Posted by Louis on May 18, 1999 at 08:40:05:
In Reply to: Question about the Yamaha YBB-641 posted by John Purdyn on May 16, 1999 at 07:49:05:
Aron's assesment of the YBB-641 is a very good description of how the horn plays. I have played one for about 6 years also. It has served me well for the playing that I do. I am now in the market for a new tuba. I have had the oportunity to play a few different tubas. Two in my price range, as an amatuer player, are the B&S BBb-Tuba 3103, and a Sanders. Of the two, I liked the B&S BBb-Tuba 3103. I couldn't believe how much easier it was to play than the YBB-641. John, you didn't mention how much you were going to pay for the horn. But if it is around the $3,000 range, I have seen the B&S BBb-Tuba 3103 on Dave Fedderly's Baltimore Brass website for under $3000. You would be much happier with this horn. Sean has Baltimore Brass linked to his music shop page. There the horn is called, VMI 103 4 valve rotary BBb 4/4. You can also see the horn at the VMI site also found at the music shop page. At this site it is called, B&S BBb-Tuba 3103.
I know you said you live in the middle of no-where, but if at all possible, you should play a horn before buying it. If you are spending allot of money for a horn, you could take a weekend drive to play them. If you could drive down to the Detroit area, you could play the B&S and a Sanders horn for yourself at Custom Music (website also linked on the music shop page). I'm not too far from them, you could try my YBB-641 if you want.