Posted by Ken Sturgeon on January 21, 2000 at 18:34:12:
In Reply to: Perantucci PT6 and PT7 posted by Craig Woodruff on January 20, 2000 at 23:11:14:
I owned a PT-7 for about 3 years and finally had to sell it because of the right hand reach to the valve set. It started to have wrist pains because of the awkward position. I'm not a large person (5'8") and I also have small hands. I did not have any other problems with MY PT-7 besides that. It responded quick for a large horn and to me, it didn't take as much air as other horns I have had. (2165, Alexander CC). I have played other PT-7's which performed poorer than mine, so try as many as you can to find one that might work for you. The PT-6 (both the rotor and piston versions) is a much brighter and narrower sounding horn. This is not a bad thing, just a different sound than the PT-7. I could get a decent edge on my PT-7 if I wanted to, but more so on the PT-6's. This varies, of course, with what type of mouthpiece you use. I would also try out these tubas with a variety of mouthpieces to find the playing characteristics you are looking for. Intonation is usually pretty even with these tubas. Varying the sound color is, in my opinion, a bit less flexible on the PT's than on my other horn I have had. Also, I remember now that I didn't like the thumb rotor mechanism on the PT-7 and PT-6 piston. It had a long throw bar to the rotor which was placed below the 4th valve set. This made the action jerky even when I tried adjusting the thumb ring. The construction and materials were solid though, and the pistons action was good.
I hope this helps a little. Good luck!
Ken