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I've had the prototype version of the Wessex Grand BBb in my possession for about two months now. It is the very horn that Chris Olka reviewed favorably on a FB post. I've used it in two brass band concerts so far. It's become my daily warm up and work out instrument. I'm starting to believe that every orchestral player would be advised to use a 6/4 BBb instrument in place of the typical versions of 6/4 CCs. I know that some orchestral players have come to somewhat the same conclusion. I'm certain that if I would have had this particular horn I would have put it to good and regular use in the orchestra during my career. It's a lot more fun playing Rochut 2-8vb and Snedecor on this horn. As a disclaimer I must admit that the only 6/4 (labeled 5/4) CC I had was a Rudy which I used for about 12 years. It almost seems we've been trying to force a CC length instrument into doing things that a BBb is naturally far better at doing. Is it because of some miss-conceived notion that as orchestral tubists we must play every contra part on CC?

Well said....Mirafone Hagan rocks also.

"I very nearly switched back to BBb for all my contrabass horns back when I owned one of Ev Gilmore's old BBb Alex 163s."

Wade, your comment above is interesting. According to an article in an old Tuba journal, Ev Gilmore also had a big Cerveny that he used in the Dallas Symphony's recording of the Shostakovich Ninth. Did you ever have a chance to play that horn? I'm wondering why he chose the Cerveny over the Alex for that particular recording.

Ace

Yes how was the BBb 601?

Ace wrote:"I very nearly switched back to BBb for all my contrabass horns back when I owned one of Ev Gilmore's old BBb Alex 163s."

Wade, your comment above is interesting. According to an article in an old Tuba journal, Ev Gilmore also had a big Cerveny that he used in the Dallas Symphony's recording of the Shostakovich Ninth. Did you ever have a chance to play that horn? I'm wondering why he chose the Cerveny over the Alex for that particular recording.

Ace

I too have played Ev's BBb Alex. great horn and sound

As a die-hard, life-long, non-repentant BBb player, talk like this truly warms my heart.

This is an interesting line of discussion.
I use a Neptune as a contrabass and have on a few occasions have used a B&S GR41 BBb.
(Incidentally:Could anyone acquainted with this instrument explain why it is described as a 4/4-because it seems a fair bit larger than this.....?)
Has anyone else found that quite a lot of Shostakovich & Prokoffiev (in particular) ‘lays’ a lot more comfortably on the BBb instrument? It seems that generally there’s a lot less low register finger work (fewer valves/physically easier combinations) resulting in a lot more natural resonance.....
As a U.K. (And primarily a EEb) player, I’m interested in what you 6/4 ‘primary instrument’ players think as I wondered if I was just kidding myself...
(I realise that there’s a lot more Tuba to fill with the Neptune than the smaller GR41 but that’s not really where I’m finding the major difference.)
Your thoughts please ?!!

For me, i think it was more about being lazy when i was playing a lot and not wanting to devote the time needed to get reacquainted with BBb fingerings and then getting to learn a new horn. In reality, i know that it really wouldn't take a whole lot of time to get the BBb chops going. All the youtube BBb tuba demos i have done were on tubas i played for only a few days and that was plenty of time to learn the horn as well as learn the piece i played for the videos.

For me, the biggest reason was not having the money to purchase a 3rd tuba. 20 or 30 years ago the options for 5/4 or 6/4 BBb tubas was very limited as compared to what we have today. Who knows, if what we have now was available back when i was in college, i may have never switched to CC. I have always thought that BBb low registers were always better than the low registers on CC tubas, kinda like the way Eb to F tuba low registers compare. I almost switched to Eb when i picked up a 5v Eb Alex from a student when i was teaching at the Armed Forces School of Music, virtually the same models but the Eb Alex was far better in all areas when compared to the Alex F.

I had the chance to try several of the Wessex BBb's last week, to give a little feedback on the Leviathan prototype (not there yet, but massive potential). there were 3 BBb players from British Bands, and we also had on hand (all BBb's) a 3v Imperial, a Besson 992 and 994 and a Yamaha Neo.

I had the Grand for a couple of weeks before summer, and Wyvern brought the Prokofiev along for me to try. WOW. I'd say it's one of the best 5 tubas (of any flavour) I've ever tried. The resonance, response and sound knocked all the other BBb's in the room sideways. If it wasn't for the potential of the Leviathon (with the "used to me" valve set up) I'd be after one of these to use for most things I (personally) do.

As a BBb player, I'm heartened to see more people at least giving BBb's, from any manufacturer, a try!

AndyCat wrote:I had the chance to try several of the Wessex BBb's last week, to give a little feedback on the Leviathan prototype (not there yet, but massive potential). there were 3 BBb players from British Bands, and we also had on hand (all BBb's) a 3v Imperial, a Besson 992 and 994 and a Yamaha Neo.

I had the Grand for a couple of weeks before summer, and Wyvern brought the Prokofiev along for me to try. WOW. I'd say it's one of the best 5 tubas (of any flavour) I've ever tried. The resonance, response and sound knocked all the other BBb's in the room sideways. If it wasn't for the potential of the Leviathon (with the "used to me" valve set up) I'd be after one of these to use for most things I (personally) do.

As a BBb player, I'm heartened to see more people at least giving BBb's, from any manufacturer, a try!

Andy, thank you so much for your feedback which will enable Wessex to develop the Leviathan to fully fulfil the brass band requirements. We will get to work with perfecting during next visit to the factory in November.

For the Prokofiev, what I did not tell you is that this was not even the finished production tuba (not all the mandrels were made) - those will be even better still. The first batch of Prokofiev should also be ready for us to check November. I can’t wait!

I have the privilege of using a MW 195P at my job. The MW 195P is really an amazing tuba. It has has excellent intonation, it's very responsive, and it is capable of playing quite delicately while also offering the player the capability to really fill out the bottom of a wind band. It's really the happy medium, or the best of both worlds imo.

My personal tuba, a BMB J765 is also a very fine tuba. It's definitely one of my favorite BBb tubas. I absolutely love the sound and it's quite nimble. You can play all over the range of the instrument fairly effortlessly. However, it does require a little more work on intonation than the MW 195P.

While not budget friendly, I think owning both CC and BBb is helpful. Certain pieces work much better on the BBb (especially the ring cycle), but I still think the CC is an easier blow through the middle and high register. Can everything be played on BBb? Yes, but it feels harder to me; therefore, limiting the ease of making music. The first piece that comes to mind would be playing Meistersinger with a conductor that insisted on Contra Bass (large) tuba. If I only had a BBb, I might find it harder to play on BBb than on CC (Same thing with a lot of the Strauss Tone Poems, Heldenleben for example).

All of that being said, I really enjoyed playing the Wessex Prokofiev and appreciate all the thought that's gone into its design. It's an amazing contra bass instrument in BBb. There's a reason you'll start to see it showing up in several of our orchestras around the states. Great job to Chuck, Jonathan and the entire Wessex team!

Most of my generation and the two generations before played one horn for everything. I was told that Bell took a lot of different keyed tubas to jobs and whipped out whatever fit the music the best but that's second hand info.

One of the probems was that you could not call up Custom Music and have them send you a C tuba, there weren't any. Harvey Phillip's story about buying his C in the 50s is typical of the time, I think. So there were some C tubas around but you had to know somebody and once you got one you did not sell it. ERGO the tuba player played the one C tuba he owned.

Would anybody really play a Conn 24J or a Martin 6/4 BBb in an orchestra? It wouldn't sound good to my ears but that kind of illuminates the problem players had before the 1960s and Custom Music.

The problem with F tubas was even worse. I had about a year of lessons with a Bell student in the mid-60s and he said the ONLY F tuba worth buying was the Besson. That changed for both F and CC tubas eventually but I think it supplies an answer as to why "those guys" played one horn most of the time.

BTW, both Ev Gilmore and Ross Tolbert in Minneapolis were the only BBb orchestral guys I knew of until recently. I know some people were using BBb tubas on occassion but my first hearing of that was Gene Porkorny playing a BMB 6/4 BB on the Scriabin album 5-6 years ago. His playing on that horn is intimidating.

Most of my generation and the two generations before played one horn for everything. I was told that Bell took a lot of different keyed tubas to jobs and whipped out whatever fit the music the best but that's second hand info.

One of the probems was that you could not call up Custom Music and have them send you a C tuba, there weren't any. Harvey Phillip's story about buying his C in the 50s is typical of the time, I think. So there were some C tubas around but you had to know somebody and once you got one you did not sell it. ERGO the tuba player played the one C tuba he owned.

Would anybody really play a Conn 24J or a Martin 6/4 BBb in an orchestra? It wouldn't sound good to my ears but that kind of illuminates the problem players had before the 1960s and Custom Music.

The problem with F tubas was even worse. I had about a year of lessons with a Bell student in the mid-60s and he said the ONLY F tuba worth buying was the Besson. That changed for both F and CC tubas eventually but I think it supplies an answer as to why "those guys" played one horn most of the time.

BTW, both Ev Gilmore and Ross Tolbert in Minneapolis were the only BBb orchestral guys I knew of until recently. I know some people were using BBb tubas on occassion but my first hearing of that was Gene Porkorny playing a BMB 6/4 BB on the Scriabin album 5-6 years ago. His playing on that horn is intimidating.