I bought my horns based on the way they played and sounded, regardless of the types of valves. I have owned a 4/4 sized rotary valve BBb, but my current 4/4 BBb has pistons. I changed because I found it easier to get the sound I wanted, not because of the valves.
My current big horn is a King Bill Bell model with rotary valves. I bought it to replace a 3 valve Martin piston valve horn, because I wanted 4 valves, and because I wanted side action rather than top action. OK, the historic "cool" factor of the horn was another selling point for me. A 4 valve side action Martin piston valve horn would have worked too, but one wasn't available.
My small horn is a Besson 983 (piston valves). I tried a Meinl-Weston 2040 (4 rotary valve) Eb, a Cerveny 651, and a Meinl-Weston 2141 (4 pistons + 1 rotor) when I bought the Besson. I bought the Besson because I liked the way it played and the sounded.
I think I prefer the feel of rotary valves slightly, but don't think that the type of valves should be a deciding factor in what instrument one chooses.
Disclaimer - Of course this has been discussed to death before, and these are only the rambling observations of a very amateur tuba player.
Last edited by Lew on Thu Jun 02, 2005 10:23 pm, edited 2 times in total.
but even more important I now have 3 TubeNet Valves....OH YEAH! No more bugling (bugleing, bugeling, buggering... ) for me! Although...I have no idea if they are piston or rotors.
I really wanted rotors when I was gonna buy my horn, but a piston horn chose me with its sound and playability. So I got pistons even though I love the way rotors feel. So my f or eb is probably gonna be a rotor horn.... unless I find and fall in love with a besson 983..........