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Regarding Boosey or Boosey & Hawkes Bb tubas: I have seen little here regarding the differences of Boosey/Boosey & Hawkes BBb tuba models. I see the names "Regent, Imperial", and sometimes "Emperor". With all the wisdom available on this site, can anyone spell it out for me when each of these models was produced, Which one is considered the best of the bunch? My understanding is that the Regent is a student model while the Imperial, especially the EEb, is a well regarded horn. specifications on these horns is difficult to find (bore size, weight, material). I am playing a Besson BBb 3-valve compensator with the nxx-buster and am looking for a used 4-valve compensator. The Besson sound is velvety and full, just a real nice horn. Build quality for Besson is all over the place, but it seems that the early Boosey's had a good reputation. Any help is appreciated. Foghorn

The Boosey Imperial is the equivalent to the Besson compensating models, especially the New Standard. At one point, they only differed in cosmetics, with the Boosey Imperial having finely knurled valve hardware and silverplating, primarily for the military bands, and the Besson models being mostly lacquered and having the broadly fluted valve caps and "gum drop" valve buttons.

They all came out of the same Edgeware Road factory. All were assembled by the same craftsmen. If it is an Imperial for Boosey, or New Standard or later the early Sovereigns, it is essentially the same compensating horn, made on the same mandrels and constructed the same way.

Everything else are non-comp models that also mostly have the same non-comp construction. This is the basic oversimplified overview. Others can provide details as to actual dates of manufacture.