Posted by bloke on February 15, 2004 at 15:00:18:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: ?s on low budget tubas posted by Kenneth Sloan on February 15, 2004 at 14:09:22:
I strongly agree here.
In reality, a 4th valve on a BBb tuba really only tempers four pitches in the typical-band-music-(and-most-other-music)-written-range of the tuba...of which two pitches (2nd ledger B and low E) tend to not be emphasized very often in community band music.
A shrewdly-purchased very good 3-valve instrument is a reasonable choice...at least for the first couple of years of getting back into tuba playing.
One thing I've noticed over the years (as a completely unscrupulous capitalist pig vendor who fences merchandise stolen from the working poor and sells it to the callous and idle nouveau riche) is that folks, who tend to have far more money in their pockets these days than they did when I was growing up, put w-a-a-a-y too much emphasis on equipment and w-a-a-a-y too little emphasis on the fun and accomplishments that will result from interacting with the equipment. Grab a good useable tuba and go have tons of fun. If a day trip is beyond your level of investment (time=money, etc.) this further indicates (at least to me) that a 3-valve tuba would probably be the way to go, for now.