Posted by Rick Denney on May 07, 2003 at 22:39:59:
In Reply to: Recording Bell tuba opinions posted by Gus Pratt on May 07, 2003 at 21:44:21:
I've only played the Conns (several of them) in bell-front trim, so I can't give you a comparison with other recording tubas.
But I can give you a comparison with a bell-up BAT. The Conn's bell-front sound was harder to hear in the ensemble, and harder to balance with other players. It is good for making a loud sound outdoors, and for making a Sousa-style sound in a beer tent, but the propagation of the sound in a concert hall is much different. The recording bell tuba is much more sensitive to the quality of your buzz, and the upright bell makes much greater use of the room's acoustics to smooth out the sound. If you are clever and don't mind strange looks, you can often adjust a removable bell front to point up and to the side as with an upright tuba, and this helps considerably.
Rick "who thinks it depends on the situation" Denney