Posted by Michael Sanders on December 11, 1998 at 14:27:17:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Hirsbrunner Grand Orchestral Model posted by Joe Burton on December 11, 1998 at 02:54:05:
I have had some experience with all of the tubas mentioned in your posting. The newer "redesigned" Yorkbrunner is actually a machine produced instrument as opposed to the older YBs which are hand made instruments. This results in various physical differences I won't go into. The playing/response characteristics are definetly a bit different. The hand made instrument has a much sweeter response. It is quicker and feels more agile almost as if it were a smaller tuba. The machine made instrument is not as quick, especially in something like the fast triplet figure in the Lohengrin Act III prelude. Hand made: light and quick. Machine made: slower and a bit logier(sp?).The sound is also notceably different. The hand made being overall more resonant, especially in overtones. The machine made is not as resonant and the tonal spectrum seems to have more emphasis in the lower harmonics. The hand mades have more fundamental and more "ring" or "zing" as well. I played a Holton back around 1980 in San Antonio. I liked the sound very much but the valves were terrible. Overall workmanship lacked quality. Tonal output was very good. Maybe not as "pretty" a sound as the YB. Dave Fedderly says the YB has a more soloistic sound. These are tendencies. Both these tubas are in the same ballpark. The Nirschl York is also along the same concept. It is noticeably lighter weight. It has a very quick response. It has the large pistons, as do the newer YBs. I tried one here in Powell Hall a couple years ago and it did not work as well in our acoustic as did my YB. Powell is very live and clarity is a strong consideration. When I played my tuba on stage it sounded stronger out in the hall, more like that organ pedal sound we all dream about! This is a lot to digest. I hope nobody falls asleep half way through this. These are all great instruments, simply from my perspective. I have not played Paul's old YB.