Dillon 5450

[cthuba]

Hey all!

Has anyone played these?

[bloke]

Is this the same Thor-looking (but larger) instrument that Thomann has been selling?
If “yes” (??), I bought one from China, maximized it as much as I possibly could to see if I could replace my M-W 5450 with it (among other things, the mouthpipe tube was huge on the Chinese-made tuba, and I replaced it), played several jobs on it (a Rachmaninoff concert, a Celtic women concert, et al… probably five or six orchestra concerts) and then decided to keep my real 5450 and I sold the Chinese 5450-looking instrument.

If the one you’re talking about is a different instrument from the thing Thomann sells, then never mind.

[kingrob76]

Is this the same Thor-looking (but larger) instrument that Thomann has been selling?
If “yes” (??), I bought one from China, maximized it as much as I possibly could to see if I could replace my M-W 5450 with it (among other things, the mouthpipe tube was huge on the Chinese-made tuba, and I replaced it), played several jobs on it (a Rachmaninoff concert, a Celtic women concert, et al… probably five or six orchestra concerts) and then decided to keep my real 5450 and I sold the Chinese 5450-looking instrument.

If the one you’re talking about is a different instrument from the thing Thomann sells, then never mind.

What differences did you note in your trial experience?

[bloke]

What differences did you note in your trial experience?

With the oem (huge) mouthpipe, it was really super "PT-6-ish".
(I have no idea whether the mouthpipe tubes on those are still the size of that one, or now smaller...??)

With my replacement 'pipe, it was a bit more focused, but still considerably less "front" than with my German-made 5450
(and my 5450 offers less "front" than my newly-assembled compact Holton B-flat, just fwiw). That having been said, with so many people playing raincatcher lap-sousaphones (in C - the 6/4 yorky things) these days, "front" and "color" may (??) both be somewhat out-of-style...

I also found (with the Chinese-made one) that I had to - in addition to the #1 slide - move the #3 slide (as is required with Hirsbrunner, Willson, et al), which is a non-starter for me, and too distracting from the music (pat head, rub tummy, chew gum, light a cigar, read Tolstoy, count fast 11/16 measures rest, play Penderecki, etc.).

Most other people are much more tolerant of such issues than am I.
Particularly with the more normal-sized mouthpipe, it's a pretty good tuba, and (against tubas that MANY people REALLY LIKE - but which I don't particularly care for) it stands up well.

NOTE: You're asking ME what were MY impressions of it. I'm a VERY picky curmudgeonish bastard (who only keeps tubas that make me sound better than I actually am), so I'm the WRONG person to ask...and I don't even promote all of the tubas offered by companies that I represent (which defines me as a "suck" salesman, because - just because I don't like something , doesn't mean that someone else won't like it).

[kingrob76]

What differences did you note in your trial experience?

NOTE: You're asking ME what were MY impressions of it. I'm a VERY picky curmudgeonish bastard ... so I'm the WRONG person to ask.

Actually, this was exactly perfect. You detailed what worked and what didn't, and why, and you did it in terms that painted the picture precisely (from my standpoint). I'm curious what kind of leadpipe you stuck on there to get it to feel more like an actual 5450 (and to get that "front" to the sound).

[bloke]

I duplicated the bends with roughly a .525” bore to something like a .735” bore.

I wonder if it is the same model, because the one I had was a 19mm bore instrument.

[TubātōTubŏtō]

“Dillon DCB-5450 is a true 5/4 size CC tuba of commanding sound and ease of response featuring

Lacquer finish
19” upright bell
4 pistons of .770/.80” bore with a right thumb operated 5th rotor valve”

Copied from the Dillon site for reference.

[bloke]

Yes.
My replacement mouthpipe failed to to realize .748” - just as with a genuine 5450 mouthpipe.
I noticed the unusual bore size listed on the store website, thus my previous remark.

“Dillon DCB-5450 is a true 5/4 size CC tuba of commanding sound and ease of response featuring

Lacquer finish
19” upright bell
4 pistons of .770/.80” bore with a right thumb operated 5th rotor valve”

Copied from the Dillon site for reference.

[cthuba]

Bloke

How would you compare these with the Wisemann PT6 clones?

[bloke]

really: no
(Most of) the W-900’s that I’ve owned/played, I’ve preferred to (most) genuine PT6-P tubas. Not being a PT6-P fan, I’ve sold every one (of either) that - over the years - I was offered at attractive-to-me pricing…particularly as there always seem to be so many that are ready to buy either of those PT6-P-like models (both the genuine, and the W-900).

That having been said, an off-the-shelf genuine 5450 is - in my view/experience - a dangerous thing to purchase mail-order.
I feel extremely lucky to have the particular one that I have.