Posted by Aubrey Foard on February 04, 2001 at 03:12:12:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Big Tuba Question posted by Steve Dedman on February 04, 2001 at 02:49:53:
I can't really expound on the differences between the 1295 and the 1290. The valve caps are now rounded in and the 5th valve is now a long whole step (actually sounds really good this way). That's the extent of my knowledge in regard to comparisons. Yes, the horn can definitely be played light enough in small ensemble situations and it would probably do well in a solo situation (i.e. Hindemith Sonata). But for CC soloing, the 186 is really the horn I'd use. The problem as I see it is that the horn is very warm, big and resonant sounding, and would work well blending in a quintet setting, but would probably be too big and resonant for a solo. Actually, a smaller mouthpiece, such as a Mirafone C-4 (Tu-23) would work very beautifully on this horn for solos. This is mostly speculation, though. Based on my experience, this is among the top 3 5/4 horns that I've ever played on and used the least amount of effort to produce the sound I wanted. I would definitely give serious consideration to buying it, so long as I already have a smaller CC (I do).