Amado Water Keys

[Aaron Tindall]

Just a quick question: Has anyone installed these before? Anyone recommend a specific brand to purchase? The airlines have ripped a few of these off of my pipes recently and I am thinking to replace the spit key with the Amado. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

[arminhachmer]

Is the Saturn he same leverless type as the Amado?
Where do you get Saturn waterkeys ?

[bort]

The Amados just don't let tuba volumes of water to be released quick enough for me.

I agree... although, if they could make some sort of BIG Amado key, that would be pretty cool.

[bisontuba]

HI-
Saturn water keys are available in the US through HornGuys in LA.

http://www.hornguys.com/parts.php" target="_blank

mark

[windshieldbug]

Is the Saturn he same leverless type as the Amado?
Where do you get Saturn waterkeys ?

http://www.deniswedgwood.com/index.html
http://www.hornguys.com/parts.php

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25653&start=0
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18953&start=12

[Sam Gnagey]

I've put Amado keys on my horns. They seem to make a difference in resopnse, are economical and work fine for water removal.

[J.c. Sherman]

I've put Amado keys on my horns. They seem to make a difference in resopnse, are economical and work fine for water removal.

What he said.

J.c.S. (who has several; three on his YFB-621 alone).

[JHardisk]

Aaron,

Were it me, I'd look into the Saturn keys rather than Amado keys.

The Amados just don't let tuba volumes of water to be released quick enough for me.

I have a friend that has has all the keys on his 6450 replaced with the Saturn keys and is very happy with the results.

L

What he said...


I also have the Saturn water keys installed on my 6450, plus some additional ones where the water REALLY collects. They are easy to work with, easy to reach through the horn, and release a ton of liquid! IMO, totally worth the investment!

[J.c. Sherman]

Bloke's right as usual... the Jupiter Keys are great. There is also a Conn-Selmer one I've seen with a little chimney, but it's a basically uninteresting "fauxmado".

The Amados I fit to tuba bows with a rotary tool (dremel). Much faster than the file.

J.c.S.

[Dan Schultz]

Being in the repair business... I get a chance to play and evaluate lots of tubas. I've seen all types of waterkeys. I don't like ANY of them. Why?? simply because you have no control were the water will go... and they can interfere with response.

One of my Marzan 'slant-rotor' tubas has no waterkeys at all. It's not a problem to pull the slides to dump. At least I know that the slide is clear.

[Mark]

I am also several other users on this board. But you will have to discover which ones...

TubaGod? Tubashaman? KarlMarx?

Please don't activate!

[Wyvern]

I have been wanting to try the Saturns out, but they are very expensive, and the tuba ones look gigantic to my. Not sure. I need more photos up close to decide on the expense for my BAT. Anyone have any hi-res photos of their installed Saturns?

Here are photos of one recently fitted on my MW travel tuba. You can see the existing waterkey to compare size. Saturn water keys are not particularly large even on this very small tuba. I also like the fact that they can be added to new tuba with minimal lacquer damage

[Maurice]

Well, no need to email pictures now. As a point of reference the distance across the black ring used to open the valve is 3/4".

[Alex C]

One of my Marzan 'slant-rotor' tubas has no waterkeys at all. It's not a problem to pull the slides to dump. At least I know that the slide is clear.

What he said!

I have never failed to look down the brass row and not see a drop of water hangin off of somebody's water key. If it leaks water you KNOW it's going to leak air.

If I must have a water key, the only commercial water key I'd like is the Willson.

Somebody tell me, how does an Amado-type water key provides an air tight seal?

If the tolerances were tight enough to prevent air escaping, you couldn't move the plunger-thingy... and the tolerances aren't that tight.

[Alex C]

Somebody tell me, how does an Amado-type water key provides an air tight seal?

If the tolerances were tight enough to prevent air escaping, you couldn't move the plunger-thingy... and the tolerances aren't that tight.

That's why I eliminated all of the the pistons and slides from my tubas, Alex.

...and mouthpiece. Don't forget to solder that sucker in. Oh, and there's that big hole at the end, too.

[J.c. Sherman]

Bloke's right as usual...

So at last, my secret it out. I am both the elephant AND bloke. I am also several other users on this board. But you will have to discover which ones... Muwahahahahahaha!!!

Crap. Sorry Elephant!

Bloke is right most of the time though But in this case I was of course referring to your rightness! My reading comprehension is perhaps getting a bit rushed these days. Must be brain damage!

[windshieldbug]

One of my Marzan 'slant-rotor' tubas has no waterkeys at all. It's not a problem to pull the slides to dump. At least I know that the slide is clear.

I removed the main one from mine. "Seemed" to fix a couple of notes, as well. It's no problem to just dump it any time the horn comes down and you're always sure the horn's clean... push the valves down and all the water has a clean shot to the open main!

[Brian C]

Somebody tell me, how does an Amado-type water key provides an air tight seal?

If the tolerances were tight enough to prevent air escaping, you couldn't move the plunger-thingy... and the tolerances aren't that tight.

That's why I eliminated all of the the pistons and slides from my tubas, Alex.

...and mouthpiece. Don't forget to solder that sucker in. Oh, and there's that big hole at the end, too.

That's where you solder a 50 cent piece.

[J.c. Sherman]

I am a fan of the euro waterkeys from Allied, but I hate the nipples... But I've used them when I want a nice product at the end appearance-wise.

What I wish I could still find were the Yamaha waterkey "corks". The were rubber with an inset to go into the hole, which also diminished the perturbation in the bore. I'd buy a sack, but I'm not sure they're about anymore.

[Dan Schultz]

..... What I wish I could still find were the Yamaha waterkey "corks". The were rubber with an inset to go into the hole, which also diminished the perturbation in the bore. ......

One of the things on my 'list of things to try' is to mount a waterkey and not use the nipple... drill only about a 1/16" hole in the crook and just let a somewhat thicker cork seal directly against the outside of the crook. That would be very close to the same as having no hole in the crook at all.