This is my personal 3+1 comp. E-flat (1958 production).
I suspect these are fairly rare...particularly with not-worn-out valves. (These valves are perfect.)
With the 22" recording bell, it sounds like a "phat" BB-flat tuba, yet is far more facile that most B-flat tubas...(and I need it to be: In jazz bands, I play a bare minimum of two "notes" in every single measure of every single song).
...and I also have these bells for it - a 19" and a 17"...so - pretty much - it's a whatever-anyone-could-possibly-want-it-to-be fully-chromatic comp. E-flat...
(I tend to use the 19" upright bell when a jazz combo is playing at some large outdoor venue - where all the instruments are mic'ed - and I tend to use the 22" recording bell at more intimate indoor jazz venues: clubs/lounges/parties/"rooms", etc., particularly when the ceiling of a room is lower.)
I strongly suspect that - WERE I afforded an opportunity to begin to learn what it's like to play in a British-style brass band - I'd show up with THIS instrument, and with the 17" bell...as it's the closest thing I have to a 15" bell (which - though mostly ignorant of brass band traditions - I consider THE "classic" size of BBB E-flat tuba bell [ie. 15"]...as it helps the E-flat tubas to offer their own "voice" - distinguishable from the BB-flat tubas' "voice").
...and I made the #3 comp slide EXTRA long, so that low F and E are "on the money" and are not sharp...and is low F-sharp a bit flat due to this? just a bit...but low F and E are played - in music - seemingly far more often than is F-sharp.
ALL of my instruments tend to be altered in one or more ways...ways which help me fool people into believing that I'm a good player.
