Good All–Purpose Tuba Mouthpiece for a HS Student?

[MOBTubist]

BBb tuba? I used a Marcinkiewicz. However... I have a G&W CC mouthpiece up which would work great for BBb.

[Untersatz]

I have a G&W CC mouthpiece up which would work great for BBb.

up?

[patricklugo]

Bach 18 is a good starting mouthpiece

[J.c. Sherman]

There have been (I'm sure) loads of discussions relating ideal mouthpiece types for different horns, etc. And it is a factor. For most of my students, they don't know WTF tuba they'll be assigned year to year, and if they're going to have a wildly different instrument at home vs. the instrument they'll use in Band.

I'm a big fan of the Faxx Helleberg and 18. Inexpensive, good quality, nice cuts and both are very, very versatile for a wide range of tubage. The Faxxs' both have bach-stile supportive rims (and mass). Blessing 18s are nice too (I think identical to the Faxx).

I don't like the 7B because it's a contrabass trombone mouthpiece (kinda... it's just weird and small in every direction). I don't like Conn Hellebergs and the like because they require (IMHO) abundant strength to operate when trying to develop a high range. Fine for adults, but I think the Yamaha CB is better in every way.

Nothing wrong with a 7... but I've not found it a very versatile mouthpiece on smaller contrabass tubas... dead sounding and sometimes a little flat in the top registers (to say nothing about bass tubas...). The strength needed to play them I find lacking in my students.

I began on a 12 (on a YBB-103), and moved to a Miraphone C4 when I got to highschool. Great for the 186 I played on first and the Besson Eb I moved to. Not wonderful for American tubage.

The 12 is a great mouthpiece; it's just expensive. I recommend 18s because they're affordable and very, very similar. The 12 is better, and not too big IMHO and still has a supportive rim.

Yamaha 67C4s are nice, but almost as limited as a C4 in their versatility. YMMV.

Finally, I'll second the Kelly mouthpieces. Affordable, and good cuts. I have 2; one was my main mouthpiece on my Conn 52J and my main King sousaphone MP; the Kellyberg is my alternate F tuba mouthpiece to knock a few db off and add a colorful accent for Christmas and cold-day warm-ups. The Kellyberg feels a little more supportive than a Conn Helleberg.

Finally, for me, I've never been able to recommend a 24AW. Hate it. Hate the sound, feel, 50 calibre backbore, miniscule cup diameter, bizarre rim... I just don't know how the hell these became popular. Others like them, but I've never heard one played successfully in person with a nice sound. I hear Fletch may have used one. He was a mutant.

[sailn2ba]

Bach 18 is the 'piece I can always come back to with comfort. I do still have a 'piece from late '40s or 50s that I think Conn used to ship with their sousaphones. It doesn't have an engraving, so I can't ID it, but it works for me when I use it.

[TheConnsequence]

The gold plate helps the tone.

Color me skeptical.

Gold plate helps the rim slip around some on the embouchure. Not noticeably more than stainless steel, in my experience, but more than silver. Other than that, it helps the mouthpiece match a lacquer tuba in appearance.

But tone? Meh. I'd like to see data on that. I doubt it very much.

I jest, but I also forgot to mention it was a joke.

[Kevin Hendrick]

pick one:

Kelly 18
Kellyberg

bloke "but a bunch of band directors are too snooty to even consider having 'their students' use these...

...yeah...'their students' - who tear up $7500 German-made tubas (and even tear up the cases) faster than they can be fixed"

+1

[MikeMilnarik]

Bach 18.

Smaller/Younger students 22, 24AW, Conn 7B.

Mike Milnarik

[Donn]

I don't like the 7B because it's a contrabass trombone mouthpiece (kinda... it's just weird and small in every direction).

[maybe a little off topic, but since the question was posted over a year ago ...]

You don't have to like it, but it isn't weird at all. Mine, anyway, is a very ordinary diameter, around 32mm?, throat size, cup depth. To the best of my very hazy understanding, the 7B is fairly close to the earlier Hellebergs, where the 120S is larger than its ancestors.

I'm guessing you don't actually use it for contrabass trombone, have no idea what kind of mouthpiece would really be called for, but this one would be a particularly odd choice because of the funnel shape, which I guess has been out of fashion in the trombone world for generations.

[J.c. Sherman]

I don't like the 7B because it's a contrabass trombone mouthpiece (kinda... it's just weird and small in every direction).

[maybe a little off topic, but since the question was posted over a year ago ...]

You don't have to like it, but it isn't weird at all. Mine, anyway, is a very ordinary diameter, around 32mm?, throat size, cup depth. To the best of my very hazy understanding, the 7B is fairly close to the earlier Hellebergs, where the 120S is larger than its ancestors.

I'm guessing you don't actually use it for contrabass trombone, have no idea what kind of mouthpiece would really be called for, but this one would be a particularly odd choice because of the funnel shape, which I guess has been out of fashion in the trombone world for generations.

I only tried one... and perhaps it was an anomaly. I was enjoying a Helleberg-type MP on my F, and thought something a little smaller might be good. A student loaned me a 78... I did not match the description you used in any manner; it must've been something weird. It was tiny and shallow, more bowl-like. Hated it and so did my tuba.

My actual F Contrabass trombone mouthpiece is a Kanstul 2A; on BBb, it's a Yamaha 67B4... I've gotten others to use that one too... it's really nice on them.

I'll look for another 7B to try... but I was not encouraged

[sailn2ba]

That old mpc DOES have engraving in small characters. It's a Conn 2.