Posted by F or Eb -- Hmmm .... on January 12, 2002 at 22:28:29:
In Reply to: Advice on Eb or F posted by Paul on January 11, 2002 at 03:56:45:
Paul,
The following comments are generalizations:
1. Compensating Eb tubas have more air resistance below the two ledger line / space BBb. Play compensating Eb tubas in this area to see if you can tolerate this.
2. Rotary valve F tubas have issues with the low (2 ledger line) CC, and often Db and B. The notes seem uncentered on many rotary F tubas. Be sure to check out these notes to be sure you can tolerate this. Some rotary F tubas aren't too bad here. Some piston F tubas may share this characterist. The YFB-621 does not. The YFB-822 I've played was also very good with these notes, as was the Willson F. A Miraphone 181 I also played recently was tolerable.
3. The rotary F tubas have a unique sound many tubists really like. I'm not aware of any Eb tubas that mimic this same quality of sound.
4. Your choice of bass tuba tends to be either small-ish/smaller or larg-ish/larger. Some bass tubas are sized to sound rather like a small CC. Others are sized to sound noticeably smaller. (See Scott Norberg's post below.) Consider if you want a bass tuba that only sounds a little smaller and not much different from your contrabass, or if you want a significantly different (smaller or brighter) sound.
5. What role will the horn play? If you want a bass tuba that will provide a potent foundation for brass quintet, you may not want a YFB-621, a MW 182, or a Cerveny 3/4 Eb. But these horns may have a very nice solo voice to your ears.
6. My opinions: Willson 5V non-comp horn is my personal favorite quintet horn. But it's too big to pretend to be a euph in a brass quartet that's arranged 202.00. Hence, I've got a YFB-621 for my quartet, and a Miraphone 186 CC for quintet and larger groups (none of these typically has over 20 musicians). Jay Bertolet's solution is Willson Eb for the "BIG" bass tuba things, Cerveny 3/4 Eb (5th valve added) for the lighter/solo fare. If money were no object and I could keep three different keys straight, I'd play a YFB-621 for small stuff, the Willson for quintet, and probably a Conn 56J for a bigger sound. Shoot, I might have to add a rotary F for that "German sound" I so really like! ;-) (Again, personal preferences.)
Regards,
Steve Inman
Kokomo, IN