the elephant wrote:Yeah, the 1141 is a very decent playing tuba and (as far as I am concerned) is the first BBb marching tuba that sounds good, ever. The Dynasty BBb Supermag just does not sound like the GG version (which, in turn, only sound like a GIANT Yamaha tuba, big but bland).
The K-90 was not the only decent player for this type of playing, but it was the favorite of many, many players that gut to use various horns over several years of marching. Leland plays on a pretty darn nice Kanstul in the Commandant's Own, and he still loes to play his K-90. This says a lot about the horns.
The new King 1151 really looks to me like a larger version of the old Dynasty two bangers. It looks smaller than the K-90. But I recognize that the photos are really useless and that I need to try one out side by side with my K-90 if I really want to have an opinion that will ever be of any use to anyone.
That 1141, while a pretty decent sounding tuba, is really bad to march with. You cannot (at all) see where you are going to the left. Period. The configuration of the 4th valve is just, well, stupid. The neck layout sucks, too. I hate the layout of all the U-necked horns, especially the supermag. They are flimsy and put your wrist in a rotten position. The S-necked horns used that configuration for over 35 years with no problems, but someone had to redesign something in order to earn his paycheck. For some reason everyone started to do it this way. Stupid. But it looks like the new 1151 has returned to the S-neck. Any idea what the little left hand finger ring is for? Is it a tuning slide kicker? I hope so. But it is not anywhere near where the left hand needs to go, so, again (like the 1141's 4th valve) it will be a bit awkward to use. I need to try to get a chance to play one of these . . .
New King 1151
King 1141 used for the last two or three seasons
You can see that the 1141 was just a halfway measure for the boys at UMI. The valve section is out of the 2341 tuba. They didn't even change the 1st slide wrap and the hand position is quite funky, at best. So the body wrap design was constrained by where that tube that enters the valve set has to end up. And that god-awful U-neck is just a repairman's dream! FLIMSY!! Again, the 1141 is a "halfway" horn, but a good player.
The 1151 looks to be purpose-built and ought to be a nice horn to play. It will doubtless be far easier to use on the move and will prove to be less fragile.
Regiment musicians, staff members, and employees of UMI in Indiana designed the new Bb line that debuted in 2003.
All of the instruments were very well designed, EXCEPT, the Contrabasses. The chief designer was a very, very tall man who wasn't open to criticism. They tried to use as many parts from other horns as possible and it really ended up like a butchers masterpiece. It is awkward to hold, since he refused to hold it correctly and change it ergonomically. When I played it the first time in Elkhart it sounded good but the tuning was horrible. He never fixed any of the problems and time constraints prevented them from being able to address the issue.
In 2005 they decided to design the new line. Starting in the winter of 2005 the staff, a few members, and elkharts staff started designing the new horns. The former designer was fired.
The end result was the primary "Ultimate King Brass Series Contra". Which is the most ergonomically friendly BBb I've played on. It sounds very nice, lacks the major tuning issues of before, and has a very large bell. As far as any design flaws or playing tendencies. Too be honest, the horn is so much of an improvement on the 1141 that people aren't complaining yet. I'm sure they will tweak the new design and it will only get better. The staff for King/UMI is really an amazing group of guys and there are some good things going on down there right now.
Crazy considering when I first started marching PR we still had 6 2 valve DEG GG horns in the line. My rookie year (2001) I marched a horn used in the 1989 show.
End of the Ballad 2005 Ageout
