Old Man Tubas... a list or repository?

[Mary Ann]

Well, I want an OLT.

[Doc]

Well, I want an OLT.

You get an OLT!

35E6C82C-2887-47C2-87E5-2835D2C28373.jpeg (33.99 KiB) Viewed 2291 times

[2nd tenor]

Well, I want an OLT.

If you can find one then I think you’ll be very pleased with one of the old Eb Besson Regents. My post up-thread (#19) gives its weight and dimensions. I love my Regent and play it in preference to a much more expensive instrument. An OLT or an OMT, I really don’t care about about the tag it’s just good to be able to play with ease and that’s just what I did for an hour or so earlier this evening. Be aware that some of the old European Tubas use a small shank mouthpiece - same shank as a large bore Trombone. I use a Wick 3 (not 3L) on mine but a 5 would be fine too and a really big Bass Trombone mouthpiece (28mm cup) will also work - well that’s my experience.

Edit. Besson also sold a Bb Regent too, obviously it’s a little larger and heavier than the Eb.
In addition there are some lightweight Travel Tubas on the market too, Wessex had some listed and doubtless there are some clones available. I’m not sure about how well the Travel Tubas play however imperfect but working is usually better than nothing.

[Mary Ann]

Honestly I have my eyes on a Bombino but I have to see if I can play my euph first.....it would be bigger than the euph so if I can't handle the euph even the Bombino would be out. If I could find one of those old three-banger top valves that was in tune with itself, that would be the best solution, but the old ones generally are not in tune with themselves and would need a main slide trigger, which is itself a PITA. I'm reasonably good but not good enough to force notes into places they don't exist.

[Mary Ann]

Well, I want an OLT.

If you can find one then I think you’ll be very pleased with one of the old Eb Besson Regents.

Well, here's one on ebay for $250. Then there's the $700 "economy" shipping.

[2nd tenor]

Honestly I have my eyes on a Bombino but I have to see if I can play my euph first.....it would be bigger than the euph so if I can't handle the euph even the Bombino would be out. If I could find one of those old three-banger top valves that was in tune with itself, that would be the best solution, but the old ones generally are not in tune with themselves and would need a main slide trigger, which is itself a PITA. I'm reasonably good but not good enough to force notes into places they don't exist.

Euphoniums are not necessarily light, might be an idea to put yours on the scales and check it.

I’m not sure than my Regent does play in tune with itself or even what that term means for sure. It plays satisfactory for me and with the exception of trombones virtually all brass instruments are a compromise on tuning accuracy. I pull the 1st and 3rd slides on the Regent and accept that some notes will be slightly flat and others slightly sharp. Alternate fingering helps at times and so does lipping notes - but that’s an unconscious process. AFAIC if it sounds right then it is right enough and there’s other stuff to worry about like tempo, rhythm and dynamics.

Second-hand Tuba prices can be all over the place and sometimes they are sold by general dealers who ‘try it on’ with inflated prices. With eBay it’s often a case of watch and wait, that works for me. Be prepared to consider something that’s not a common brand or that needs work. My Regent was in a state and priced accordingly, but after asking around a lot I was ‘lucky’ with the repair man that I found and have ended up with an instrument that’s served me well.

I’ve never seen a Bombino for sale on eBay but I have seen a Bubbie and maybe that’s an option for you too: https://europe.wessex-tubas.com/collect ... ie-5-tf135 . Deep pockets needed though. I suspect that others offer a similar instrument at a similar price, they may even have been made in the same factory too but that doesn’t mean that they don’t have subtle differences.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fxnzYPNPZbk

[2nd tenor]

Well, I want an OLT.

If you can find one then I think you’ll be very pleased with one of the old Eb Besson Regents.

Well, here's one on ebay for $250. Then there's the $700 "economy" shipping.

I’d need a listing link to check for myself - and even then it can be confusing - but I did notice a BBb Regent on eBay.com

[humBell]

This is page 3.

Is it OK to make suppository comments now??

I am so slow, i didn't notice it was ever not okay to make them...

[tubabone]

I don’t have a Conn 10J anymore to measure, but that would definitely be one.

I just picked up one but it was pretty beat up. I got a new leadpipe and an old 2J bell. I just need to put it all back together,

10Js are nice but it is hard to find nice ones anymore.

ken k

[tubabone]

I bought a used Cool Wind plastic tuba. big 4 rotor valve horn ala 1291.
incredibly light weight.
plays very nicely actually. not sure whether to keep it or not.
kk

[Mary Ann]

I heard Mark Nelson play one of those in a recital a few years ago....the valve noise was almost louder than the instrument.

[Casca Grossa]

I'm very happy with my Mirafone 184. Super light but I can get a big sound out of it. Sits very comfortably on my lap. A lot of ergonomic problems I have with most other horns aren't a problem with the 184.

[Mary Ann]

I liked my 184 CC when I had it too. Played it in a community orchestra, a quintet, and on the Eb part in a brass band. I liked my NSTar better though. Easier for me to blow with the shorter bugle, but not as good a low range.

[Jperry1466]

Our 90-year-old tuba player in the community band and tuba ensemble, who really qualifies as an old man, recently decided to downsize after many years. He bought a Tempest Regensburg Model 4 rotary valve BBb, what Tempest calls a 1/2 size but looks to be the same body as the Jupiter JTU700 (formerly model 378) but with a rotary valve set that is detachable. He sounds pretty good on it and seems to be quite happy now. If they made it in CC, I might buy one myself.
Tempest Regensburg Model BBb
4 Rotary Valves
Bore: .661
Bell: 14.4
Height: 33"

[Charlie C Chowder]

I too need to loss allot of weight, and I am old. I also have the added disadvantage of being short. I still cannot reach seventh position on a trombone. And I also have bought smaller tubas because of the weight. But I use a stand to hold my toys as I play, weight is not only a problem when transporting. I have a chair for the sousaphone. It seems to work for me. Now how do I get more storage space?

CCC

[bloke]

I will admit that - post surgery - I have noticed the difference (though that noticing is becoming less and less, as I am less sore) between a 20 pound tuba and a 25 pound tuba, but don’t most weigh roughly within this range – at least the ones that are fully chromatic ?

With four pages now, is this morphing into a freak jury (“a model I own, and/or a model I would like to sell”) list?

For quite a few years now, I have rejected personal ownership of instruments that require wild/(long) frequent slide pulls (as well as any that call for routine #3 slide pulling) - so I suppose that most all of my instruments are (in respect to ease-of-achieving-good-intonation) OMT’s…(??)

[humBell]

I am curious...

I saw a Conn 6j (i took the time to look it up) incorrectly listed as an Eb go for a bit on ebay recently.

The marketing material blurb on it said it was made small and light (but sturdy) for school use, and could do all its bigger Conn siblings could do?

How do those work for this here use-case?

[tofu]

.

[tokuno]

Isn't losing 30 lbs. (from oneself) more beneficial and less traumatic than selling an "amazing" tuba that weighs 26 lbs (or whatever) and replacing it with a "pretty good" one that weighs 20 lbs (or whatever...realizing not very much net loss in overall "tote") ?

Guess it depends why folks want an old-player tuba. I can see someone running out of lap space and benefitting by dropping 30# of gut, but if someone's losing mobility, strength, or lung capacity, maybe it's not a straight lbs=lbs calculation?
In my case, I'm 5'-7" and about 145 pounds (generally characterized as skinny), and I don't consider myself an old man (57 - run, bike, lift, shoot, etc.,), but I own a very old back (Indiana Jones: "It's not the years, it's the mileage").
I've shopped on and off for an old man's tuba, because it's not the playing that gets me, it's the pick it up, put it down, and move it around and in & out of spaces (esp. the car). When I hold weight away from my body's centerline, my lower back reminds me I just did it, and if I don't heed the warning, I pay in mobility for the next couple days.
I've switched back to exclusively euphonium for the past 6 months or so, not because of size, but because it's my last opportunity for a long time, if not forever, to play in section with my son - senior in HS, headed to Annapolis, then to his service commitment. I.e. no playing for a long time, since he's leaning toward following in his Dad's footsteps and parking the horn for a couple decades before bringing it back out of mothballs at some far flung future date - d'oh! I'm living Harry Chapin's Cat's in the Cradle.
Euphonium has been my back's delight. Lighter and carried much closer to my centerline than the tuba, and so much easier for car transitions . . . I'm dogged by a little voice asking, "Do you ~really~ need to ever play tuba again?" (The answer, of course, is "yes, the crematorium better be big enough to accommodate a sousaphone"), but the fat, wide-belled 2341 will eventually morph into something I can cuddle closer to my centerline, especially in-the-bag. That JP 621 clone looks mighty tempting. I haven't loved the way my 103s & 621 - Werils, too - have played, so I passed them through, but at some point not too far away, the calculus is gonna change.

[bloke]

For those of us who claim that a difference between 20 pounds and 25 pounds is going to hurt their knees/feet/lower back – and who are also at least 5 pounds overweight, the solution does seem obvious, doesn’t it?