laskey 30G.

YOU REVERSE THE MOUTHPIECES.

On my Wessex Luzern (copy of a Hirsbrunner) I've found that the G&W Baer Original makes a much darker sound than my Laskey 30B fwiw.

Your King has a darker sound than the HB2?

doublebuzzing wrote:Your King has a darker sound than the HB2?

Yes. The HB-2, due more to it's C tuba-ness than anything else, has a slightly brighter tone.

The King, for me, is like a double dark chocolate dessert. The HB-2 is more like a smooth chocolate shake, by comparison. Hmmm....I'm suddenly hungry now....

sorry for rudeness in first reply, I really did think the original post was a troll due to being self-answering.

Being able to get a big round sound from a bright or even smaller tuba is a skill all tuba players should have. Helleberg mouthpieces help. PT-48 is a superlatively large mouthpiece and unless it does something mystical I'm gonna say it's very dark.

Some tubas have a bell shape that is physically impossible to radiate higher frequencies, in other words they are dark and you can't really play them brightly. Smaller throat and faster flare should be brighter than big throat and slow flare - King should be a little brighter than Hirsbrunner, if you weren't using a superlatively dark mouthpiece.

So you accidentally proved it is easier to play a bright tuba darkly! Question answered, and you're the proof. Maybe it was euro vs american shank thing and you couldn't just switch them.