I need a mouthpiece ...

[oldbandnerd]

I am going to try my hand at playing tuba to help out a little church group . I am really a euphonium player but they need a tuba more then they do a euphonium . So I have borrowed this Yamaha YBB103 from a middle school and I need a mouthpiece. I don't know what to get . I just need a cheap one that will work well for an inexperienced tuba player like my self .

What's do the tuba gurus here suggest ?

[SplatterTone]

For a new player, USUALLY (with appropriate caveats for your mileage may vary, etc.) a smaller rim with at least medium thickness helps.
And if it needs to be cheap: Kelly 25.
A little more expensive: Conn 7B, Yamaha 66D4.

[Tom]

Perhaps a Bach 30E would be the type of mouthpiece you are seeking.

It's a very small tuba mouthpiece, but that might play into you hands as a euphonium player.

[iiipopes]

The Wick 3L knockoff on ebay is a pretty good mouthpiece. When I needed a mouthpiece for Eb at the interim between Besson going under and Denis Wick establishing his own retail network and couldn't get one, this turned out fairly well.

Oh, yeah: Kelly 25 or 18 are also good.

Faxx and Blessing 18's are also good doubler's mouthpieces.

I agree on a smaller tuba you may need the deeper cup of the Conn Helleberg to get good tone.

[bill]

You might want to consider a Yamaha 65 for this horn or, possibly, a 67C4. They are both rather small with comfortable rims and should fit the horn well. Look on eBay for used ones or at a large music store that takes in trades.

[oldbandnerd]

Thanks for all the great suggestions. I doubt that aside from this occasional church group and perhaps another church group at Christmas I will be doing a lot of tuba playing. The euphonium is now and always be my first true love.

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet because I use a stainless steel LOUD now due to a metal allergy. I don't want to drop some big change on yet another S/S mouthpiece.

I like Mr. Schleppster's suggestion of the gold one. BLINGAGE !! However I doubt I can overblow even this student tuba. I struggle with air capacity now with my euph. I guess the only descusion left is to go with a bowl or funnel cup. I play a bowl cup now on the euph. Should I stick with it ?

It has great reading all the responses from everyone and would like to encourage more of it.

[iiipopes]

From what you've described, you do sound like a candidate for a Kelly 18. It's a tad deeper than the Bach/Faxx/Blessing 18's, so it will give a little more fundamental, but it is a bowl cup so it will give you the same feedback as to what you're used to. @$30. I play one exclusively for outdoor gigs, because it gives good tone and projection as well as indifferent to temperature so I don't freeze or sear my lips at Christmas or Independence day.

Since you're playing it on a tuba that is prone to overblowing anyway, you won't need to do anything to it except play away. If you ever get a larger tuba and start cracking at high dynamic levels, just wrap a piece of golfer's lead tape around the outside at the throat and it will center up the louder dynamics just fine.

[SplatterTone]

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet

Now that the easy decision has been made, here comes the tough one: What color?! Decisions, decisions.

I've found the crystal orange is a good balance between the trashy radical green and a blah mundane color.

[Tubaryan12]

The Kellyburg sounds to be my best bet

Now that the easy decision has been made, here comes the tough one: What color?! Decisions, decisions.

I've found the crystal orange is a good balance between the trashy radical green and a blah mundane color.

Agreed. I picked the same.