Your Favorite BAT

[MartyNeilan]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the big Kalisons yet, particularly the bigger K2001. Big BAT sound, but also with core and clarity - no foghorn here!

[TUbajohn20J]

Wow, those big Conn's are winners in my book. I've pretty much given up on trying to find a factory 22J or 26J..but I do want to follow in Tom's footsteps with a custom made one. I won't be doing it to MY 20J though. I plan on buying another one in worse condition and get a 22K or 20K valve section put on. Tom's project looks great. Just a question for Tom.. Are you going to get those bow guards taken off and put on the back? That's really the only issue I see when flipping bows. Please post pictures as soon as you get done I want to see pictures of this completed beast!

[tubatom91]

Right now I'm leaving the bow guards on simply because I like them on there. I am using the one on the top bow to solder the branch that goes in front of it instead of using a brace there. There's a bit of trickery when attaching the main slide to the new grafted valve set, getting all the angles right and lining it up. Mine is all but done, need a new leadpipe, and finishing flipping the 1st valve slide. Then we'll see how it plays

[UDELBR]

Wow. Anyone else see the bell as being waaaay off kilter (compared to bottom bow and last ferrule)? What a shame to do such a magnificent restoration job, then stick it back together crooked.

Actually, the valve set is set off at a slight angle - thats how King made 'em. The bell will naturally look off

Nope; what I speak of has nothing to do with the valves. Look at the last ferrule, inside of the bow compared to outside. There's a huge difference. Even the reflection gives it away.

[iiipopes]

The Holton in this photo was cut by Bob Rusk and has a straight .750 bore in the pistons; no large bore 4th. This seems to help keep it focused and somewhat responsive in the low register.

Exactly. This is a good illustration of my point that tubas, indeed all musical instruments, after the transition from the throat into the receiver and leadpipe, work on static wave theory, and NOT flow theory, which would indicate a stepped increase in bore. The uniformity of the tubing diameter should (I didn't say "would," as I have no way to run the necessary experiments with different tubing to find out) keep the nodal/anti-nodal relationships more constant and in that regard do exactly what Elephant has observed: keep the response even.

If we can extend this to souzys, the 38K/40K is a benevolent beast. Especially since I had the upper loop of the 1st valve circuit modified into a workable slide, and I have the 24 inch bell instead of the 26, it has the same combination of both breadth and focus of any BAT. It is nimble (I can play the dogfight on "The Thunderer" on the 38K better than on any other instrument I've had the pleasure), but it can also create seismic disturbances. It is the only instrument where the false pedals and the real pedals are equally strong with both good intonation and tone, and although the valves are worn and the bugle needs some attention, it just plays anyway with the same full bore tone you would expect, but with refinement and no looseness at the edge. As as the topper, as has been said about the 2XJ's, it doesn't take a lot of air to get a lot of tone.

Because it has dynamic flexibility as well as great tone and intonation and the occasional seismic "please the crowd" aspect, it is my favorite BAT. I can only imagine what the contemporay (@1930) "raincatcher" versions must have been like, as they were the subject of Sousa's own comments about how state-of-the-art a souzy could be.

[sloan]

My favorite BAT is the 36J currently in surgery at Memphis. A snip here...a snip there...with luck, it will soon "play nice with others" (and itself!). This will please my favorite conductor no end.

[J.c. Sherman]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the big Kalisons yet, particularly the bigger K2001. Big BAT sound, but also with core and clarity - no foghorn here!

Being a fan of my Kalison DS, I've always wanted to try one; never even shared a room with one. I've often thought it might be the only other instrument which could unseat my Alex 164 (besides the King).

J.c.S.

[k001k47]

Out of the BATs I've played, I like the Baer most; it's on the smaller side of BATness, but I love the sound and response. I've always wanted to play one of the short action 2xJ conns OR the grand orchestral (anyone have one in deep south TX?).

[NDSPTuba]

Well aside from my Kalison 2000 Pro which is my only only axe. I've only played a few other BAT's and that was on a limited basis at TMEA. But I do really like my Kali, responds very quickly in all registers and I really like the sound.

[MileMarkerZero]

I am surprised nobody has mentioned the big Kalisons yet, particularly the bigger K2001. Big BAT sound, but also with core and clarity - no foghorn here!

I'll vouch for that. I recently bought Marty's K2001. I love it. Couldn't be happier. The sound is fabulous, the low register falls out of it, and I'm working 1/2 as hard to get twice the sound of my former 56j.

Something I particularly love about it is that it doesn't seem to suck the air out of you like a lot of other big horns. I have played Holton 345s, Willson 3100s, and a RM 5/4. None extensively, but enough to know that they left me feeling like I couldn't get air into my lungs fast enough. Not so with the K2001. I guess the best way to put it is that it's a very efficient big horn.

[UDELBR]

Thats why I said this:

Besides most of the ones I've seen have a removable bell, this one may or may not have the original bell, they did make them with an upright, but most probably preferred the recording bells.

And as I said, that someone with the restoration skills that are apparent here could manage to stick on a bell (new, old, would it matter?) off kilter is pretty surprising.

But . . . never mind.

[andrew the tuba player]

My favorite BAT would be my satin silver 1968 Conn 25j. It's great. The short actions make it easier to navigate quick passages. And, you'd think with a horn this size that the intonation would be hard to work with. But, honestly for a BBb it's not. you do have to lip a lot of the notes high in the staff down, but Not as much as i expected. And talk about raising the roof. This is the horn to do it. Plus, it's a tank. This horn is 42 years old and has never been rebuilt that i know of and All of the valves and slides still work perfectly. I love the huge bell flair on the Conns. This is one of my favorite horns altogether. But sadly it must sell it.

[Wyvern]

This is one of my favorite horns altogether. But sadly it must sell it.

Hold on to it Andrew and find the money some other way. A lot of us on here have made the mistake of selling a tuba we love for some short term reason and always regret it for years to come. Pull back before you make that mistake!

[tubafatness]

I'm a CC tuba player through and through. But you want to know which big horn I've liked the most? The Meinl-Weston 195 "Fafner" BBb tuba. Great, great horn. I played it a bunch at the Tubadome grand opening, and really liked it. At one point, Gerhard Meinl took a picture of me playing the horn approvingly. That picture hasn't shown up yet, but one can only hope. Besides that horn, the Alan Baer handmade models aren't too shabby, either.

[J.c. Sherman]

My favorite BAT is still my King 1291.

Amen! Had that one too and wish to heck I could've found an upright bell before I sold it.

J.c.S.

[k001k47]

The Schiller BAT. You know, the one that doesn't exist

[Bob Kolada]

I really haven't like most of the ones I've played, but the guy I used to get lessons with had Warren Deck's old Nirschl and I was super impressed by it. Very clear sound!
I played a Neptune a few years ago that was very resonant and easy to play, but I did not like the sound or size of sound (seemed rather small for the size of the horn).

[Tuba Guy]

I have to go with my Martin. It's got a huge sound, a good low register, and everyone who's heard it says that it sounds really good. The only part that bugs me is that it's only 3 valves, but the false tones are good enough to pump out Young Person's Guide, so I'm not really in a place to complain about it.

[TomMxEdit]

Something I particularly love about it is that it doesn't seem to suck the air out of you like a lot of other big horns. I have played Holton 345s, Willson 3100s, and a RM 5/4. None extensively, but enough to know that they left me feeling like I couldn't get air into my lungs fast enough.

Ah ha! Vampire BATs!

[TUbajohn20J]

Yes I agree, some of those big old 3 bangers could really crank out the pedals, and in-tune for the most part! My 20J has amazing false tones. Also...I'm thinking I need to get my hands on a Fafner sometime soon. I've heard so many good things about them.