You Pick Two

[Matt G]

A fun couple of questions:

1. Pick one tuba that persists in production to this day and you don’t know why.

2. Pick one tuba that was shelved but should still be in production today.

[bort]

Number 1: not sure. Seems like the bad stuff has already been culled for the most part. I guess the big piston B&S F (what was that, the PT-15P?), Or the Apollo F tuba... But other of those have been gone for years, I think.

Number 2: Yamaha 661 (the smaller rotary CC tuba). Good size, good sound, all around a nice tuba. Runner up would be the Meinl Weston 32 CC tuba. Same reason, it's a nice horn.

[Billy M.]

2. 2155, except it should be set up with a smaller mouthpipe tube, and lose the "body armor"

This... SO... MUCH.

As for tubas that should go.... Yamaha 641.

[BopEuph]

1. ...that 4-"rotory" thing that used to be sold on eBay - at least 15 years ago (more?) as a "Cb tuba"

Okay, color me intrigued. I want to see this thing, and hear any videos of someone attempting it...

[timayer]

I think the answers here are obvious:

1. All current "orchestral" CC tubas.
2. York 6/4 CC.

Joking aside -

Yes, the 2155 should be brought back.

[GC]

2. A few of the Conn 2XJ/3XJ series, but with upright bell models with a better bell design.

[Rick Denney]

1. So few tubas are actually being made today (except for good ones) that I think the persistent dogs have all finally been retired. There is a place for the 6/4 "grand orchestral" tubas, but I think all on the market now are as good as any that have ever been made, myth notwithstanding, and excepting the occasional stellar examples that just got it all unrepeatably (so it would seem) right. Ten years ago, I could have populated this item. (Holton's Phillips model is the example that comes to my mind.)

2. VMI 103, the Bb tall-bell original-design ultra-German rotary tuba with the main tuning slide straight out the bottom. That tuba came in a variety of brands and designations over the decades--B&S, Weltklang, VMI--but it was the closest anyone got to an affordable (and a bit more playable, with a 19mm bore) Alexander while having really good intonation. I don't know of any of the Asian clones that duplicate it, and B&S has long discontinued it.

Rick "a tuba only Harvey could love" Denney

[marccromme]

1) all Indian brassy looking noisemakers announced as proffessional tubas

2) the Meinl Weston 5v piston front action 2141 Eb. No idea why they recently stopped making these, I love mine. .. but there is the Willson 3400 still in production. ..

[Tubajug]

2) Yamaha YBB-103

[bort]

2) Is Willson still making the 2975 (front action compensating) euphonium? I always thought those were cool, at least for tuba players.

[bone-a-phone]

2) Is Willson still making the 2975 (front action compensating) euphonium? I always thought those were cool, at least for tuba players.

It's not on their site http://www.willson.ch/en/instrument/wil ... ium-2727ta" target="_blank, but they have Eb and F front valve tubas. Wessex now makes the Festivo https://wessex-tubas.com/collections/eu ... nium-ep104" target="_blank" target="_blank, which is a front valve compensator. I got my new Mack 422 http://www.mackbrass.com/TU422L_BB_Tuba.php" target="_blank" target="_blank with that configuration (non-compensating, however).

[tclements]

1. Pick one tuba that persists in production to this day and you don’t know why.
ANYTHING made by Amati
2. Pick one tuba that was shelved but should still be in production today.
Meinl Weston Bill Bell Model