Posted by Sally Larsen on June 20, 1999 at 09:08:45:
In Reply to: Re: Re: Re: Feedback on Yamaha Tubas posted by Joe S. on June 16, 1999 at 22:08:29:
My 12 year old son recently bought a Yamaha YBB201. (Don't sneer - he earned the money himself) It had been owned by a Dixieland tuba player who had had the valves replaced with minol valves (!). I really enjoy playing this horn on ragtime and Sousa pieces because of the quick response of the valves. The one drawback (aside from the limitations of three valves) is that the horn has one note that is painfully difficult to play in tune - and unfortunately it is the BBb below the staff. Both my son and I can center every other note pretty well (using either of two mouthpieces - a Bach 24W and a Yamaha 60C4), and I can lip the BBb into tune, but it is a struggle. We have experimented quite a bit with a tuner, and the BBb in the staff and the one above the staff are fine (notice how I managed to avoid the whole "name this note" controversy? :^)), and all of the lower notes, including pedals and false tones, fall pretty well in tune. Is this a mouthpiece problem? A glitch in the horn? Just what you'd expect from a student horn? Any ideas for us enthusiastic amateurs?