Have You ever played B&S 4100 F tuba?

[besson900]

Hello guys!

I just saw József Bazsinka which is playing Csardas on some weird B&S model, i tried to find some informations and i was talking with some of my friends about it. He's playing B&S 4100 Apollo model. I heared one opinion about this instrument and the player said that it was they worst F tuba from B&S which he played. Have you ever met one of those or played on it? It is reaaaallly big F tuba.

Here You can check out some informations about it
http://www.mrtuba.com/f-tubas/" target="_blank

480mm bell?!?!?!?

[besson900]

I forgot to add link where Jozsef is playing on it so here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xr9yzHAWIU" target="_blank

[jonesbrass]

Yes, a friend of mine had an Apollo some years back. I would not describe it as the worst F tuba ever. I thought it was quite a fine F tuba, but VERY LARGE. It is unlike the typical German F tuba, in size and tonal concept - much more like a contrabass in sound.

[MackBrass]

I had a friend who had one and it was horrific. The biggest issue was the pitch and you can hear in the video that the player was fighting the horn throughout. The performance was actually very difficult to listen to but considering how bad the tuba is he did make it to the end.

[joshealejo]

Sure, if we talk about the B&S Mel Culbertson 4100 "Apollo" we all have read /heard bad coments about It. It was way too large, with a 19" (or so) bell. It sounds big on the low register but the intonation Is pretty dificult in the upper register. Here is an example of how the 4100 sounds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKJaxwtbDeo

BUT the B&S Mel Culbertson 4100 II "Apollo" (some times refered as the "Apollo II") is the later model with a smaller 17.7 (yet not small) bell. It seems to be a better instrument:

Mr. Atsutaro Mizunaka
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn-xrRLYALA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofOaV3IkQsA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yagXEoi8xqk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEJvr6EFAgU


Mr. Oscar Abella
https://www.facebook.com/oscar.abellama ... 65/?type=3

Both are former students from Mel Culbertson.

Yes, they are stunning to to look at that golden lacquer is very nice.

I have seen them to be sold for not too much in Europe. The last year there were 2 "Apollo II" for sale in France. One for 2k Euro and the other for 3.6K Euro. There is also the B&S Mel Culbertson 4100 IIP "Vulcano" that was replaced with the Melton Culbertson 46SLP "Titan" But I have not heard any recording of It. I saw one for sale in France like 2 or 3 months ago for about 4.5k Euro.

Hope that helps!
José