Posted by Rick Denney on February 12, 2003 at 11:33:24:
In Reply to: New Old Man's Tuba posted by Frank on February 12, 2003 at 09:03:20:
Dillon is still listing the old Holton, which is a fat BAT with three upright valves and an upright bell. It might be an improvement over a 20J just from the upright bell, though a straight bell for your 20J will be cheaper. Whether it is any better than the Conn in the areas of intonation and dynamic range would require a play test to determine. The later Holtons are a mixed bag in these categories, but the good ones are really good. There are good Conns, too, of course, but I've never played one that was a match for my 345.
I think Lee Stofer may still have an upright bell for a 20J available. They are not easy to find. A 25J, already with the upright bell and also with four valves, would also be cheaper than the old Holton, though not by much. Then it would come down to which played better. The upright bell would make a 20J more usable in stage settings, and would get more respect from conductors.
Another possibility is taking a different approach to holding a horn, or making a leadpipe adjustment. A number of players have installed leadpipes with a different shape to stand them several inches away from the bell stack to provide good left-eye visibility. My wife's uncle, whose right eye is prosthetic, still enjoys playing his front-action old-style King, but he has learned to lean the instrument a little more than most would to give his left eye a good view.
The only large top-action BBb tuba currently being made, other than the Yamaha 321 and similar instruments, is the Besson 994. It's fairly large, but it's no BAT. Truth to tell, it isn't much different from a 321 in overall size, though it is compensated and much more expensive. The 321 was "inspired" by the large uncompensated Bessons that have been popular in the school market.
Rick "extremely sympathetic to this problem" Denney