Posted by superdoug! on January 11, 2002 at 14:14:59:
In Reply to: Advice on Eb or F posted by Paul on January 11, 2002 at 03:56:45:
Buying an F or Eb tuba is a big decision and a big investment. The good news is that there are some very good instruments out there at a decent price.
The most important issue, I believe, is determining the sound you want the horn to make. Do you want a light and bright sound for solos? Do you want a dark full sound that would be a good all around horn to be used as your primary horn?
I recently was shopping for bass tuba and chose the tiny Meinl Weston 182. There are many other great horns out there, and I chose this horn because it sounded completely different than my CC tuba. I wanted a contrasting tone. I heard a recital recently by a very good tubist who played half of the recital on a mirafone 186 CC and the other half on a Besson EEb. This person sounded great on both horns, but I couldn't understand why he switched horns... the sound on both was very similar.
In regards to brands... big issue with lots of differing opinions. Generally, I have found Yamaha F tubas to have the best low lange and to be the easiest to play. With this in mind, I do not play Yamaha tubas because they don't have the sound that I am looking for. Roger Bobo, Jim Self, and a bunch of other great players really like the Yamahas, thus, showing that the choosing of an istrument really is a matter of personal taste. Your teacher likes B&S F tubas, I like my Meinl Weston. Decide what you want to sound like, then find the horn allows you to make it happen.