Can I just say this about mutes

[bisontuba]

Mark-
Add extra strips of cork to you mute and then try it in a BART/BAT....

[cambrook]

Excellent metal tuba mutes are available, they just aren't cheap or available in your local music shop.

I have 3 Schlipf mutes for various tubas, and they all work very well. I'm sure if you contact him he will have one for the 601.

[PaulMaybery]

Mark
Try this with your mute.
I had the same issue and it worked perfectly.

Take a soup can and cut off both the top and the bottom.

Then with any of a number of means, like duct tape or velcro, attach it to the bottom end of the mute, thus extending it about 4 inches more into the bell. This improves the intonation and the response in the low low register,

And yes the corks.
I used gasket cork found in the automotive department.Cut it into strips,
I used double stick tape and laminate some strips together, building it up to the right fit. A little trial and error.
The with adhesive velcro strips I attached the corks to the side of the mute and was able to adjust them.

All this was on a 6/4 BAT. Worked just fine. and the mute can easily switched back to its oirginal state.

[Michael Bush]

The Wick ... offers a nice snarly sound

I have had one of these for several years, and have used it (mostly to practice) with several different tubas. Does that "nice snarly sound" exist out in the hall while resembling an irritating rattle in the player's ear, under the bell? (I know this may sound like typical TubeNet snark, but it isn't. I'm actually asking, because that's what I hear, and have only performed with the mute once.)

[bisontuba]

I have an old Apperson ‘J’ mute Ron made for Jacob’s York...the J mutes rock for big horns!

[cambrook]

My experience with the H&B metal mutes is similar to blokes - I found the 208 to be not as good as the 206.

I don't regard the 206 quite as highly as bloke does, I don't find it "superior to all" - but I'm pretty sure that's because we're using different tubas. A student of mine bought a Wick mute for his Willson 3400 and it works a bit better in that horn than the 206. The 206 was fine, but the Wick was a bit better in that horn. I suspect in a B&H Eb the Wick might be the best choice.

There's a lot more variation in tuba bell shapes than trumpet bells. If a manufacturer has one or two sizes then there's a good chance that the mute will work very well in the correct bell profile, and acceptably well in a similar-but-different profile - and less well in a very different profile.

Having said that - I suspect bloke might be onto something with the idea of cutting a 208 down so it has a larger opening?

[Biggs]

Again, the 206 (for medium-size tubas) is a true gem...superior to all, imo.

^this. Whatever the secret TubeNet code for bloke always being right is, apply it here.

[Roger Lewis]

FAXX makes a metal 6/4 mute that is quite good and very well designed, but they are hard to find. Your local dealer could order one from American Way Marketing in Elkhart. They can't sell them direct to my knowledge.

Roger