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Alrighty, I should be getting my new MP within a month, all things working the way they do out here in Macedonia, and I was wondering if anyone has any experience with Garibaldi MPs. I'm referring to the ones used in Banda, and not the double cup ones

I play on a Wick 1L, and I feel this wide rimmed, small cup MP is going to take some time getting used to. I play on a Wick 5 on a little Eb tuba, and I tried that on my gargantuan helicon. It didn't sound right, but the guy at the shop in LA said this 609W is what most Mexican tuba guys are playing on sousaphones.

Anything y'all know or would suggest? I'm not aiming for tone quality as much as projection, deafening bass, and punch (the latter of which is hard on that huge horn).

Thanks in advance and when I get it, I'll update.

Nick

I've never heard of it, but since it sounds like the opposite of the Wick 5, that wouldn't worry me too much. I guess it will sure be a big change from the Wick 1L though. There will naturally be some loss in some aspects of the tone, no matter what you do, but sometimes I think we're the only ones who really care.

What you're looking for sounds somewhat like what brass bands like Kočani might want to hear as well, do you know what they tend to use? Well, not Kočani specifically, if they still have an Eb helicon ... maybe the big contrabass helicon is more common in big Romanian bands? Anyway, I'm not saying you'd wish to emulate the contrabass helicon player in a Romanian brass band, it's mainly just for my own curiosity.

Ha! I kinda NEED to emulate those guys to a point. To a point...most of the Macedonian bands use an F helicon, but to be totally honest, they play on whatever they can get. I've seen some guys play with contrabass helicons, some with bass. Very few use Eb (I'd prefer to be playing on an Eb, tbh). Still, the sound I'm looking for with this band, and any other Roma bands, is more akin to the sound you get from the Mexican style of tuba playing. Ideally, I'd use my 1L and the rest of the band would follow suit and we'd have a totally different sound, but it would be kinda cool. THEN, however, it would change the whole style of playing, and I'm not into that.

I just got back from playing a gig at a restaurant attached to a gas station. The kids at the music high school in Štip were graduating, and we were asked to play. After we did all the songs and stuff for the kids, the drunken Serbians who were visiting hooked us and we played all sorts of songs. Still, I need to get my bl(y)at on. My hope is that it doesn't destroy my embouchure. It probably won't.

Like I mentioned, I'll post a few videos to youtube once I get the piece. If I had that P/R contrabass bugle out here with an extra third valve, I'd bl(y)at the hellfire out of all the songs, buuuuut...I also don't want to hold a contra on my shoulders for hours at a time. I digress. It's 1:40 am, I should sleep.

In case this means anything ... I had an Amati/Cerveny/Lignatone Eb helicon for a while. Nice sound, I was kind of getting the hang of the intonation, but it's now in the hands of a more illustrious player. Same as appears on a Kočani album cover, though there's an F in the inside photos. The Eb is much bigger. Anyway, this mouthpiece came with it, pictured here with a Denis Wick 2L for scale.




As I hope you can see, it's very small inside - small throat, narrow cup diameter, shallow conical cup. The shank however is unusually large. I'm not sure it's the standard Morse taper, but it's at least extra large in diameter. I don't believe it really fit the helicon correctly (but nothing else did either.) The helicon wasn't new from the factory, and its previous owner and I didn't discuss the mouthpiece, so it's a mystery to me.

Thanks for the comparison. From what I've seen with the guys playing baritone, they have MUCH smaller mouthpieces than I'm used to for a baritone. Then again, like I said, they often play on what they have available. I'll try and put a picture of the MP that came with the helicon when I got it last August. As far as getting the hang of the intonation of this Červeny monster, I've kinda got it, but honestly, intonation is not really a thing out here. As long as it's the right pitch and it's somewhat close to what it needs to be, it'll work. But for me....I don't go with that necessarily. I aim to give the guys good intonation, power, duration, party, and who knows what else.

I've just noticed that the 1L I play on is GREAT for some things, but the articulation can be a bit fluffy at times when you're running bass lines that are a bit faster than they should be, but they're that way because no one out here does it and it blows their minds (sometimes). Hopefully that 609 will get in before we play all of our summer weddings. I've got one coming up on the 6th of June. It'll probably be on the 1L unless some magical mystery dwarf allows my new 609 to come in a few days before the gig so I can acclimate myself to it. If not, well...I still may bring it with me to the gig if it comes in on that day. Why not?

In case any were wondering what it sounds/looks like:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDT9gCJ ... dex=5&t=0s" target="_blank

This was a Music HS graduation in Štip recently.

Looks like fun! I think I hear a little Ederlezi in there.

iattp wrote:but honestly, intonation is not really a thing out here. As long as it's the right pitch and it's somewhat close to what it needs to be, it'll work.

I don't have the ear to tell the difference, but over here on the other side of the world, we had the idea that some of the stuff that sounds wrong to us is intentional. Musical influences from instruments that can play in between the slots, bla blah.

For a Romanian example - Shukar Brass Band. The middle brass hold chords at :38, 1:15, etc. I don't pretend to understand what I'm hearing, but I think it would be kind of sad to clean it up. Story may be different in the slavic areas.

Here's a link to rehearsal recordings (made on my phone):

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing" target="_blank

Hi, I own a garibaldi 609 mouthpiece, and it is meant to be similar to the schilke 69c4 mouthpiece.