Conn 52J CC tuba

[Ace]

I recently purchased a used Conn 52J CC tuba. It's a nice horn with super intonation. I like the sound very much, particularly the low range.

Any mouthpiece recommendations for this horn? It came with a Bach 7 which seems to be OK, but I'm open to suggestions for other m/p's as well. Thanks.

[Bill Troiano]

I've been using a G&W Alan Baer mp with my 52J for the past several years. It's a nice piece with a cup that's not too big and a comfortable rim. Plus, the backbore is fairly large, I think. I know that I like the way it feels and sounds with my 52J. It's a bit costly, but worth the $$$ to me.

[Rommel72]

I agree. I also used a GW Baer Mouthpiece when I had a 52J and was very pleased with the results. I still use the mouthpiece, only it is on a 1291 now.

Rommel

[KevinMadden]

I've been using a G&W Alan Baer mp with my 52J for the past several years. It's a nice piece with a cup that's not too big and a comfortable rim. Plus, the backbore is fairly large, I think. I know that I like the way it feels and sounds with my 52J. It's a bit costly, but worth the $$$ to me.

as is Bill's son Dan..and man does he sound good on that equipment ( so I guess this is a second for the Baers)

[Maurice]

I don't own a 52J however, I've had a 56J for seven years. For several years I used a Laskey 30H, about two and half or three years ago I swithed to an Alan Baer. If you want to try something larger I've also used the G&W Caver, PT50, PT50+ and this morning, just for fun, pulled the PT88 out of the Thor and tried that, worked fine. I think it depends on what you want to hear. Good luck finding what works for you.

[TexTuba]

I played my old school's 56J for three years. I found, for me, that a PT-44 worked best for those horns. Good luck!

[MileMarkerZero]

I haven't noticed any real draw backs to any of the mpcs I've tried on my 56. I know one mouthpiece doesn't fit all with these horns, I have 2 that I use about equally for different situations. One is a soup-can of a Doug Elliott, and really works in large ensembles. When I need to throttle back some I have a PT-17 (old numbering, not sure what that is now) that works really well and produces a much sweeter sound than the DE. It just doesn't give me the oomph I sometimes need in ensemble, so I use it in chamber settings. Interestingly, the mpc that I have liked the least is the Helleberg that came with it.

[iiipopes]

I've heard good results from a Schilke SHII out of the Conn 5XJ series.

[ouch]

Good question. I'm having a mouthpiece issue with my Conn 52j. The short answer is, I am terribly sharp.

The long answer is that I just switch from a 1291, to a cheap fakie 186, and now I have my college horn from the school. I've been sharp on here, and I don't know what I can do to resolve that issue. I was thinking that it was a mouthpiece issue and that a change of equipment might be a possible solution. OR this is a common issue for these horns? Help!

p.s. I didn't have an issue with this on previous horns, so that is why I came to the council of the interwebs for help.

[HenkEb]

I use Marcinkiewicz H1 on my Conn 52J. This is a rather big mouthpiece ( 33,6 mm deep, more funnel then bowl) which gives a fat controllable sound. The bore on the Conn 52J is 17.46 mm which is a lot smaller than a Miraphone 186 with a bore of 19.6mm. To compensate for the more edgy sound this mouthpiece works great. I also tried Giddings & Webster Bayamo and B.Tilz-Nea M10 ( some say this is the old PT88) and even compared it to Marcinkiewicz H2 which is a little less deep but the H1 fitted my needs best.
To make a interesting comparison: On my older 1963 Miraphone 186 with 16½ inch bell I also like Miraphone Rose Model Solo (33mm shallow bowl, also named TU27 ) but not so much on the Conn because the sounds is less deep and edgy. The small bore of the Conn52J demands less air to sustain a sound so for me big mouthpieces on small tuba's are logical.*

* Big mouthpiece on big tubas can be pushing the limits of human endurance.. just like bass saxophones and contra bass clarinets. ( I played these too for many years, in my experience they are more fitted for something with the statue of a Hippo.. your ideas get lost in shortage of air.

Henk

[Matt Walters]

To Ouch and Original Poster.
I built the original prototype for this tuba and used a mouthpiece receiver setup that let people use American, European and Large shank receivers. The Conn factory made some changes for the worse from what I sent them but they kept the receiver. Just find the mouthpiece that feels good to you and plays well. They came from the factory with a Conn Helleberg (120-S). I like and used a Geib cup mouthpiece when I built the King CC that became the Conn 5xJ series of tubas.

Ouch,
Because of some changes they did to what I gave them, the slots are very subtle. You may be over driving the tuba and lipping up to get the response and pitch centers. Relax and tune starting with the C in the staff. You should start feeling the more subtle and flatter slots the pros use. If this is what is happening, it is a very easy (cheap) thing for me to improve the response and slots of the tuba the next time you visit us at Dillon Music. Please call ahead. No, I can't just tell you by email how to do it.

[ouch]

Thank you so much! It's nice having advice from someone who actually helped create it

[Tubajug]

I'm curious Matt, is the original prototype still around somewhere?