Posted by Doug Fowler on October 07, 2003 at 18:52:31:
To my friends in the tuba world. I'm looking for the best BBb tuba for my needs -- I currently own and play a Miraphone 186 (4 rotary) horn which is OK, but I've begun to notice some limitations -- difficulties in hitting more than one octave slurs, as well as some muddiness in articulation. (I am aware that many of these problems are mine, not the horns.) In addition, I want a BAT for my work with our local community band -- our director wants a huge foundation, and I'm happy to try for him. As I say, the Miraphone is OK, but I want to improve my BBb performance. I'm willing to consider any/all tubas, but have looked most closely at the Hirsbrunner, Nirschl (if I can find one to try) and Meinl Weston ("Fafner") horns. Do you have any suggestions? My first priorities are for intonation and clarity (I think I want a "York" sound rather than a "German" sound). I have arthritis, and so would prefer rotary valves to pistons -- my ability to push pistons is pretty well exhausted by my work on the Besson EEb. I have no particular price limitations, but ordinarily prefer to purchase used horns rather than new.
With respect to my background, I'm 66 years old, and played tuba (BBb and EEb) in Air Force field bands for four years in the late 1950s; played tuba and string bass in the Anchorage Symphony for two seasons (57-58/58-59) while stationed in Anchorage; played for a couple of quarters in the University of Washington bands in ~ 60 to 61. Recognized I wasn't good enough to make a satisfying living as a performer (many in my family are musicians, and I saw talents in the best of them that were beyond my grasp), and moved on to another field of endeavor for the last forty+ years. I've done OK there and recently semi-retired. I began to work on refurbishing my tuba skills last year. Now, I'm mainly working on my EEb skills, taking lessons from Carla Rutschman at Bellingham, and playing in the Low Brass Ensemble there, and plan to make the EEb my principal horn (I own a Besson 983, inspired by Pat Sheridan), and maybe make a solo presentation one day. I'm still working through my stable of mouthpieces, and am currently using the Dillon S1 for the Besson, and an old Holton 52 (probably "borrowed" from the Air Force) for the Miraphone.