2018 Martec

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Jim Brewer
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2018 Martec

Post by Jim Brewer »

Went to my first tuba/euphonium conference last week and had a chance to play some really nice horns. I was looking for a 4/4 Bb. A lot of this is probably just a re-hash of precious threads, but here goes:

The Eastman booth had the most traffic. The 632 and 534 both are excellent players and I was impressed by the 562 Bb as well. Intonation on the 534 and 632 was spot on and didn’t change when I switched mouthpieces. The 562 had a darker, more focused sound and good intonation and was more flexible that I thought it would be.

Dillon had some very nice used horns, the PT6 played very well, as did the Holton 345. Monster sound from that one as lone as you back didn’t give out. The Alex 163 had a very nice warm tone with the typical Alex intonation. They had a MW 25 that played very well, much similar to my model 20.

BMB was there and their J-744 played nice but the intonation was off with a PT1 mouthpiece. I switched to a Lasker 30B and the intonation was almost spot on, that one had a nice full sound. Same situation with their J-845. Both played very well and I wouldn’t mind having either of them.

Tuba Exchange had their St Pete C’s and F’s lined up. No Bb’s though. Their 210 CC played well enough but had some weird intonation that switching mp’s didn’t help. Even though i play a MW, I didn’t enjoy playing the Fafner they had. It was good but didn’t feel very nimble.

After I finished, I had to go back and spend some more time with the Eastman 632. They did that horn right. Good tone, great intonation and very flexible. I might have stay with a CC and get the Eastman.

Jim
Jim Brewer
Eastman 832
Meinl Weston model 30 CC #147
Pan American Eb 52J
Selmer Paris K-modified trombone
Shenandoah Conservatory '79
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