Survey:Eb or other tubas on British Brass Band Eb bass parts

[GC]

Considering that compensating Eb tubas are fairly rare in the US outside the British brass band community, I'm wondering how many actually play them inside the community.

[WessCollette]

You know what I play, but am looking at BBb horns constantly.

[Teubonium]

For brass band I play a 5-valve Eb (MW2141)

[marccromme]

For brass band I play a 5-valve Eb (MW2141)

Me too, and it works really well there. I use my YEB 321 for marching gigs, though.

[dxdent]

I too utilize a 5 valved Eb (Willson 3400S or occasionally a Wessex Danube).

[eeflattuba]

I have been using a besson sovereign 981 in our british brass band since 1990.My stand partner also been using a 981 for the last several years.These tubas are fairly common up here in western Canada.

[GC]

bump

[MaryAnn]

In order, I played a MW 182 rotary F, a Miraphone 184 5U CC, and the Norwegian Star. Back when I could. The NStar was far superior in that application to the other two, and a better overall tuba for me than the others although they were fine examples of what they were.

[GC]

It's nice to see that most folks are actually using Eb's for Eb parts. I'm really surprised that only one person was using an F tuba; I expected a lot more. I also expected more people using BBb's or CC's.

[ken k]

I played a Boosey & Hawkes Eb with the 19" bell for over 30 years as my main, and often times my only, tuba. I used it in the Lancaster BBB for the first 12 years or so. I wanted to get a horn with a more focused sound since I was playing the high Eb part. So I bought a Miraphone Norwegian star and sold the B&H.

kk

[MaryAnn]

And dontcha LOVE that NStar?

[GC]

since there are still occasional votes, one last BUMP

[GC]

Assuming that this is a reasonably good sample even though the numbers are fairly small, most Eb part players actually play on the appropriate instrument. I'm surprised that the number of F, CC, and BBb players doing Eb parts is not higher than it is, especially as from my local experience I know about as many people on other keyed tubas as voted. Still, right horn for the right task seems to be the way of it.