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You and your favorite orchestra are stranded on a desert island for the rest of your lives and you have to choose which affordable 5/4 CC tuba you want to have with you. Will it be the Wyvern, the 900, or something else that can be had for about $6k? Those of you who have played both please compare and contrast these if you could.

Is second hand allowed?,

Actually if I was stranded on a desert island I would make a tuba out of bacon, and bribe the bassists with it for a spot on their bass-raft.

Of course second hand, if something decent in a 5/4 CC can be had for $6k. Oh, and in a 4 piston 1 rotor configuration.

A nice used PT-6 Rotary would offer strong competition to this field for me, but at 6K condition could be an issue.......

bloke wrote:They both play ok, but if the requirement here is 5/4, I'd have to pick the one that is 5/4 size.

I've wondered about that. The wyvern looks slightly petite for a 5/4 in pictures. Maybe a 4.5/4...

We have debated if the Wyvern is 5/4 or 4/4 within Wessex. If you compare to a PT-6 which seems to use the German Kaiser idea of 5/4, then it is smaller and 4/4. But if you compare to a Meinl Weston 2000, or Miraphone 1291, both of which are called 5/4 by their manufacturers, then the Wyvern is comparable and 5/4. Take your pick! The thing is it is a great playing CC which can handle any playing situation that is thrown at it.

I personally have used in everything from brass quintet to Shostakovich 7, and sole bass to 50 piece concert band and it has never been wanting.

The Wyvern is my own design concept, so is one of which I am personally proud

Vaguries on size classification aside, the OP ask between the Wiseman 900 or the Wyvern. I've played both, bit the bullet and bought the Wyvern, for which I hold great admiration. My main love of the horn is its sound, that being, great depth and presence in the most enormous situations, coupled with an uncanny ability to speak so clearly when playing soft passages. Those soft low notes seem to slide out, without any attending pop or sputter. Also the ability to change color on the fly and the ease in playing expressively speaks to the responsiveness of the instrument. I love how I can back off or really open up instantly without the tone either stopping or getting ugly. I found this difficult on many other horns. Now my personal and great dillema, and I can thank Jonathan for this small crisis, is that I've just tried the new Wessex 6/4 CC prototype in Michigan, and well, I have to have one. It does every thing just mentioned, and one might say, even easier and the intonation is to die for and its 7 to 8 pounds lighter. The extremes on the 6/4 York-style Wessex are phenomenal... well read my post from a few days ago.
I also realize that my enthusiam for Wessex might seem to be as "Purple Prose". Okay... but when you get a chance to try one ... perhaps you might understand that enthusiasm. So on that desert island I would opt for the Wyvern. enough said.