The New and Improving Brook Mays


[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] [ TubeNet BBS ] [ FAQ ]

Posted by Gary Press on December 09, 2001 at 16:45:14:

Hi all. I took a drive over to Brook Mays Music in Dallas (the LBJ store for those of you who are locals) to try out a few tubas yesterday. So, I thought I'd pass on my experiences to the readership. Bear with me if I ramble about incoherently.

As many of you may know, Mark Finley is now in charge of tuba sales at Brook Mays. Mark was unfortunately not in yesterday, but Aren Van Houzen helped me out. Aren was very knowledgeable about the tubas they had in stock and was very easy to work with. There are plans to put Brook Mays back on the proverbial map as far as being a viable option for professional musicians. Keep your eyes peeled.

There were about 15 tubas on the floor yesterday with more on the way. The first instrument I tried out was the much talked about Meinl-Weston 2000. All I can say is "what a tuba!". As you can tell, I liked this tuba very much. It is a 4/4 size horn that sounds closer to a 5/4. The response was very quick and even, the pitch was excellent..the tuba played very very well. As far as I could tell (since I was in a rather smallish space), the tone was very nice...big and full with plenty of core. The only criticism I can find with it is actually a matter of personal taste. This tuba was just a touch brighter in timbre than I'm used to on my Rudy CCC. I personally am not a big fan of silver horns, but if I ever wanted one it would be the 2000 (it is available only in silver). Really a top notch tuba!

I then tried the Mel Culbertson 6/4 piston tuba. I played it for a bit before I decided I was in love. It not only had the most gorgeous sound with lots of power to it, but the response for a horn of that size was remarkable! Pitch was very good as well. If any of you have a chance to get your hands on either of these two tubas, DO IT!

I then tried the Willson Eb, the MW 2145, Conn 52J, Miraphone 191 F and 186 CC. The only tuba of these that I liked was the Conn. The Conn played very well and had a big sound, although not the warmest I've ever encountered. The 5th valve register was not the greatest, but the overall response and pitch was good.

Having tried a 2145 a few years back, I was willing to try it once more to see if my impressions had changed. And they did. I disliked the tuba even MORE this time around. It was uneven, fairly stuffy and the pitch was not great.

The Miraphones really failed to impress me. The 191 played better than the 186, but I did not like the tone that came out of the bell of either horn. This particular 186 was not a very good tuba, although a student of mine got a new 186 last year that was possibly the best 186 I've ever played. Inconsistent.

The Willson Eb played well. The response was pretty good and the pitch wasn't bad. But the tone left me feeling unsatisfied. In some ways it reminded me of Yamaha in that the response was good, but the tone seemed a bit sterile to me.

So there it is...my day at Brook Mays. Some great horns, some not so great horns, but it looks as if they are definitely trying to head in the right direction. My hat's off to Mark and Aren and the work they are doing. Keep up the good work! And if any of you have a chance, stop in and say hi to Mark and Aren and check out their display.

Gary


Follow Ups: