Posted by Vince on October 11, 2002 at 23:26:09:
In Reply to: Willson F tuba comparison question posted by An. on October 11, 2002 at 13:12:59:
My previous F was an Alex, then I tried a Willson for a month, and eventually decided to go with an HB-10.
I had come close to selling the Alex a couple of times, but never could find another F with as sweet a sound in the upper range. I finally decided that I had to have an F without the touchy low range (it was hard for me to start some low notes on the Alex when playing quietly.)
The Willson had tons of effortless low range, and a really nice sound, but overall darker than the F sound I was looking for.
I finally tried an HB-10 and found that the sound was much closer to the sweeter sound I was looking for, and it also had a much easier low range (though not as huge as the low range on the Willson.)
I find that I prefer the valves on my Hirs. I'm sure that if I had played the Willson longer I would have gotten used to it, but the spread and the throw of the valves made 2+4 combinations more difficult for me to execute cleanly (too many years on rotaries, I suppose.) The valves on the HB-10 have a shorter throw and are more closely spaced, and feel so good that I never give them a thought while playing.
My experience with the Yamaha is that it requires very little getting used to, and it sounds much bigger than it looks.
I hope this helped a little.
-Vince