Posted by Bob Sanders on June 25, 1999 at 14:15:01:
Some of you have seen the following elsewhere. I thought I would post
it here as well:
The reason I write is that I am considering buying an Eb tuba and am picking
the brains of every tuba player I know. I want to stop carting around a
CC and F tuba and become a one tuba family. (I am a bass trombonist who
doubles frequently on tuba.) My present setup is a Canadian Brass CC
and a Yamaha 321 F (I think that number is right, it is in my car -- in
any event it is the little 5 valve job). I am hoping that an Eb might
split the difference -- bigger than F sound, easier than CC top end,
responsive low end and generally easy to play. Most of what I do is
recording and occasional quintet work. I don't need to fill up a large
hall with FFFFF's but I do need to sound "tubby" (un-trombony) enough to
distract my employers from the fact that I am a doubler. I am thinking
about a Besson 983 front action compensating model, the new Willson, or
a Yamaha. It seems to me that some compensating scheme would make life
simpler for me -- five valve fingering gets to complexity pretty early
as the one descends, not too bad on the CC but maybe on Eb I think.
The Besson 983 looks like a pretty good compromise and it is small
physically but may sound that way.
Since then I have tried a Yamaha YCB 621 (like my F but in CC).
Given my purposes (with the addition of a fifth valve, it has
possibilities.
Any and all advice/opinion is welcome.
Thank you
Bob Sanders