What's the best tuba you have...

clagar777 · Post by **clagar777** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:31 pm

...played?

How about one that isn't yours...or for sale...by you....

(PT-606 for sale)

Ace · Post by **Ace** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 8:33 pm

Best tuba I have played is my four year old, goldbrass Miraphone 188-5 CC.

UTTuba_09 · Post by **UTTuba_09** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 9:32 pm

Believe it or not...best Tuba I've ever played is my current Eb horn, a Yamaha 321 from a Canadian Public School. I bought it for $1,200 on ebay. The most powerful and resonating Eb horn I've played...

bort · Post by **bort** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 10:36 pm

Ace wrote:Best tuba I have played is my four year old, goldbrass Miraphone 188-5 CC.

The best tuba I've played was a 188 that I borrowed from someone in Austria. I swear, it played itself. If I'd have been able to, I'd have bought it right then and there. I've tried a few others here in the states, and none of them had that same quality. Still very nice horns though.

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:48 am

Marzan slant-valve CC. Great sound with the right mouthpiece, and once you learn to play it like a trombone, the most in-tune (equal temperament, just, unjust, or whatever you want) horn that I ever had the pleasure to play.

Wyvern · Post by **Wyvern** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 4:25 am

Probably the best sounding tuba I have ever played was a Rudolf Meinl 5/4 BBb, which I sometimes wish I had got, but I think was just too big for me to handle at the time.

Instead I purchased my Mel Culbertson Neptune which sounds at least 95% as good, and is much more manageable to play.

TubaRay · Post by **TubaRay** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 8:47 am

bort wrote: The best tuba I've played was a 188 that I borrowed from someone in Austria. I swear, it played itself.

That must have been some tuba! I have yet to play a tuba that did anything by itself. I have had times when it seemed to take little or no effort. With a good tuba, I can sometimes find that "zone."

Liberty Mo · Post by **Liberty Mo** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 9:24 am

The best horn I have had the pleasure of playing is my current horn (lucky huh?). Its a new King 2341 that Lee Stofer tweaked from top to bottom, and most notably added a 5th valve that makes the low end sing and in tune too. The horn easy so easy to play, big fat sound. Sadly, Im probably going to sell it soon. I love this horn, I just have a different need now.

I played a Bach 50 with dual Thayers a few months ago, had a 10.5 inch bell, and the sound in the low end would rattle the walls. Power in reserve.

Rick Denney · Post by **Rick Denney** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:12 pm

I have never played a big tuba that I like better than my Holton, either in Bb or C. I've played a very early Yorkbrunner that at the time was most impressive. And much more recently I played a Rusk-converted York BAT that Dave Fedderly was selling, and that instrument could have motivated me to switch to CC were it not for the $11K price tag. But that was before the Holton came to me. Now, when I play other big tubas in the stores, they just don't have the same zip or resonance. I would really love to have another shot at that particular converted York from the perspective of playing the Holton.

I have played smaller Bb tubas that I like as well as my York Master or Miraphone (each with their own mix of strengths). I really like a good example of the new King 2341. I've played a Boehm and Meinl 5500 that I might have liked better than the YM given enough time to get used to it. I would really like an extended session with an Alex someday when my chops are in good enough shape to be able to form an opinion.

I've played zillions of F tubas, and I still like the little Yamaha 621 for playability in a small group and the old B&S Symphonie for sound and projection in a large group. But I really like the rotary Willson F (the piston F is fabulous but too contrabassy for my taste), and some examples of the Miraphone 181 have also impressed me a lot.

I'm extremely fortunate in that I rarely play a tuba that I'd rather own than my own instruments.

Rick "a mediocre player who knows what he likes" Denney

Cameron Gates · Post by **Cameron Gates** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 12:33 pm

Great thread.

About 7 years ago at the Army tuba conference there was a horn put together by a fellow named (if memory serves) Nate Griffen (pardon me if I butched the name). At the time he was looking at possibly building and marketing them. It was a fantastic CC tuba. Does anyone know anything about that horn?

My PT606 is very close for me.

Other than that there was a PT20 rotor with a factory-installed removable bell at Custom several years ago that was a push-button horn. I wish I knew who got that one.

Worst horn ever - Tom Holtz's Eb helicon played by me
Best horn ever - Tom Holtz's Eb helicon played by Tom.

Tom must die.

imperialbari · Post by **imperialbari** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 1:33 pm

The probably best tuba I ever played was a Hirsbrunner prototype F 4FP+1R, who the present owber of Hirsbrunner had brought to a Danish exhibition in 1990. I mostly was into bassbone and French horn at that time, and I was very poor back then anyway. So I did not buy it. It even is doubtful whether Hirsbrunner would sell it.

It played like a very good euphonium, which is my main criteria for any bass be it upright, bellfront, or circular.

Today, where my playing strength has greatly diminished, I can afford to have 8 basses, 7 of them playable, the 8th being a corroded historical Danish F tuba with Berliner Pumpen.

If I have met a good bass, I have bought it, if we forget about the Hirsbrunner. I like all of my basses, but I have two favourites:

My Eb Besson 981, which is so immensely playable over 5+ octaves. It fills any hall with a buttery foundation-rich sound.

My Conn 40K, which is a little less playable than my York Master BBb, but then it has this unique projection combined with a huge fullness.

I donâ€™t regret buying any of my basses. By principles of lack of space I have stopped collecting, but I may consider buying a very special BBb sousaphone, so that I have two tubas and two sousaphones in each of the pitches of Eb and BBb. One has to take the fun available while able to do so. Maybe it even will be 2 special BBb sousas.

Klaus Smedegaard Bjerre

Mark E. Chachich · Post by **Mark E. Chachich** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:03 pm

As far as I am concerned, my Alexander 163 CC (and only 4 valves).

Is it the best tuba ever? Most likely no.
Would others have the same opinion? Again, most likely no.

It works for me and I have never found a tuba that I like better or that I sound better playing.

Mark

TubaRay · Post by **TubaRay** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:10 pm

Mark E. Chachich wrote:As far as I am concerned, my Alexander 163 CC (and only 4 valves).
Is it the best tuba ever? Most likely no.
Would others have the same opinion? Again, most likely no.
It works for me and I have never found a tuba that I like better or that I sound better playing.
Mark

And what good fortune? It belongs to you. Can't beat that.

eupher61 · Post by **eupher61** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:14 pm

Liberty Mo wrote: Its a new King 2341 that Lee Stofer tweaked from top to bottom, and most notably added a 5th valve that makes the low end sing and in tune too.

what kind of valve is added in? Placement? is it independent or in the 4th valve slide? sounds like a great deal!

steve

bttmbow · Post by **bttmbow** » Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:26 pm

The York that Gene Pokorny gets to play every day.

Yep.

bort · Post by **bort** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:46 am

MW215588 wrote:to be honest, i think my nirschl is the best horn i have played

...and one more for the Firebird?

pulseczar · Post by **pulseczar** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 1:41 am

The best tuba I've played is the one in my head.

It's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard and whenever I play real tubas, I strive for that sound.

Liberty Mo · Post by **Liberty Mo** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 8:36 am

eupher61 wrote:
Liberty Mo wrote: Its a new King 2341 that Lee Stofer tweaked from top to bottom, and most notably added a 5th valve that makes the low end sing and in tune too.
what kind of valve is added in? Placement? is it independent or in the 4th valve slide? sounds like a great deal!

steve

Steve,
It is an independant flat-whole-step 5th valve which allows me to play pretty-much in tune all the way to the pedal tones, making it fully chromatic throughout its entire range. For example, the 5-4 combination enables me to play low Eb in tune with no slide pulling. The valve assembly was fabricated from Mirafone tuba parts. It also has an alternate tuning slide (some sort of half step config) but I have not used it. It also has spit valves on all of the slides (no spining required), vented the valves, added a Dillon AGR, and a few other mods. It is an amazing horn, Im going to miss it.

Here are some pics:

Mark E. Chachich · Post by **Mark E. Chachich** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:27 pm

And what good fortune? It belongs to you. Can't beat that.
_________________
Ray Grim
The TubaMeisters
San Antonio, Tx.

Three of my favorite in the English language words apply,
It's paid for.

Mark

windshieldbug · Post by **windshieldbug** » Fri Oct 13, 2006 3:37 pm

Mark E. Chachich wrote:It's paid for.

So the doctor has already seen you...

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