Loudest Tuba

[TinyTubist97]

What tuba have you played with the most bang for the buck volume wise? I mean a sound that could gouge a hole into the space time continuum.

[tubaguy9]

Hands down, the GG Dynasty Contrabass Bugle I marched in corps with in 2007. I could give it everything I had, and it would laugh at me and ask if that was all I had.
That, or a section mate's 5/4 Rudy...

[Ken Herrick]

Jake was once observed to have rivalled the Queen Mary berthing and his old York only cost him $150 - that is a lot of bang for the buck!!!

My old King rotary monster BBb once startled the entire Melbourne Symphony in a rehearsal of Rite of Spring to the point that the conductor stopped and said he had never heard anything so loud - it only cost me $250 - pretty good value I'd say. Then the little Boosey & Hawkes EEb I used in the Army could be heard by all in the 100,000+ seat Melbourne Cricket Ground when we did a local version of the Edinburgh Tattoo back in '78. It didn't cost much either, at least not to me.

[Rick Denney]

You may have gotten that one to play loud, but I couldn't.

Rick "who equates loudest tuba ever with never being invited back to that gig" Denney

[GC]

The horn absolutely makes a difference; the bigger the horn, the more volume you get for the same amount of effort, and usually you get more headroom before breakup. However, the loudest individual I've ever heard was playing a Miraphone 188 CC.

[GC]

[MartyNeilan]

What tuba have you played with the most bang for the buck volume wise? I mean a sound that could gouge a hole into the space time continuum.

Not me personally, but I would say Roger Bobo on a 184. However, that earth-splitting sound may not necessarily jive with the expectation of the earth-moving sound of a well played 6/4 BAT.

[Dean E]

Willson 3050RZ CC, 4 + 1 front rotary. Guaranteed to rattle the walls anywhere.

[TubadudeCA]

I told you this before, I heard Steve Iwatta play a really bad fiberglass sousaphone so loudly that Both sides of the stadium applauded him.
What I didn't tell you is: He didn't sound in the least bit good, just really really loud..........

A few people have made my little stealth tuba "peel the paint" without sounding bad at all and to me, that proves that it's the player not the horn.

Funny you should Mention Steve Iwatta, just did a Tuba quartet gig with him the other day

But the loudest Tuba I've ever heard was Eric Lopes at tuba christmas on a Conn Sousa. 120 Sousa's and it was blatantly Obvious who was over powering the rest of the group!

[Ken Herrick]

Another irony, when's the last time you read a thread about being able to play pianissimo musically?

You got me thinking and I searched this one from years ago.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25973&hilit=the+los ... +listening" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

It would certainly be true that one of Jake's fortes was his pianissimo and he often stressed the importance of silence.

Harvey was another who made a real art of playing very softly. I can remember him practicing very early in the morning or late at night and playing so softly, yet with a beautiful sound, that the rest of the family could be undisturbed as they slept.
Then there was the fundraising Christmas cocktail party at NEC when he was playing carols. "Silent Night" was so soft and beautiful that it was more like some spiritual presence than somebody playing a tuba.

[basspiper]

Goodgigs, I had almost the same sort of experience you describe, also at a concert of the Coldstream Guards, with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards! Everything you said in that old thread was true for me too, except that I have no memory of anything the audience was doing around me. What a great experience with excellent bands!

Dave