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Found a Vincent Bach Megatone 22 mouthpiece going through old boxes in the garage. I honestly cant remember if or when I ever used it; when I was playing in college, I had several mouthpieces. Anyone using a Megatone mouthpiece and if so, does it have any strengths as compared to other mouthpieces? Would you have a better recommendation for a BBb tuba. playing concert and brass music?

Cheers,
Jared

The 22 is a bit of a more rare mouthpiece compared to the 18, 24AW, and probably even the 7.

Nonetheless, it’s probably a good start getting back into things. The “megatone” part was a fallout of the adding mass phase in the 1980s/1990s (thanks to people like Monette).

I know the 7 megatone has a slightly larger throat. It’s hard to draw a legitimate conclusion when two variables (one likely far more important than the other and not externally visible) are changed at the same time.

Bach says the 22 Megatone has a 8.62mm throat and the standard 22 has an 8.33mm throat.

The published dimensions of the Bach 22 suggest that it's a middle-of-the-road mouthpiece that will likely work for most players on most tubas and should be appropriate as a starting point for a comeback player.

That said, Bach mouthpieces are so variable in dimensions and build quality that it's a fool's errand to make general statements about how each model plays. The Model 18 being made today is nothing like the New York 18 I got started with decades ago, and your 22 Megatone might be from a great batch of mouthpieces, or from a batch of stinkers. At the end of the day, you'll just have to acquire a tuba, pop your Megatone on it, and draw your own conclusions.

And the standard 18, 24AW etc. are supposed to have even wider 8.84 mm throats, according to the catalogue.

I used a Bach Megatone 18 in HS and College, and even a little beyond. I bought it when I was 14, because it was described as "sonorous," and I had no idea what that meant but I sure wanted to sound like that.

Regardless, it worked fine on everything, and I sounded great with it.

In college, Tom Holtz said it looked like a double shot glass.

Whether it was good or bad, I don't know... But I played it from the beginning and for about 10 years straight... I was too broke to buy another mouthpiece, and it worked fine so why change it? I grew into it and got accustomed to it. It's just an "automatic" by this point. Last time I used it was on a Conn 20J, and it was fantastic. It doesn't fit in the Martin (which is a small shank), or I'd try it there too.

I've been using a Bach Mega 7 on everything (F, Eb, CC) for about 25 years. Nothing matches the sound, and it fits my face great.