Posted by Chase on February 17, 2004 at 17:54:21:
In Reply to: Schmidt tuba or St. Pete posted by Ralf on February 17, 2004 at 13:26:17:
Neither. Our school has a St. Petersburg 201-N, and my friend has a Schmidt (not sure of the model number) in BBb. I hate them both! The St. Pete has terrible valves, sound, and intonation. The ONLY thing I like about it is that it is somewhat free blowing. The Schmidt on the other hand is slightly better, but not much. It is a very heay horn for it's size. Only slightly lighter than a Conn 20 J. The intonation on the horn is absolutely terrible. When I play it, I have to do a lot of slide pulling. In fact, it might as well be called a BB natural tuba. The sound is not that good, and the part I hate the most about it is that it feels like blowing through a crazy straw. Free blowing is not a word to describe this tuba. I would strongly recommend some other brands of tubas. There better ones out there for about the same price range.