Last Saturday, from 6-9, I played a duo with John Reno on guitar/vocal at Cosmo's- a really nice restuarant/bar in Orange Beach, Alabama.
A storm front was approaching and we were playing outside on a wooden deck under a 10 by 10 tent with a pointed roof. We did not need to be loud for the waiting-for-a-table and sit-down-for-an-after-dinner-drink-crowd. To minimize equipment to drag inside when the rain comes, we settled on our small (300 watt) P.A. system turned low to match my unamplified tuba's volume. Everything worked out great. The rain went North of us. It wasn't very chilly. Some nice folks filled the tables before and many after dinner as well. They bought c.d.'s-asked for our cards, and said nice things about us to management.
My bell-front tuba projected out of the tent to the folks in front of us. A bell-up tuba would have had to be amplified-causing me to lug another self-powered E.O.N. with a 15 in it for the tuba. As it was, we got a nice, balanced sound at the volume we wanted.
Happy Creekers!
I just purchased an early 1970's Miraphone 186 with both its original detachable recording bell and a retrofitted upright bell. Obviously, the upright bell will be used most. But I'm really looking forward to outdoor gigs, like the county fair, Independance Day, parade floats, etc., for the forward bell.
Unfortunately, to retrofit the upright bell, the wiseacres at Tuba Exchange took the tenon off the recording bell instead of fitting a new one to preserve the recording bell. So I'll have to sort that out first before I can use it. But I did get a good deal on the tuba overall, also in spite of the fact that the upright bell is too short and I have to pull the tuning slide all the way, and they wouldn't help me figure out a longer one.
iiipopes wrote:But I did get a good deal on the tuba overall, also in spite of the fact that the upright bell is too short and I have to pull the tuning slide all the way, and they wouldn't help me figure out a longer one
That actually might be historically acurate. My 184 (built in 1974) was made to that same pitch with it's permanent bell up. In order to use it now, I'm almost all the way out, too. Good thing the intonation on these beasts is so darn good!
Instead of talking to your plants, if you yelled at them would they still grow, but only to be troubled and insecure?
Follow up to my posts from 2007: some time ago I finally got a tenon from Dan Schultz and a second tuning slide so I can use both bells. The retrofit upright bell is a St Pete, not a Miraphone, probably salvaged off a horn that otherwise didn't make the trip well across the pond to get here. Vince paid to have the tuning slide extended to match the St Pete bell.
As far as I know, the bell front Bessons were made just for the USA market to compete with all of the other bell front tubas that were the norm at the time: Yorks, Conns, Kings, Martins, Bueschers, etc., so I'm not surprised that many UK tuba players have never played nor heard a bell front Besson. They also made a USA-styled bell front "baritone" in the Conn/King/Olds concert band style American baritone style also to compete, complete with a 3-valve front compensating block. I'll have to get one of those someday.
Finally, like Dan said above, in some settings were otherwise I'd have to be miked, the bell front works and balances much better. Next week I'll use it in the first parade setting instead of a souzy to see how it goes.
Someone else posted about not caring for the overly large bell. The bell on the Miraphone is a hair shy of 20 inches, not the 22, 24 or 26 that some can be. It does promote clarity, and is easier to see around, but still large enough that all the advantages of the bell front are had.
I do a Memorial day gig on a large outdoor stone & concrete gazebo built in "neoclassic" style. The first couple of years I did this I used a souzy, by habit outdoors. It sounded alright. Then I thought about the high plaster ceiling of the gazebo. The next year I took my 186 with the upright bell, and it sounded much better bouncing the sound off the ceiling and out.
And just so I am not "left out" of any nostalgia: the way the 3rd and 4th valve circuits are routed on the BBb version of a 186, occasionally I get to pull those slides and do my own version of the "King spin!"
Point of all this digression: as bloke initially posted, there is a time and place for each bell, so it is good to have both.
iiipopes wrote:As far as I know, the bell front Bessons were made just for the USA market to compete with all of the other bell front tubas that were the norm at the time
When my HS band (suburb of Philadelphia) did an exchange concert with the concert band from the HS from Parsippany, NJ (many years ago), the latter brought two 4-valve bell-front Bessons. My HS only had horrible convertible 4-valve BBb horns of a brand that I have justifiably forgotten; they were a great disappointment. In comparison, the big Bessons were a dream to play! The low F resonated like no other tuba or sousaphone that I had played up to that time. I had a great time playing the Besson for the bass line on some jazz/pop charts that we read through for fun after the formal full band rehearsal.
