CC tubas

[Mary Ann]

A CC player I know who is REALLY good -- played an Eastman 832 at a regional music store, and wants the Eastman. Says it is better in tune and plays more easily for him than the 822. Astonished me, actually, that I keep hearing from a wide variety of people that at least individual examples of the Eastmans are that good. What dismayed my friend is that the availability of the less expensive Eastmans is causing the used market for more expensive instruments to sag, because he needs to sell the 822 to get the 832.

[arpthark]

I went to Dillon two years ago expecting to try out their CC tubas, think about it, come back a few days later and make a decision.

What ended up happening was that I walked out of there with an 832 and never looked back. Point and shoot intonation, sweet sound, great valves, slides all perfectly aligned (until I dropped one... d'oh), flexible and even across all registers.

[cktuba]

So they currently have Yamaha YCB-822?

[LeMark]

Doesn't just apply to the expensive horns, if somebody is going to think about buying my cerveny 5 valve CC, the first thing they are going to do is compare it to the Mack brass 410.
Which is a similar tuba that is cheaper brand new than what I feel like I would ask for my tuba.

[bloke]

yeah...my B-flat similar-sized (slightly smaller) instrument absolutely rocks...more resonance than similarly-sized C instruments, as it has the advantage of two more feet of expanding bugle.

(I hadn't pulled it out, lately...' had made the mistake of it being shut up in its case. I pulled it out to use on Easter (being more compact, easier to avoid being stepped on by choir members heading down/back for communion), and was reminded of how much fun it is to play, and how much racket (in a good way) it makes.

The Eastman things are sort of cut-down "new style" Kings...Whereas the York/Holton 4/4 instruments (19-inch bells) feature nearly-identical-to-King bottom bows, but the rest of the bugle is every-so-slightly-smaller (and more tightly wound). I'm thinking the King B-flat/Eastman C things are around 37" tall - whereby this thing FITS INTO a 38"-long (hard) case. The small oem bore sizes on those (Holton .665" and York .655") limited their "horsepower", but - with an adulterated King (.687"...same bore as Eastman) valve section on the York/Holton body, the resulting instrument is a contrabass "race car" - and without having to chop two feet off the expanding bugle.

I've talked about this tuba way too much and posted way too many pics of it, but (well...) here it is again...and I'm glad to have it BACK OUT of its case:

This thing needs about a day of "picking back over", and then some sort of finish.


bloke "B-flat...It's where it's at."

[Mary Ann]

So they currently have Yamaha YCB-822?

yes, and plays it extremely well -- with a lot of slide pulling.

[matt g]

So they currently have Yamaha YCB-822?

yes, and plays it extremely well -- with a lot of slide pulling.

I think that’s par for the course with that model.

The Eastman 632/832 will have better intonation, but a slightly smaller sound.

[bloke]

I realize that my previous post sort of looked like a non sequitur, but...

...all I was really trying to say is that an instrument in that size range with that bore size typically works out really well.