Posted by Joseph Felton on July 15, 2000 at 23:38:19:
In Reply to: Holton 6/4 posted by debuse on July 13, 2000 at 21:17:43:
David,
I'm far from an authority on 6/4 tubas but the opinions you've gotten so far have run the gamut enough that I figure my thoughts certainly can't confuse things any more than they already are.
It just so happens that the only two 6/4 CC tubas that I've played recently enough to have a semi-reliable memory of were two Holtons at the D.C. Army Band conference. One was an original CC and the other was a Rusk cut horn. Oddly enough I greatly prefered the Rusk cut and my teacher prefered the original. I suspect a lot of that has to do with the kinds of horns we each own(PT-6 vs. 4/4 Miraphone) and spend the vast majority of our time on. After hearing me play a few licks my teacher agreed that I seemed to get a better response and sound out of the Rusk cut. Neither of us spent much time on either horn to really evaluate it(besides the fact that there was plenty of competition to be heard over) but my initial impression of the Rusk cut horn was that it was atleast as good as my PT-6 which I happen to love dearly. It was extremely easy to get around on and seemed to give you plenty to 'lean on' at the softer dynamics while still allowing plenty of room to open up when necesary. It also seemed to be very efficient.. I wasn't working hard at all.
The moral of the story is that the reason you are getting such widely varying responses to your question is that the people responding vary widely in their proficiency and levels of experience.
If I were you I would spend the few extra hundred dollars to make a trip to find out what it is that *you* like. When making a several thousand dollar investment it would be extremely foolish to throw your money blindly into something that you may later discover isn't what you like at all. It is most definitely worth every penny you may have to spend and all the time you may have to take off work to make the trips to a couple tuba dealers. Please don't try to rush or bypass this. You will most likely regret it if you do.
"Dr. Joseph's" prescription for your case of the Holton blues:
Take a road trip up to Southbend, IN and spend a day playing as many horns as you can 6/4 or otherwise. You may be surprised by what you like. Once they finally kick you out, hop in your car and drive up to Detroit(less than four hours away.. been awhile since I've made that trip). Spend the night in a cheap hotel and spend the next day running the guys at Custom crazy. Jeff and Neal are great guys but ignore every word that comes out of Fred's mouth(You need to buy a horn because you love it not because of its excellent resale value, imperceptibly better build quality, or because someone tells you that *that* horn is capable of doing more.. since when can a horn do anything without me telling it to?). Between these two shops you will have access to just about every tuba currently being produced. The only exceptions I can think of are the St. Pete, the Nirschl York copy and maybe the new Conn that Dillon helped put together. You will have a much better clue as to whether you are even interested in pursuing a monster such as the Holtons at Dillon and most important of all you will have identified what it is that *you* like and dislike so that when you do finally make a choice it will be one that you can be confident in. If you are confident in your choice you will be much more likely to put forth the effort to really learn the horn in order to reach your full potential. This can really affect your development as a musician.
Also, don't be afraid to fall in love with a horn that's out of your budget. If you are just now entering college you have plenty of time to build up enough capital so that you can eventually purchase the right horn for you the first time. In the end you will be saving both money and time.. and who knows.. in the mean time something better might just come out or appear on the used market for less money or even more likely.. your tastes will change as your skills develop and you will discover that something that you overlooked as being a cludge will magically become exactly what you wanted all along.
sorry for writing such a huge post
good luck!
joseph 'paid by the word' felton