Orchestral Tuba

[Doc]

I find this to be a very fine sounding orchestral tuba with a very fine bloke steering it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkF-XhOME2g

Was that a 186 CC with the flat 3rd 5th valve slide on it?

Long whole step.

Here’s a front view of that same tuba in its final incarnation:

F8912E0E-C762-4F7D-815B-605A56668D41.jpeg (34.25 KiB) Viewed 570 times

[Doc]

Double dumb butt post.

[Three Valves]

Brushed silver finish...

[Doc]

Brushed silver finish...

Still fighting tarnish down here in the sauna. The jeweler's cloth bag my wife constructed did help mitigate the onslaught, however, I had the tuba in the case for 3-4 weeks during our moving process, and the tarnish came back strong. I don't want to do the full tarnish bath too often and start messing up the plating job, so I will have to do it sparingly and live with it.

[Three Valves]

Good looks frequently come with High Maintenance!!

[tobysima`]

I find this to be a very fine sounding orchestral tuba with a very fine bloke steering it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkF-XhOME2g

Was that a 186 CC with the flat 3rd 5th valve slide on it?

Long whole step.

Here’s a front view of that same tuba in its final incarnation:

F8912E0E-C762-4F7D-815B-605A56668D41.jpeg

Absolutely gorgeous tuba! Glad she's found a good owner!

[Doc]

Good looks frequently come with High Maintenance!!

I'm reminded of that every time I look in the mirror.

People in our part of the world have nice skin (every day is like a sauna), but it's hell on satin/brushed silver. But even if Joe had simply polished the brass it and hit it with clear, I'd have been interested because of how it plays. If it didn't play so well, I wouldn't have wanted the extra maintenance. I try NOT to do high maintenance (I had a wife like that. HAD), but this tuba was too much too pass up.

[bloke]

That (Borodin blasting) was UN-repaired condition (the bell was folded back, and the bottom bow was so flattened, that I believe I could have stood it up on the bottom bow), and super-clanky...out-of-the-shipping-box condition.
(During one of those rehearsals, I turned the bottom of the tuba towards the trumpet players and asked them if they thought my "new" tuba was a little flat.)

The bass trombone player made that video with his tablet.
I thought it was pretty dang funny, so I stuck it with my youtube stuff.

I have a (bad?) habit of taking newly-bought/un-repaired stuff to gigs.

Before I totally revamped that compact Holton B-flat, I took it (clanking, old corks/old felts, and same-day-as-received-from-USPS) in THIS condition to a one-hour outdoor quintet concert. (The host was horrified...It played fine...It was dark out, and no one could see it, anyway...All we had - for lighting - was/were stand lights.)

[tobysima`]

That (Borodin blasting) was UN-repaired condition (the bell was folded back, and the bottom bow was so flattened, that I believe I could have stood it up on the bottom bow), and super-clanky...out-of-the-shipping-box condition.
(During one of those rehearsals, I turned the bottom of the tuba towards the trumpet players and asked them if they thought my "new" tuba was a little flat.)

The bass trombone player made that video with his tablet.
I thought it was pretty dang funny, so I stuck it with my youtube stuff.

I have a (bad?) habit of taking newly-bought/un-repaired stuff to gigs.

Before I totally revamped that compact Holton B-flat, I took it (clanking, old corks/old felts, and same-day-as-received-from-USPS) in THIS condition to a one-hour outdoor quintet concert. (The host was horrified...It played fine...It was dark out, and no one could see it, anyway...All we had - for lighting - was/were stand lights.)

Sounds absolutely incredible like that. Did your repairs help it play better?

[KingTuba1241X]

One of the King's I had a couple years back (bought off Ebay) was very heavily dented. So bad the collar around the bell had a 1'' gap between it and the bell itself causing a decent air leak that you could feel with your fingers, took this horn to a rehearsal and it actually played fine but looked disgusting. After it was fixed, it of course played even better.

[bloke]

This thread had mostly been about what type of tuba makes the ideal orchestral sound, and which players are best at operating those tubas.

That having been said, I tend to be more interested in labeling (or not labeling) various orchestral recordings (of standard rep.) as “reference” recordings.

As far as an American orchestras are concerned, throughout the decades I would have to say that to listen to San Francisco Symphony recordings, if they are available, is always a safe bet. Mr. Cooley played there during his peak, and the current tuba player, Jeff Anderson - a very down to earth person - is absolutely marvelous...
...but again: The quality of the tuba playing aside, the orchestra itself consistently offers the highest level of technical/musical execution, and the recordings all seem to be completely transparent. What puzzles me is that this orchestra doesn’t garner more attention than it does.

[Three Valves]

NY, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Philly and Boston suck up all the pub!!

[LargeTuba]

Just listen to tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo play Uranus to show what can be done with a small tuba. I think a lot has to do with the player.

I think they played it on a 183.

[tobysima`]

Just listen to tommy Johnson and Roger Bobo play Uranus to show what can be done with a small tuba. I think a lot has to do with the player.

I think they played it on a 183.

On TubaDylan's Mack 3/4 CC Tuba review, a comment by mpmcd81 McDonald says,
"Come to think of it, Roger Bobo played the Kraft Encounters II on a Miraphone 184- even smaller than THIS horn. If you listen to the LA Philharmonic 1971 recording of Holst’s Planets, particularly the low E at the end of Uranus where Roger Bobo played on his 184 and Tommy Johnson played on his 185, nobody has EVER sounded like that. Sheer raw power sound. This sounds like something in that vein but I think it’s more American leaning. I bet that horn could bury an orchestra if one laid waste, and nobody would see it coming from that horn."
Don't know how accurate it is, but it's the only thing about what was used in that recording I've EVER seen.