bloke wrote:I have tested it on a largish F tuba and a 5/4 CC tuba.
What I can tell you from that is (compared to the "Solo #2", which I use on my F tuba), The "Imperial" obviously offers a resonance a bit less "pointed" (and...well...a bit less "soloistic" ) than the "Solo #2". Trying out the "Imperial" on my 5/4 CC tuba (as opposed to the "Symphony" that I normally use on that instrument) the "Imperial" is noticeably "hotter" than the Symphony, and might well be something that I will consider using when I need to play a 4/4 or 5/4 size CC tuba in our quintet at Ole Miss.
(in just a couple of days, when the first British shank "Imperial" mouthpieces arrive - marked "£" on the shank)
I'm eager to see reviews of the Imperial, once it is in the hands of some players. I can also see it as possibly something that would work very well with a Yamaha 822-F or a M-W 2250-F...(??)
(Thanks very much for your interest and for your business!)
With these things in mind, is there a possibility of getting the SOLO with the small British Shank and/or the IMPERIAL with a large Euro shank in the future?
I have had great success with the SOLO on my 6/4 CC and would be interested trying the IMPERIAL on that horn. . . The small British shank on the SOLO might be of interest to the small Eb market as well as those with the older smaller shank Cerveny F's or, possibly, the Contrabass trombone crowd.
T. J. "who knows that both of those markets would be extremely limited" Ricer
Thomas J. Ricer, DMA
Royal Hawaiian Band - University of Hawaii at Manoa - Yamaha Performing Artist
My ordered Imperial with a 1a rim and English shank arrived today. I have tested it against a Denis Wick No. 2 and No. 3. I think my tone is distinctly brighter with the Imperial. (That's no surprise). The Imperial was significantly easier to play, more centered and allowed me to hit notes all across the range easier. It was great fun to play. The No. 3 has a very nice organ like tone, but I struggle with it in the low register. There was no struggle with the Imperial in the low or high register. The No. 2 is a bit stuffy as others have reported. The Imperial was fun to play, sounded good and the tune of the horn was very slightly improved on some notes. I really like it.
By the way, my horn is an old large sized Martin Eb. I think the type of horn Bloke had in mind when he developed this design.
bloke wrote:curious: What would you be thinking of doing with it?
Well, I'm curious to see if it's the perfect "middle" piece for my Alex F. The Solo I tried gave my horn a certain "brightness" I wasn't too fond of. The Symphony was a little too much for my horn. I did not get a bad sound with the Solo, just not MY sound. So, with that said, I believe the Imperial MIGHT be something to try. The reason I cannot is because of my receiver. Maybe I need to just buy the Solo with a cup extender....
I received my Sellmansberger Imperial this week. I've spent some time playing it. I've only played it on my piston RM CC and 2265 MW CC thus far. It seems to be very easy to play very low notes very softly with this mouthpiece. Low D and C# seem to pop out quite easily. The low register response is just superb.
Unlike some folks, I don't care for Joe's 'solo' mouthpiece on the big tuba. While I do like and use the solo mouthpiece on the F tuba, the solo mouthpiece seems to make the intonation of the big tuba more difficult for me to manage (and my tuner agrees). The Imperial doesn't have this problem at all on the big tuba. I may use it with that instrument. I will stick with the Sellmansberger Symphony on my RM tuba as the Symphony shakes hands with that tuba like no other.
I like the Imperial about 50 times better than the solo with the spacer. The solo with the spacer does tone down the brightness of the solo, but the low register response of the Imperial is even better. Given the superb low register response and modest cup depth of the Imperial, I do expect that it will work quite well on an F tuba, but I have yet to try it on my F tuba. I like it much better than the similar sized PT-72, Miraphone C3 (aka TU21), Laskey 30F, or Schilke HII F. I do think that folks who find Joe's solo mouthpieces to be a bit more strident than they prefer will really dig the Imperial model.
It doesn't take much to twist my arm and make some Euro shank Imerials. Expect some by the 2nd week in April. I'll have the Imp's up on the web site mid week (1st wk Apr.).
) than the "Solo #2". Trying out the "Imperial" on my 5/4 CC tuba (as opposed to the "Symphony" that I normally use on that instrument) the "Imperial" is noticeably "hotter" than the Symphony, and might well be something that I will consider using when I need to play a 4/4 or 5/4 size CC tuba in our quintet at Ole Miss.
