45 minutes w/Thor

[Rick Denney]

Reminds me of comments by Mike Sanders when I was taking my few lessons from him.

He had just bought his Yorkbrunner, but his Alex was the tuba in his studio. As we were chatting, his comment on the Alex was:

"That tuba will do anything, but YOU have to do it."

and

"The hardest thing about the Yorkbrunner was learning to relax and let the horn do the work."

I think those statements are compatible with your fifth comment. But, looking at trends, it would appear that the effort required by the Alex to achieve "anything" becomes a burden eventually, and Alex players often graduate to instruments that are easier to play. As much as anything, that may reflect the ability of modern tuba players to afford more instruments rather than having to make one instrument do most everything.

Rick "speculating on borrowed wisdom" Denney

[ASTuba]

It was really great to see Andy recently and also nice to get to play his new Thor.... Thought I would give my observations.

1 - This horn was incredibly responsive. Perhaps it was the relatively smaller bore compared to my Alex, but I felt as though the slightest touch would easily begin the tone.

2 - The response of the tuba was VERY even. Low range to high, the tuba felt the same, no complaints.

3 - The low range was quite good, not like my Alex, but good, plenty of umph.

4 - The sound was very immediate, and by that I felt like I was VERY close to the sound. The shorter (relatively) bell is part of that, but I felt too close to the sound.

5 - If I have any complaints it would be this, and for what it's worth, I'm sure it was me not the tuba. I felt as though the tuba was somewhat one dimensional. I could not, and even after asking another guy to play and try to change the tone color, we simply could not change the sound. It is an excellent representation of what I would call a modern, American sound, but it was just that and nothing else. I could not for anything convince the sound to change; warmer, darker, brighter, more chocolate, nope. Again, given more time I'm sure those things are possible, but I couldn't do it right out of the gate.

Ultimately, this was a very fine tuba, but I was quite happy to get the Alex back in my lap. I honestly felt that pound for pound the Alex has more sonic punch and who doesn't like that.....

RC
(who has drunk about 7 gallons of the Alex kool-aid at this point)

That's ok. I love your Alex, but the Thor is my best friend.... and I will not betray....

Good to see you as well. Talk again soon my friend.

[ArnoldGottlieb]

I really liked the ease of play the Thor had when I picked it up. But, I too, found that I liked the product from own horn a touch better, but at the expense of more work. If $$ were not an issue I'd definitely like to have one around the house, but not at the expense of my PT20P. I wonder what a hand hammered bell and a different valveset would do for the Thor? I also only played just one, maybe there's one for me somewhere out there.
I'm glad I'm not the only one, although I might buy one anyway......
Peace.
ASG

[ArnoldGottlieb]

[J.c. Sherman]

A marriage to an Alex is indeed one of hard work and hard love. They will literally do anything, but you both have to come to an agreement about how things are done. They don't play themselves; but those very "imperfections" are what make Alexanders so "alive" and "human".

Music, as opposed to notes, is based on the "imperfections".

J.c.S. (proud Alex owner, who falls in and out of love with his 164 almost daily!)

[jeopardymaster]

Knowing tuben's Alex as well as I do, I can testify that comparing its low register with that of other horns is quite simply unfair. Thors are very nice - and the ones I have tried are a lot less persnickety than that Alex, but it is definitely one of a kind. Too much work for me, I confess. Glad it has found a good home.

[Todd S. Malicoate]

Careful, Joe...an endorsement like that is likely to send sales of Thors through the roof. Where can I buy stock in the company?

Honestly, though...I suspect the result had as much to do with your fine playing ability as the horn. At least 50/50.

[Tubaing]

At the risk of appearing to pile on more Paul Bunyan-esque, the orchestra shell (a tuba player's "friend", if not "savior") had been REMOVED

Sounds like what you now need is one of those fancy Bell Front York tubas... if only there was one available.