Posted by Jay Bertolet on August 10, 2001 at 08:51:49:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Willson 5v Eb tuba posted by John Szkutko on August 10, 2001 at 05:50:42:
If you liked the Willson you played 7 years ago, you might really like the newer ones. I played on one a few years ago, when they first came out. I actually went to a dealer who was considering carrying these horns and he had two in stock on trial. They both sounded great. However, they both had horrible intonation problems. For the kind of money Willson was asking for those horns, I thought they were not so good. Later, they tweaked the design and the intonation improved dramatically. I bought one of the newer models and it really is an amazing horn. For me, I was looking for an Eb that would give me the lighter sound I wanted, the increased high range access and security, but still have an excellent low range as well as the capability to sound big if need be. To top it off, I wanted a horn that had 5 valves, all on one hand. With all those requirements, the only horn I found that fit was the Willson. I've been experimenting with different mouthpieces and I've found that the Willson can makes lots of different sounds, if you can deal with the intonation problems of some mouthpieces. I've tried some pretty small mouthpieces on mine and the resultant sound can be pretty light. But there is some intonation difficulty in the process. I currently use a Laskey 30F on my Willson for general playing and it gives great sound and only a couple of intonation issues. I have found the water issue to be solvable by having a water key installed on the upper 3rd valve slide. I had an Amado key put on and this facilitates my removing the slide without having to hold the valve down. This makes pulling the slide, turning the horn to dump, and replacing the slide a relatively quick procedure. I have found that the 3rd valve slide is the only one that accumulates significant water during performance.
Bottom line, the Willson is a top quality, very versatile Eb tuba. It has the biggest sound of any Eb I know of and that makes it ideal for large ensemble situations. If you can find a used one (they do come up from time to time) they are a great bargain.
My opinion for what it's worth...