Posted by John Cooper on March 08, 2002 at 00:45:31:
I have a problem. I'm a Bass T-bone player that started to play tuba in a quintet with a few of my friends. About 4 years ago I bought a very much used Miraphone 184-4U BBb tuba and started building up my tuba chops. I fell in love with playing the tuba (I seem to find myself practicing the tuba more than the trombone). I recently felt I could handle the tuba part in the local community college symphony orchestra. I got the part, (no competition, the director was just glad have someone show up). Well, my 184 works great for quintet work but, we are doing Tschaikowky's 4th for our first concert and I found out the 184 does not have a very big sound (it sounded big in my living room). I have been using a Helleberg but switched to a Bach 18 to try and get a bigger sound. The mouthpiece change helped a bunch but not enough.
It's too late for this concert but I'm starting to look for a larger tuba for the future. I've been trying to decide if I should switch to a CC or stick with BBb. I'm in my mid 40's and I'm not sure if "you can teach an old dog new tricks". There seems to be some rather nice BBb tubas for reasonable prices but there are also some great deals right now on some good used CC horn. I've heard some good things about the Miraphone 191, Meinl Weston and the VMI BBb horns.
So, is there anyone out there that has made the change to CC late in life with any success? Am I headed in the right direction for BBb horns?
I appreciate any help I can get.