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I am hoping to pay for my own Tuba this week but will be needing a mouthpiece. I used whatever standard one public schools provide for years and then when I went to college and played in their brass ensemble, I purchased a Bach Megatone MP but that has been misplaced after a couple moves. I really like the Megatone but I am not set on having to buy that one this time around. What MP's can you recommend for a Bb tuba? Thanks!

Cheers,
Jared

Hi Jared,

It will be hard to beat a standard Conn Helleberg (120S as opposed to the 7B). It does not feature a heavy wall design, but is an excellent, basic tuba mouthpiece, and would be a good place to start. If you are absolutely sold on the megatone, you can find them here.

http://www.wwbw.com/Bach-Mega-Tone-Tuba ... 43974.wwbw" target="_blank

I would also suggest doing a search of the archives here on Tubenet. You will find many (many, many) threads discussing mouthpiece recommendations. I will venture to say that you will find almost as many recommendations as there are members of the forum, LOL.

Good luck with your search.

1ADSarge wrote: I used whatever standard one public schools provide for years...

So did I.

Then, I preferred the Conn 2 to the Bach 18.

I play the Conn 120S now.

As well as a plastic Kellyberg.

When you're out to buy one sight unseen (unplayed is really what I mean), with not much preconceived notion of what you like, it seems to me there's no point in spending a lot of money. A couple of fairly highly regarded options here are the Kelly plastic mouthpieces mentioned above, and the Faxx line, brass mouthpieces made in Germany to what people seem to think is a relatively high standard of precision and generously silver plated. Or you might be able to score something reasonable in the For Sale section here. Polycarbonate plastic is a fine material for mouthpieces.

I've never played anything in the Megatone line, but one school of thought on that is that they bore an extra large throat and backbore and over-charge for it. If it turns out that's really what works best for you, that's where to find it, can't suggest any other mouthpiece line that would be similar.

The PT series is excellent. I like how they have lots of options and recommendations based on playing ability, range, key, and mouth/lip shape. Exhaustive but worth a look. I have a PT-84 and love it.

http://www.customtubas.com/products.php?cat=34

There are literally hundreds of mouthpiece designs and models out there because people want different things. Probably the most common models, both of which are good generic mouthpiece designs, are the Conn Helleberg 120 (funnel shaped) and the Bach 18 (copied by Benge and almost every other mouthpiece maker on the planet). Outside of those you'd be best to try before you buy or buy from someone with return policies (if you plan on trying a bunch of different ones).