Low Register

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cle_tuba
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Low Register

Post by cle_tuba »

Hello guys ...
In your opinion ...
What CC Tuba, 5/4 or 6/4, with the best and easiest way low register?
Thank you ...
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Re: Low Register

Post by J.c. Sherman »

Without a doubt: Kalison DS. Centered, fairly open, centered, BALLSY!

My Alex 164 was the other side of the spectrum... still awesome, but very open. You needed to slow the air down yourself. But it was organ-like.

I haven't found their equals yet... but the new Thor begs for more of my attention in that realm.

J.c.S.
Instructor of Tuba & Euphonium, Cleveland State University
Principal Tuba, Firelands Symphony Orchestra
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Re: Low Register

Post by cle_tuba »

Thor, Tuono, Willson 3050, PCK, 1292, 1293... :?:
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Re: Low Register

Post by TubaRay »

Now that's creepy!
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Re: Low Register

Post by bort »

Put some damn clothes on!

Anyway...

I think the trick isn't finding a tuba with a good low register, it's finding a tuba that is good all around, but ALSO has a good low register (i.e., not at the sacrifice of other charasterics).

People seem to usually say "good low register" to mean something that is point and shoot, and you can blow hard and/or the same in that register as anything other, and get a loud, responsive, and easy result. I'm sure lots of people play this way, but it makes me think of two people right away -- Warren Deck and Alan Baer. Both of these people design tubas for Meinl Weston, so if you're looking for something that plays the way those guys play, MW might be a good starting point. Also, it seems like piston tubas are usually regarded as "better low registers" than rotary tubas, though that depends on what "better" means. It's very subjective.

Didn't you have a Tuono? Not what you were looking for?
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Re: Low Register

Post by TubaRay »

bort wrote:Put some damn clothes on!

Anyway...

I think the trick isn't finding a tuba with a good low register, it's finding a tuba that is good all around, but ALSO has a good low register (i.e., not at the sacrifice of other charasterics).
This would appear to be a basic truth.
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Re: Low Register

Post by bort »

Curmudgeon wrote:
...if you're looking for something that plays the way those guys play...
An impossibility that is continually perpetuated to sell everything from breath mints to basketball shoes to tubas and so on.

They're all counting on suckers.
Ok, not what I meant... :)

I think it's more like, those guys designed tubas for the way they play. If you play the same way they do, you'll probably also be able to point and shoot a lot of fast air in the low register and think it plays "easy." You will not be a better musician.
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