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One of my students is in the process of purchasing a 6/4 CC, and we are seriously considering both the Zo and the Eastman. If anyone has had the opportunity to play these two instruments back-to-back and would be willing to share their feedback, I would appreciate it!

Gary Ofenloch

I played them within minutes of each other at the Army conference last year. I thought the Eastman was a better tuba, but, I thought the Zo was a better value and that the difference in the two didn't justify the difference in cost. I thought the Wessex 6/4 CC's were equally good to the Zo tubas but the Eastman horns were a bit thicker / heavier in construction and "felt" more well-built than the others. The Wessex Chicago Presence is my favorite (disclaimer: I own one), the smaller bell just works but I had to do quite a bit after the fact to get it dialed in for me. In late 2019 I took mine down to the Marine Barracks and a buddy of mine in the Marine Band and I took turns playing my horn and a 2165 - some "skilled listeners" in the room thought the Wessex would make a great audition horn.

The one ZO I played at the last ITEC. I did not like it at all. I would go with the Eastman hands down. The Eastman had better intonation, response, and just felt better overall.

I really, really like my Wessex Chicago Presence. The smaller bell gives you a larger color palette. I do also believe it would be a great tuba for auditions because of the clarity. The best way I can describe the sound is that it sounds like the offspring of a 6/4 York tuba and a PT6.

Every 6/4 I've played with a 20" bell could really only produce a dark, 'wet' tuba sound which is great for certain situations but limits the usefulness in my opinion. But, it's all a matter of preference and different players get different results.

To clarify the post by D. Black.

The Zo that was at ITeC was not the same horn they make today. They had several issues with it, I know because I got it. The slides weren't the correct length and the biggest issue were the valves weren't aligned, 1 through 4 were all off by 1/8th of an inch.

I laid into Tony for bringing any horn that doesn't feature the most recent changes to any conference and insisted they never do this again. I told him the tuba community was too small and it doesn't take much to turn someone off from a bad model not ready for prime time.

Today, the 6/4 is to me the best of the bunch and compared to Eastman I have had both in my hands for a 6 month period and decided to work with ZO. ZO brings the same quality as Wiseman did before they were bought out by Buffet as many of those same workers are now with ZO.

Whenever ITEC or other regional shows start back up, we will be offering not only the 6/4 ZO but 4/4 piston CC, 5/4 piston BBb but also our new piston F that will blow you away.

Thanks

Tom

Mackbrass
www.mackbrass.com
804-926-7707

Good to know that the ZO has been improved. I'll have to give one a try if we have conferences again next year.

I bought a ZO last summer and I love it. I highly recommend anyone interested in this type of instrument to try the latest version.