Tuba Mouthpiece For Doublers

[EWadie99]

Hi. I'm new here and I've been thinking of trying out tuba for marching band since I primarily play bass trombone. I'll talk with a BD to see what he says. Also, what's a good doubler mouthpiece for players who primarily play bass trombone?

[Bombardonier]

I studied bass trombone in college, but played sousaphone in marching band. However, I started doubling on sousaphone in high school. I strongly recommend that you find a tuba mouthpiece that fits you and allows you to produce a good tuba sound. If you are playing sousaphone, you will need to get a good sousaphone sound... and not sound like a bass trombone player playing tuba. Tuba is a great double for a bass trombone player, but treat it like a completely different instrument... and you will be pleasantly rewarded! It is well worth the effort! For the heck of it one time, I brought my Shilke 60 to marching band rehearsal and put it in the sousaphone for a scale or two of warm up. That was just not a good idea... LOL. Learn to play the tuba well and find a mouthpiece that fits you on tuba.

[Bombardonier]

P. S.... If I double at all anymore... It is between trombone and euphonium... and even then I don't use the same mouthpiece on both horns. On tenor trombone, I use a 51D. On euphonium, I will alternate between a 6.5AL, 52E2, and a 57 depending on what aesthetic I'm attempting...British baritone, American baritone, and European euphonium respectively...

[Bombardonier]

Bach 22 or 24AW... or [for the more conical sharp edge mouthpiece...] a Helleberg 7B... would not be bad pieces to try. Smaller mouthpieces may or may not be what fits you best on tuba...so be prepared to try and borrow a number of different pieces to find the right fit.

[hduong]

I double on Tuba and Bass Trombone almost daily, honestly it just takes practice with both mouthpieces. On bass bone I play on a Schilke 60, and tubas a PT50 sized mouthpiece and a Hammond 30XL. When you switch over to tuba/sousaphone work on long tones and flexibility exercises.

[GC]

The Wick 5 and 4 are fairly close in diameter to bass trombone mouthpieces, but they definitely have real tuba cups and tones. Folks I know who use them to double from bass trombone sound good and have little or no problem with the low register.

[Tom]

Bach 32E, Bach 22, or Conn Helleberg 7B.

Those are all pretty easy to find and relatively inexpensive.

If you want to get go on a quest to get fancy or have money burning a hole in your pocket, track down a Yamaha John Griffiths. It is kind-of a copy of a 32E that's been slightly enlarged (drilled out throat). I had one once years ago...someone came along that wanted it worse than I did and away it went. I've never run across another, but I know they're out there...somewhere

[Donn]

Not that I really play bass trombone with enough skill to play out on it, just fooling around, but I'm with Bombardonier and hduong above - you need a mouthpiece that suits you, and that's it. Maybe this isn't true for every player, but for some anyway, I bet a quarter that after enough practice to sound good on the tuba, it won't matter much what else you play, you'll be best off on a mouthpiece that suits your face when playing tuba parts.

There's kind of an average size for a tuba mouthpiece around 32mm internal diameter. The 7B mentioned above is pretty close to that, and its close relative the Conn 2 used to be a kind of standard issue mouthpiece like the Bach 16, another approximately 32mm mouthpiece, because right there in the middle works for the largest number of people.

[EWadie99]

Well, I looked to see which tuba mouthpieces were at the school and it seems the best option was the Helleberg 7B. I'll eventually get my own mouthpiece soon but I thought I do a little update to state the results. Thanks for all the suggestions!

[modelerdc]

I also play bass trombone and double tuba. I don't like the smallest tuba mouthpieces, Bach 25 too small for me to work well. Some mouthpieces that work for me on tuba include Conn 7B, JK 6A, and the now hard to find but easy to play and sounds good, Conn 2. On my Boosey E flat I use a Faxx 24AW, better than most of the Bach examples. You'll have to actually develop your skills on the tuba to see what works best for you.

[bobn]

I use mainly Dennis Wick 2.5CC (or 2L) while doubling bass trombone and tuba in brass quintet. These are good smalIish options. I often use a Blokepiece Imperial when just playing tuba- while it is not big, it feels a little bigger than comfortable switching back and forth.

Also, as I've become a more "serious" tuba player I've moved up from a Schilke 59 to larger bass trombone mouthpieces (currently Hammond 21BL, larger rim but very efficient and not that different sound wise from the 59).

Bob