TMEA Conference 2017 Favorite Low Brass?

[bisontuba]

Favorite Tubas/Euphoniums?

[EMC]

The B&S 5100\W has got to be the best tuba in the room, Dan lent me one of his mouthpieces to play around on it with and holy cow that horn essentially plays itself intonation feels flawless, no more High G or C# problems either.

[EMC]

Also wanna say the Packer horns were very impressive to me, in partiular the little piggy copy the compensating eb they have and the f they have were really quite great as well i dare say their F is better than the PT-10 there. I really enjoyed Theins bass trombones but the prices are kinda insane for me who doesnt play much bass trombone. BBC has a fantastic Gronitz PCK , i was a little underwhelmed by the HB-50 they brought but im probably not using the right mouthpiece, the Baer they brought was fantastic though not sure which was better the Baer or Gronitz. The MRP F to me lacked in the lower register but the high partials are suprisingly easy to hit and again feel like they juat respond much better with Dans mouthpieces, the piston fafner is a beautiful beast, they never seem to disappoint. Kanstul brought a bunch of horns too, today ill try their grand F

[TUbajohn20J]

I loved the Conn 40K

[Aaron Tindall]

The Baer 6450 that BBC currently has used to belong to me...a fantastic instrument that I am surprised is still available!

[bort]

Dan who?

What *is* the price of a Thein bass trombone, anyway?

[Bill Troiano]

Both at the Army Band Conference and at TMEA, I didn't really play many tubas like I used to over the many other years. These days, I'd rather BS with the guys and the reps. Plus, I know a lot of the other vendors - some are former LI guys that started up music businesses after retirement. It was a holy sh-- experience just to run into them. Of course, we went out after the conference. I'm getting too old for this stuff. But, I did manage to play a few horns. I was extremely impressed with Aaron's 6040 Baer at the BBC both. I don't think I ever played one of these, but this example was extremely lively, responsive and efficient. Maybe I'd feel differently after playing it a while, but it seemed like a 6/4 that was a 4/4 on steroids. I really liked it, but I'm not in the market for that kind of instrument. I also liked the Eastman CC, as I did every time I played one. I also like the MRP and I enjoyed chatting with Dan P. for a while. I've come to know all of these sales reps and I enjoy seeing them at the various conferences. They're all genuinely nice and caring people - tuba people!!

[Kirley]

I loved the Conn 40K

Really? I played the one they had at NAMM. I was disappointed. Fit and finish was lacking for what should be their flagship sousaphone.

The layout of the 4th valve circuit was slightly more comfortable than my "real" 40K (from the 1920's) which jabs me in the ribs. I didn't have a whole lot of time with it as I had blown off Conn until the very end of the one day I was there. Then I remembered that the 40K would be there and I made a mad dash for their booth. Unfortunately, I had to spend half the time oiling the valves. And I have to say, the valve caps didn't go on and off as smoothly as my '70s 22K (or my previously owned '60s 20J). With the offset valve caps of the 2XJ/K family, there is ample opportunity for things to bind up. But all my previous experience with older short-action Conns, even those that have been ridden hard and put away wet, have been good. I'm not trying to put too much focus on the valve caps but I just feel like that lack of attention to detail resonated throughout the horn. When I got it rolling, it was fine but not awesome.

For some reason I assumed that they'd want to represent the best example of their products. If that was it, I'm pretty disappointed. My Conn 38K from the '20s is still the best sounding tuba/sousaphone I've ever played. I had high hopes.

[TUbajohn20J]

I loved the Conn 40K

Really? I played the one they had at NAMM. I was disappointed. Fit and finish was lacking for what should be their flagship sousaphone.

The layout of the 4th valve circuit was slightly more comfortable than my "real" 40K (from the 1920's) which jabs me in the ribs. I didn't have a whole lot of time with it as I had blown off Conn until the very end of the one day I was there. Then I remembered that the 40K would be there and I made a mad dash for their booth. Unfortunately, I had to spend half the time oiling the valves. And I have to say, the valve caps didn't go on and off as smoothly as my '70s 22K (or my previously owned '60s 20J). With the offset valve caps of the 2XJ/K family, there is ample opportunity for things to bind up. But all my previous experience with older short-action Conns, even those that have been ridden hard and put away wet, have been good. I'm not trying to put too much focus on the valve caps but I just feel like that lack of attention to detail resonated throughout the horn. When I got it rolling, it was fine but not awesome.

For some reason I assumed that they'd want to represent the best example of their products. If that was it, I'm pretty disappointed. My Conn 38K from the '20s is still the best sounding tuba/sousaphone I've ever played. I had high hopes.

I did have to oil the 4th valve because it kept getting stuck halfway up, but overall I didn't find any issues. I too have a 40K from 1921 and this new one seems just as heavy and the valves seem to line up better with my fingers especially with the "tucked away" fourth. As previously mentioned in another thread, I suggested to the rep that it needs the old school metal shoulder pad to kind of distribute the weight better. These short action valves seem to be a lot shorter than the old Elkhart ones! Barely have to move your fingers at all.. But I can imagine that also means more squashed ports. I couldn't tell though as I loved the sound especially in the low register. It was kind of fun cranking out real pedals with short action valves. I imagine the rep got tired of me because I made 3 different trips over there to play it and snap pictures and he kept wanting to take it off the stand and put it on me instead of letting me do it myself. If I had $12,000, I'd want one in satin silver, with the shoulder pad and real mother of pearl valve caps, as well as the new heavy duty double braces.

[Three Valves]

Eastman EBB226, little 3/4 piston BBb. for the second year in a row it played great, but 20 cents flat. Talked to the eastman guy, expressed my concern, he suggested I try a different mouthpiece. I used my Bloke solo this time, had my wife hold the tuner so I couldn't see it, played a scale or two, and asked her what happened. She said "it stayed 20 cents flat the whole time" This time the eastman product developer listened, and started brainstorming which part of the horn they could shorten to get it up to pitch. I told him I would rather have a horn that played 15 cents sharp with the tuning slide all the way in than one that was perfectly in tune with the slide all the way in. He promised he would look at it. If they fix that, that with be an amazing small tuba

That's a shame. There us a real market for that horn; me!!

[Eflatdoubler]

As an Adams Euphonium Owner, the .6 weight still reigns supreme for me. They continue to impress and have a great tenor trombone prototype that was there too. I really like the JP274 euphonium too, it wasn't as heavy sounding as the 374 which I preferred although both were great instruments. I was wowed by the JP FF tuba- everything about it was great!
For those in the bass trombone market, the M & W bass trombones were awesome- a student of mine purchased one and I look forward to comparing it to my Edwards B502i in a quieter room. I really liked the lightweight plastic rotor caps. They are all plastic now vs. the Greenhoe models that had a plastic nipple with the brass ring to hold it down.
I don't know if they are patented but I would bet Bloke could make one easily and make a small fortune making them for a Bach 42, and a few other tenor and bass trombones (perhaps for rotary valves tubas too ?)
I tried the plastic euphonium and tuba and was surprised how good both were. The trombone with F-attachment was a bit of a let down, the p-bone is much better.