Attractive c tubas right now?

[tubaerik]

Hi

I'm going to messe Frankfurt next week to find a new c tuba for myself. I'm looking for something 4/4 or 5/4 that I will be able to use for auditions and hopefully work. I don't expect you to know what brand will be best for me, but maybe you can tell me what models to keep an extra eye out for. What models are popular today? I really like the kind of c tuba I'm playing now, a Hirsbrunner rotary 4/4, but It's not mine and I can't borrow it forever. How about Hirsbrunner tubas today? I heard they were in some kind of crisis. Is there anything else on the market similar to the Hirsbrunner 4/4s?

thank you
Erik

[GJDavis1]

I personally love my Meinl-Weston 5450. Give it a try (if you haven't yet)

[Wyvern]

If you are looking for a rotary 4/4, or 5/4 CC then definitely check out the new Meinl-Weston 5450RA Tuono and Miraphone 291 Bruckner, but don't forget to compare with the established successful model such as B&S PT-6, Rudolf Meinl 4/4 and of course Hirsbrunner

Let us have feedback on you findings.

[bisontuba]

HI-
Bring a camera so you can show us the event!
mark

[Timswisstuba]

I really like the kind of c tuba I'm playing now, a Hirsbrunner rotary 4/4, but It's not mine and I can't borrow it forever. How about Hirsbrunner tubas today? I heard they were in some kind of crisis. Is there anything else on the market similar to the Hirsbrunner 4/4s?

thank you
Erik

If you want a Hirsbrunner you can still order one. I don't think they will be at the Musikmesse but you can call the factory in Sumiswald Switzerland.

The Adams tuba closely resembles Hirsbrunners but when I tried (the one they had) last year, they hadn't found the ideal places for the braces and did not have the resonance that the classic Hirsbrunners had.

[ckalaher1]

If you haven't had the chance to play a Miraphone Bruckner, it is a nicely priced tuba that, while slightly bigger, may give you some of the same traits as your borrowed HB.

They are fine instruments. Looking forward to playing the Tuono at some point as well.

[tubaerik]

Thank you for all the comments so far.

Is the MW tuono like a rotary version of the thor? The Miraphone bruckner model definitely sounds interesting, but I'm not necessarily looking for a rotary tuba, piston valves would be just as good if it's a good horn. What about the Gronitz PCK? Alan Baer recommended that model for me, but the size of that horn is on the big side of 5/4, right?

Of course I will bring a camera. I will try to post the pics on the forum.

[oedipoes]

Thank you for all the comments so far.

Is the MW tuono like a rotary version of the thor? The Miraphone bruckner model definitely sounds interesting, but I'm not necessarily looking for a rotary tuba, piston valves would be just as good if it's a good horn. What about the Gronitz PCK? Alan Baer recommended that model for me, but the size of that horn is on the big side of 5/4, right?

Of course I will bring a camera. I will try to post the pics on the forum.

I have seen a PCK for sale in the Netherlands, maybe something for you?
I visited the Gronitz shop one year ago, very friendly people, normally some PCK's on stock there (in Hamburg).

Wim

[AFtuba]

@tubaerik

Athough some can consider the Tuono as a rotary version of Thor, I can say that even if they are based on the same bows there are many different things between both,
larger bell, will be for all the models (lacquer and silver) in gold-brass as I choose for mine.
The bore of the Tuono is the same as the Fafner (21,5) while the leadpipe is much conical (small at the beginning and very large at the end) and not fixed on the bell, so the sound is much different.

You should try and see if could be the Tuba for you,

I remind to all the people will attend the Frakfurt Musikmesse, that everybody testing the "Tuono" has the chance to win a copy of my latest CD "Belcanto" !

Enjoy your visit

[Wyvern]

will be for all the models (lacquer and silver) in gold-brass as I choose for mine

It says 'yellow brass' on the Melton/Meinl-Weston website which surprised me as I thought you previously said the Tuono gold-brass as standard. If so the webpage should be corrected as gold-brass is a good selling point.
http://tinyurl.com/Tuonotuba

Alessandro, One question on the Tuono - do you see it as very much a tuba for use in large ensemble, or does it work well in small ensemble as well? Would for example you ever use in brass quintet?

[AFtuba]

Neptune,

After my suggestion an some discussion, they at the end decided to use the gold brass bell as standard.

I think the Tuono could be a versatile instrument, also if it has a big sound and an impressive projection, the articulation is still very clear and it never lose the core of the sound, for this reason I think It can work also on a smaller ensemble like quintet, but depends mostly on how would you like to sound on a quintet,and what kind of sound you have in your mind.

From my side I can say that is the first C tuba with which I started to play most of the Orchestral Repertoire that I used to play on F tuba

[tubaerik]

I am now back from the messe. I spent two days in the winds hall and my ears still hurts a little. I think I tried most of the C tubas there and I found two horns that I liked more than the others. One was the Thor in the Meinl Weston stand, and one was the Hirsbrunner piston 4/4 in the Mr Tuba stand. I found the new Hirsbrunner horn easier and more open to play than my old rotary Hirsbrunner, and my friends who listened to me also thought I got a better sound on this tuba than on my borrowed Hirsbrunner.

I found the Thor really comfortable to play. It did what I told it to do with a big sound and good response. I found it a little bit harder to get the edge in the attack below low F than on the Hirsbrunner, but that might be due to mouthpiece/practice issues and that I am more used to playing on the Hirsbrunner model. Otherwise it worked great in all registers, and I didn't have any problems at all to play soft and warm, that I have heard some people have found difficult on this tuba. It is a bigger tuba than the Hirsbrunner and me and my friends all agreed that I naturally got a slightly bigger sound on this horn.

The Tuono was a great horn, but it didn't suit me as well as the Thor. The slightly bigger bore size made the sound not as clear as on the Thor for me and I didn't feel that it had the same response for me as the Thor, maybe because of rotary/piston valves. But still it has all the qualities that you talk about, AFtuba, and I would definitely recommend it to others looking for new C tubas, it just didn't suit me right now.

Now it will be hard to decide what I want. It will probably turn out great whatever I choose, but the question is maybe if I want a slightly bigger or a slightly smaller tuba. I will discuss this with my teachers and see what they think, then probably will have to make another trip in a couple of weeks to make the ultimate decision.

If the Hirsbrunner factory don't have any horns in stock and only make them on order, I'm not sure that I want to take the risk to end up with a bad example. I want to try the horn that I might spend money on. I thought about going to mr. Tuba (Mark Carter?) in England if has both Hirsbrunner and Meinl Weston in stock so that I can try them both again if I haven't made the decision that I want one of them. Is there any other stores in Europe that will have both the models that I liked in stock?

Please leave your comments, it might help me.

thank you
Erik

[k001k47]

Tuba Buyukustun is pretty attractive.




...don't know about the key though.