How many tubas should one own?

[iiipopes]

At least one.

[Wyvern]

Depends on your playing, budget and enthusiasm!

I would say;

6/4 contrabass tuba (CC or BBb)
4/4 contrabass tuba (CC or BBb)
EEb tuba
F tuba
BBb compensated (for brass banding)
sousaphone
travel tuba
cimbasso
ophicleide
euphonium
Kaiser baritone
bass trombone (if you are into slides)

[eupher61]

To the specific question "SHOULD"...as many as are needed. If you play only in a community band, one should do it.
If you play in different groups, different sized, maybe 2.
If you play as a free-lancer playing gigs that require different sounds and qualities, maybe 2 or 3.

It just so happens that one guy in NYC does everything from orchestra to dixie to rock/metal/alternative on a 186 CC.

Quantity is not essential. Quality of instrument and ESPECIALLY of player is what matters.

it's like the question to Lincoln--how long should a man's legs be? the answer is up to you.

and NOW, 5 minutes later, I see Mark's response.

[Greg Lecewicz]

Part of my collection...

[windshieldbug]

How many tubas should one own?

One does not OWN tubas.
The question is, rather "How many tubas should own you?"

[Skaman]

mo tubas mo problems?

1 willson 3050cc
1 king 2340
1 caravelle-willson bflat
1 warwick corvette fretless
1 custom p bass
1 ibanez btb
1 conn selmer bach boy scouts of america bugel

[OldHorn]

Is there a limit?

[bort]

Tuba "collecting" doesn't make sense to me. I'm not saying it's bad for other people to do it, but a house full of tubas isn't really one of my goals in life. I actually can't believe I just wrote that, but it's true!

I think you "should" own 2 tubas -- 1 big contrabass and 1 midsize bass. When the Rudy 4/4 CC gets here, that will meet all of my needs for now, but I'll eventually want an F tuba again. A Rudy F would be pretty sweet, but they are pretty rare so I'm not holding my breath for it!

[Mark]

So this seems to be more of a bragging thread than a series of answers to a question.

A large contrabass
A small or medium contrabass
A bass

If you are a tuba player then that is all you will ever NEED. Anything more than that is purely a form of mental masturbation. This is just as silly as the feeling that we *need* a 5th valve. That is utterly ridiculous, too. A 5th valve is a very handy convenience. That is why they were options for so many years until some rather slick marketing made us believe otherwise. Until the 1980s the marketers could not even tell what the default interval of a 5th valve should be, so they started including multiple slides. After they had a good idea which ones got used and which ones did not get used they only included the one. Same with leadpipes at that time, if you will recall.

I think this is accurate with the possible addition of a cimbasso if you are doing a lot of studio work for films, television and video games.

[iiipopes]

For those who play in community bands, a good 4/4 BBb for indoors and a good souzy or recording bell for outdoors do very well together. My 186 fulfilled that job for several years with both detachable bells until I decided I wanted a different tone and response than the really dark St Pete upright detachable bell on my 186 (only the very top portion was used, so the "throat" at the tenon was still large for the rest of the tuba, and did not have the advantage of the full taper of that bell). I also wanted different intonation characteristics out of a forward or recording bell, so I'm changing the bell stack with the tenon to a conventional upright bell with a slightly smaller throat and quicker flare (Besson 17", about half-way tonally between the old 16 1/2" "stovepipe" and the modern 17 3/4" "vanilla" bell), and I got the Reynolds 'glass souzy.

[Wyvern]

What people NEED and what people WANT are too different things - and of course people's needs vary according to what playing they do.

An orchestral player requires different from Jazz player, and a community band player requires different again.

If you do various sorts of tuba playing you may need more tubas than someone which only does one sort of playing.

In the end it is down to what you want, can justify for your needs (particularly if in relationship) and financially afford.

PS Peach, if you have more than 5 Eb tubas, that must be too many!

[MartyNeilan]

So this seems to be more of a bragging thread than a series of answers to a question.

A large contrabass
A small or medium contrabass
A bass
...

I think this is accurate with the possible addition of a cimbasso if you are doing a lot of studio work for films, television and video games.

I think the elephant hit it spot on and was going to agree with the pachyderm's post, until I saw Mark's tag on. I think a smaller and/or more cylindrical addition is worthwhile as well. Prior to the C-Bass craze, that was a bass trombone or euph. Of course the question was worded tubas.

In my particular case, it depends who you ask:
Ex wife - none.
Current wife - one. Although she has said, "I would not want to be married to a Marty without a tuba." Finances have a lot to do with that number.

[sousaphone68]

For me I need only two, a tuba for concert band and a sousaphone for marching band.
What I have is two Eb tubas, a travel tuba, an Eb sousaphone, a euphonium and two project Bb rotary tubas.

[GC]

Hm. Should . . . well, I make it through life with my Conn Monster Eb, but it can't do everything even though it's pretty versatile. To make things easier for concert band literature I'd like a BBb BAT like a Holton 345 or Cerveny 793 (redbrass version of their compact-wrap Kaiser). I've played both and like them as well as any big horns I've ever tried. A recent few minutes with an old Conn Orchestra Model BBb was really impressive, too.

For high-range literature, a rotary F would be great; the 6/4 Rudy Meinl I got to try out at Lee Stofer's years ago was the most impressive F I've seen. In brass band there have been many times that I wished I had a big compensating Eb. I have no need or desire for any CC tuba.

So that makes four for me. Five, if I add a good compensating euphonium to the list. It's only "should" since I have an actual (though only occasional) use for all of them. I don't care to collect instruments, so I only would buy what I could use.

[WC8KCY]

How many tubas should one own? Depends on the work to be done.

With the following, I'm prepared for whatever gig comes up in my area:

'29 Holton Monster E-flat, upright bell, .671 bore
'37 Martin Indiana E-flat sousaphone, 24-inch bell, .693 bore
Yamaha YEP-321S euphonium
Engelhardt ES-9 string bass
Squier Affinty Jazz Bass electric with Jay Turser combo amp

While I've long considered adding a BB-flat to the collection and also have access to a Yamaha YBB-641 contrabass, the conductors that I play under adamantly insist that I use the Holton eefer for everything. I devote a lot of practice time to privileged tones...

[bigtubby]

PS Peach, if you have more than 5 Eb tubas, that must be too many!

Hmmph, today I unwittingly purchased my fifth Eb tuba (well that includes helicons and sousaphones). Still a bit stunned and on the fence about that faux pas.
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=60496" target="_blank" target="_blank

[bigtubby]

I don't know if looking at that tuba makes me smile or gives me vertigo...

Pretty cool regardless.

Mark, your signature hints at the rationale behind this faux pas: I thought that I was buying something along the lines of a Cerveny 683 "Arion" which is sort of a Piggy-ish BBb horn.

Still sorting things out lol. But it is pretty cool, yeah!

[roughrider]

I presently have three horns. An HN.White "Symphony" BBb Recording Bass made in 1932 as well as a Meinl Weston 2145 CC tuba and a Holton/Yamaha BBb Concert tuba. I certainly do not need all three however each serves a purpose and I enjoy playing each of them. If I had to keep one, it would be the King as I have owned it now for nearly forty years and have played continuously during all that time. To answer the question, as many as you need and can afford! I also would like a sousaphone, however that may be awhile yet!

[alfredr]

I'm not a tuba player, I don't even play one at TubaChristmas. So I only own 3 tubas. TubaChristmas is the only time I play, so one euphonium/baritone "should" be enough. I think I have at least half a dozen of them. My excuse is that they were accumulated mostly while my kids were in school and "needed" options. Most were bought cheaply enough at the time. Some were family-related.

[bort]

When the Rudy 4/4 CC gets here, that will meet all of my needs for now...

That's interesting. Three decades ago, I bought a new (fwiw, gold brass) 188. Two or three years later, I bought a new-condition R.M. 4/4 CC, and sold the 188 to my former teacher.

bloke "When I moved on to yet another tuba, I ended up selling-and-buying-and-selling that R.M. 4/4 so many times that it may have put one of my kids through kolij."

Very interesting, what an obscure coincidence. Perhaps this clarifies for me what tubas I'll be playing 25 years form now.