Posted by Rick Denney on October 23, 2002 at 10:28:19:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: King posted by Mark on October 23, 2002 at 09:38:04:
I agree that it's all in what you are used to, and I also agree that the feel of the fourth valve doesn't quite match its sound. I was comparing the King side-by-side to my York Master, which has a marvelously free-blowing fourth valve. It also has to do with the context of the instrument as a whole. My Yamaha F tuba has the same tubing diameter through the valves as the King, but I get only more openness with the fourth and fifth valves, not less. The reason is that the rest of the horn provides what restriction can be felt, not the bore through the valves.
The King's fourth valve has a bit of the German F-tuba effect, feeling a bit fuzzy and uncentered. But, like the good rotary F's, it doesn't sound fuzzy. My Miraphone 186 BBb is about halfway between the York Master and the King in terms of feel. But the King provides wonderful agility in the upper register where the York Master requires a bit more work (and a bit more thinking about intonation management). No horn is perfect, but the good Kings have a lot going for them.
The problem with using the Conn 52J fourth valve branch (which would have to be substantially lengthened for BBb) coupled to the 20K tuning slide is that the tubing downstream of the tuning slide would not fit the taper of the first bow on the King. So, the inner bow would have to be retapered, and it would not line up with the other bows borrowed from the 5xJ (if indeed they are borrowed, which I suspect they are). The BBb has that extra two feet of tubing, after all, and that extra taper has to be put somewhere. I suspect that explains why the taper continues down to the .679 bore at the tuning slide.
It's funny, but the fourth valve on the old-style Kings don't have the same feel as the one I tried the other night. But they also don't have the same sort of sound, and I really like the sound produced by that King bell.
Thinking about that bell, it's very similar in profile (but smaller) to the Keefer bell on Chuck G's Keefer/Minnick, and that may be one of the men behind the curtain feeding the magic to that instrument.
Rick "who may someday find a bell of that shape sized up for his York Master" Denney