Wessex Tubas - what would you like?

[bloke]

A quality 3/4 BBb/CC tuba. Something inspired by the Conn 2-3-4-5J family maybe, maybe larger bore. Definitely 4 piston valve (opt 5th rotor), and valve front. Offer a CC and a BBb version like Conn. Anything like that in the hopper?

Eastman EBB-534



Eastman EBC-632

[Ken Crawford]

Something smaller.

[bloke]

Something smaller.

They're only a bit taller than three feet, and the body is only the size of a King 2341.
The bell throat is really quite conservative, as a significant percentage of that 20 inches is "pancake".
There is no commonly-found "larger bore" that I know of between .656" and .687" as the tubing of these two sizes, generally, is telescoping...

...but I'd bet that you could get in line with Dan Schultz to have a King valveset pasted on an Olds/Reynolds/Conn/Bach body.

[Three Valves]

The bell throat is really quite conservative, as a significant percentage of that 20 inches is "pancake".

I find the oversized bell annoying. Is there any significant sound benefit that you are aware of??

[Wyvern]

If Wessex was to do something similar, I would be inclined to put on a smaller diameter bell. I find on our Eb tuba, I prefer the sound from the 16¾" bell, to the regular 19" bell.

[UncleBeer]

If Wessex was to do something similar, I would be inclined to put on a smaller diameter bell. I find on our Eb tuba, I prefer the sound from the 16¾" bell, to the regular 19" bell.

I wish someone would start making the big pancake bells like on my HNWhite Eb. It's 20 inches across.

[joshealejo]

What mouthpiece do you use? Is it a large Euph, Tuba or perhaps something in between, like a Contrabone piece?

I use a Yamaha Bobo tenor tuba mouthpiece, only because I used this instrument extensively with my orchestra, and I just needed a bigger piece to keep up with the rest of the brass. Here are pictures (L to R) of the original mouthpiece that came with the horn, a Schilke 51D, and the Bobo piece:



and

Have you cutted and sanded the shank of the bobo(wich I think is Large shank) to (aparently) euro/small shank to fit that french tuba?

[TheGoyWonder]

What if you made a new and improved sousaphone bit design? the searing tone of many sousaphones is not really the function of the not-huge valve bore or pancake bell flare, it's how the leadpipe is way too small bore for the first couple inches due to the bits.

So what if the interlocking bits actually had the profile of a good leadpipe? The gooseneck would be bigger bore than a mouthpiece receiver (as big as they get now), and the bits would have to be fat enough not to reverse-taper internally even though they'd have to taper externally to interlock.

[Wyvern]

What if you made a new and improved sousaphone bit design?

I like it when something is suggested we are already developing

[cktuba]

A 33mm I.d. version of the Wick 1L.. I guess that would be a 0L.

[UncleBeer]

Have you cutted and sanded the shank of the bobo(wich I think is Large shank) to (aparently) euro/small shank to fit that french tuba?

Yes. Even though the Bobo tenor tuba piece has a euph shank, it still wouldn't fit in this instrument. So I spun down the shank.

[bloke]

The Elliott contrabass trombone cup (any shank size you like, and some rim choices as well) is a very fine-playing cup...

About the only person that ever mentions them here is me...whatever.

[TheGoyWonder]

What if you made a new and improved sousaphone bit design?

I like it when something is suggested we are already developing :)

AWESOME. Just for your own or for King ect retrofits? I bet a large volume of people would drop $120+ on retrofits. There could also be a bits-only retrofit that isn't perfect but at least gives smoothest and widest path into a receiver-sized gooseneck.

[Michael Bush]

http://forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77571#p617043

This has the potential to get me to buy a BBb again.

[southtubist]

Probably too far fetched, but I would like to see an FF subcontrabass tuba.

That is, a full octave lower than a standard F tuba with ~ 24ft of main bugle. I'd like 5 valves, about .800 to .900 bore, short(ish) leadpipe (and free-floated) for good response. The bugle taper and bell shape needs to be characteristic of larger German BBb tubas- big, but not as fat as an American 6/4 with a relatively small bell. Have a 20" bell as maximum, with the bell "stack" being tall and extending fairly high above the main outer bow, definitely with a kranz on the bell rim. Maybe wrap the bugle 4 times to make it manageable from an ergonomic standpoint, or possibly a detachable bell.

Think of a horn between an Alex 163 and 164 in proportions, but pitched lower and scaled to FF. Maybe a smaller/more tapered leadpipe to help with control. I definitely prefer thin wall horns, but that might not be practical on such a large instrument.

I like F fingerings, and I'm pretty sure I've got enough wind to make good use of such an instrument. Wouldn't be too much more than a 6/4 CC, or the largest GG contras seen in old Drum Corps. Some excerpts would be a lot easier, like Prokofiev 5 maybe?

[TheGoyWonder]

an F MELLOPHONE that plays in tune...most can't even use the entire lowest octave of their range, the intonation is so bad.
There is large untapped ground in this arena. Your efforts get double payback by applying to tenor horns (would also be nice to have tenor horn with the quasi-horn sound mellophone achieves in optimum range, instead of stuffy mini-trombone tone)

My best guess is base it as much as possible on an instrument that does play well at the bottom of its range, the cornet. So you'd start with cornet size reciever and leadpipe not trumpet-plus. Maybe more cylindrical tubing helps center pitch and be more horn-like...french horn is used as the paradigm of a conical instrument but actually has coils upon coils of cylindrical tubing. The best current mellos seem to have narrower bell throats and very fast bell flares.

[bloke]

an F MELLOPHONE that plays in tune...

King (puts out the most sound ~and~ plays the best in tune of all of them; better in-tune than quite a few very expensive models of tubas) is pretty good and often overlooked as an alternative. Older ones in good condition (simply needing a Borodi-haul) can be found on eBay for low prices.

me...??
I want to see a clone of Don Butterfield's contrabass trumpet.

[southtubist]

Might be challenging from a tooling perspective, but. . .

What if you made custom bells?

If it was affordable and relatively quick it would be nice. Customer specifies dimensions such as lower tenon, several diameters, taper geometry (straight or convex), and final flare diameter. Also, materials (red brass, gold brass, super secret York alloy, aluminum, etc.) and options such as finish, kranz, or engraving. Maybe have some handmade like an Alex bell. Maybe have an inventory of common bells as pre-fits at a lower cost.

The closest analogue to this would be one of the custom target rifle barrel manufacturers in the U.S.

[Ken Crawford]

Might be challenging from a tooling perspective, but. . .

What if you made custom bells?

If it was affordable and relatively quick it would be nice. Customer specifies dimensions such as lower tenon, several diameters, taper geometry (straight or convex), and final flare diameter. Also, materials (red brass, gold brass, super secret York alloy, aluminum, etc.) and options such as finish, kranz, or engraving. Maybe have some handmade like an Alex bell. Maybe have an inventory of common bells as pre-fits at a lower cost.

The closest analogue to this would be one of the custom target rifle barrel manufacturers in the U.S.

I'd give this a "like" if I could. It makes some good business sense. If I'm a person that just saved a bunch of money by buying from Wessex, I may have a little extra to sooth my equipment whore urges. Don't stop at custom bells though, offer a line of "custom" parts for each tuba you sell that folks can buy later on. Slides made from special alloys or of different lengths, knock off MAW valves, upgraded rotary valve linkage parts, heavy valve caps, fancy spit valves, altered lead pipes, lightweight valve caps and stems (knockoff?).

If you could purchase the "base" model at a reasonable price, and then have the opportunity to pimp your tuba, it would be great!

[Lectron]

A large compensated BBb tuba.
None of the big ones seem to be bothered with making one.
Well....Yammie'd say the have, but it's still the same holton/besson bugle made at the Amati factory back in the 70s