Posted by Joseph Felton on September 10, 2000 at 23:47:30:
In Reply to: Overly sharp tuba posted by Henry on September 08, 2000 at 16:29:53:
I'm with Tony on this one.
First the valves: As I've stated in the past I'm anti piston as big as your head(La Bamba's anyone?) To me they are an ergonomic disaster. They seem to need constant babying to keep them moving freely, require a huge finger spread, and as you have noted the valve stroke leaves a little to be desired(that doesn't bother me quite so much). I could blow a La Bamba's super steak burrito through my rotors and they *might* slow down a little bit. The difference in sound and playability between the piston and rotor version of the B&S horns hasn't struck me as all that great. I also haven't played one of their pistons horns lately so take that with a grain of salt. I know you weren't looking for a lecture on this tired old subject.. I guess I'm just venting. Solution to your problem: None.
Your horns sharpness: Please don't take this personally becuase I'm pretty sure most of us have dealt with this or something similar before. As a general rule, especially when dealing with as great a horn as a PT-4, I always look to myself for the source of the problem before blaming the horn. I think Tony gave a good technitians answer to your question. But as a musician I wouldn't tie myself in knots over how much meat vs. air I'm using. Joseph's prescription: play lots of low loud stuff so that you can become comfortable with letting your air do more of the work on your horn. I would play lots of Wagner, Rochut down two octaves, and maybe some of the Jacobs Low Etudes available from Encore music. This will do amazing things for your playing all around and should help you find the center of your horn, which I'm guessing is much lower than you realize. Even if I'm wrong and the horn is bunk this is still bound to only help you. That's my favorite kind of advice to give. ;b
good luck in all that you do!
joseph 'super steak w/ everything' felton