PT CC piston models

[bort]

One more important thing -- don't get too hung up in trying tubas. If you buy something that doesn't work for you, sell it. Especially if you buy used, you stand to lose little or no money on the transaction (new tubas, you'll lose some $$). I've seen people shop and shop and shop... at some point ya gotta get off the pot, so to speak.

[cwarren]

Coming from a PT player, I hope to offer a little advice. Currently, I play on a PT-606P. Some of the posters have hit on this, and it is absolutely correct.

When I took the trip to Michigan and walked in the doors at Custom Music Company, I wasn't yet sold. I had heard many good and bad things about PT tubas. I played many different horns. Mostly PT's, but I did play a couple of HB's as well. What has been said previously cannot be further from the truth. Find the horn that makes YOU have the SOUND you want. Once you find that sound, make sure the horn has good response and intonation, for YOU - YOU are the one looking for the horn. I played the popular HB's and PT's and found that the SOUND that I wanted came from the PT-606P. It was the 7th or 8th horn I played. The only horn that rivaled it, in my opinion, was the PT-4. Both horns, though very different, had the sound that I really wanted to hear and had invested in my head. After narrowing the choice to those two, I played for a while to see which had the best response. I had two friends go with me and once I had made my choice, I asked Jeff Rideout and my two friends to go out in the room, without looking, and tell me which horn sounded the best out there. I played loud, soft, high, and low. The result was clear. I made the right choice based on what I wanted to hear, and, ironically enough, the 3 in the "audience" agreed unanimously.

I love my PT-606P. I only get more used to it every rehearsal and practice session I play on it. Invest time! People say don't pay for too much tuba, but if that is the horn for you, then you should do what is best for you!

Enjoy shopping! Enjoy playing! And most of all, enjoy picking your tuba!

Best,

Cameron

[Rick Denney]

Piston and rotary tubas are necessarily different in their mechanical construction, and this will impose a different set of limitations on the designer. Thus, there will be differences. It is quite difficult, for example, for a piston valve set to have the same bore as what is possible with a rotary valve set and still accommodate a human hand. And rotary instruments tend to place the valves, and therefore the straight tubing, at a different point in the bugle.

Nobody out there gives a rat's patootie, however. To any person out in the audience, the sound coming from a tuba sounds like "tuba".

I prefer piston valves to rotary valves because of the way the instrument slices the air when changing notes. That is my preference, but I don't pretend that it makes any difference to anyone hearing me. And that is just one aspect among many. I own tubas with both types of valves, and they aren't for sale, if that says anything.

Rotary valves tend to have a bit more inertial mass than piston valves the same size. But Pat Sheridan is really fast with pistons (and those are really long pistons with compensating ports, too), and Oystein Baadsvik is really fast with rotary valves. That difference is not holding anybody back.

There is much greater difference between big tubas and little tubas in their timbre, and these differences stand a better chance of holding true across manufacturers than most other construction details. Big tubas have depth that little tubas may lack, but little tubas have clarity that big tubas may lack.

Play what you like and can afford. The more you play, the more empowered you will be to have preferences. The more you know your preferences, the less you'll need to ask the opinion of a bunch of fat, middle-aged tuba players on the Internet.

Rick "who likes old B&S rotary designs a lot" Denney

[iiipopes]

Play what you like and can afford. The more you play, the more empowered you will be to have preferences. The more you know your preferences, the less you'll need to ask the opinion of a bunch of fat, middle-aged tuba players on the Internet.

Hey! I resemble that remark!

[Casey Tucker]

I'll bite,
As far as piston vs. rotary goes I've had little experience outside of the TMEA hall on a PT with rotors. With that said, I've played on a PT20-PS for the past 7 years and have never noticed any 'dampening' of overtones due to the heavier valve block. My PT sings in all registers. It can shake you down low and respond as well as the best in the higher ranges. In a nutshell, it is consistent in all registers (from pedal C and below all the way up to Eb/F above the staff).

As far as the notion that piston valves are more gummy than rotors can be true... if you don't take the time to take care of them. If you use a basic oil like super slick or blue juice, oil them EVERY DAY or they will gum up. it comes with the territory of piston valves. Tough. I use La Tromba (synthetic, similar to Hetman's) and I oil them just about every other day since it lasts a little bit longer. The only time I've ever noticed them gum up is when I've neglected to oil the valves which is kind of an obvious result.

You'll find that many of the PT horns tend to sound larger than their classification. ex.) My 4/4 sounds like a small 5/4 and I've had no trouble putting out sound in my university's orchestra and wind ensemble. I've never really been a huge fan of the PT6 but, like I said, I've never really had any personal 1-on-1 time with one outside of the blast chamber at TMEA. The only PT7 that I've played (and actually liked a lot) was my senior year in H.S. at TMEA when Andy Smith purchased his. Great resonance, great response and that great PT sound.

All-in-all give 'em a blow and find one that suits you. You might just be surprised at what you find.

-CT

[Rick Denney]

I'll bite,
As far as piston vs. rotary goes I've had little experience outside of the TMEA hall on a PT with rotors. With that said, I've played on a PT20-PS for the past 7 years and have never noticed any 'dampening' of overtones due to the heavier valve block.

Actually, piston valves do more dampening than rotary valves in my experience. I think it's that hole in the bottom of them. The "condensation" seems to collect there to be blown all over my shirt, which indeed has a dampening effect.

Oh, you mean damping.

RIck "Nevermind" Denney

[Casey Tucker]

"Rick Denney wrote:
Actually, piston valves do more dampening than rotary valves in my experience. I think it's that hole in the bottom of them. The "condensation" seems to collect there to be blown all over my shirt, which indeed has a dampening effect.

Oh, you mean damping."



Ahhhh, dang it. Well that sucks. It was early and I didn't have my coffee yet.

-CT "kan't spel"

p.s. for some reason the quote feature doesn't work for me.