Besson 983 help

[Lew]

I had the same problem, even with the Wick 3 that came with the horn. I switched to a Houser (Loud Mouthpieces) LM-15, which conveniently for you is made in stainless steel. It's all I use with my 983 now. I just checked out their website and I don't see the 15 listed, although they refer to it in the description of other mouthpieces. When I bought it at least 5 years ago it was described as a shallow mouthpiece for high register playing, but I find I have no trouble getting down to a pedal Bb with it and find it easier to get to the pedals with it on my 983 than on my BBb tuba. They claimed that it had a bright sound only suited to solo work, but I don't find that to be the case with my playing. Here are the specs for it that I found online:
Rim
(mm/inches) Cup Depth Rim Width Throat
LM-15 32.00 / 1.260" M 7.48 8.25mm

If you contact them they may have one or may be willing to make one. Of course there is no guarantee that it will work for you, but I love mine.

[jon112780]

Depending on how much the horn plays uniformly flat, cutting the main slide a bit should be fine.

I recently had the main slide on my 983 Eb cut just a bit over an 1/8" on each side of the main slide. The auditorium where I now rehearse has plenty of AC in the summer, but not a great deal of heat in the colder months, so now (after the cut), I push in all the way at the beginning of rehearsal and sometimes pull out a tad after a while.

Before I had the main slide cut, I was always flat for the start (and sometimes all) of rehearsal.

Oh yes, I use a Conn Helleberg mouthpiece; it gets a great warm sound with good intonation.

Hope this helps.

[tubabuddha]

I have been getting pretty good results with the bloke imperial model on my 983, with the American shank

[elihellsten]

I hade to play some orchestra on a borrowed 983 this fall (Sibelius second, amongst other repertoire) and I only had my standard "big tuba-mouthpiece" with me, a Conn Helleberg. It did indeed become flat as hell. With all the slides pushed in (except maybe the first) it was okay, but still a bit flat sometimes. Could just have something to do with myself aswell, though.

Nice horn anyway, although I do prefer my Miraphone when it comes to front action Eb's...