Mike McClean practice mutes

[Tomtom]

Has anyone tried one? I'm looking into getting one for quiet practice and am trying to find out how quiet they are before purchase?
How do they compare volume-wise to a Dennis Wick?
Thanks for any info,
Tom

[Tom Gregory]

I have a student who just got one for Christmas. It's pretty good and for the price, unbeatable. I use the Schlipf mutes which are the best for me in terms of range and intonation. These make more noise but blow free and cut down sound enough to be practical. They are very well made. The story told to my student was that they work best on Besson style Eb tubas but it worked fine on my F tuba.

[tuba_dan]

I have one, did not work on my B&S PT-15 at all. Made the horn uplayable.

I think it is really designed for a Sovereign and only a Sovereign. In my Imperial it is OK, but not good. It shuts it up, but it will really put you off playing your instrument.

I bought mine out of desperation when I was living in a one bedroom, inner city apartment (me and my three tubas), and was doing a bit of work that required lots of memorisation. I only bought it so that between stints in the practice room at the conservatorium, I could still play through lines.

If you have a Sov., give it a go. I think anything else and you may find it difficult at best.