(Originally posted 6/6/1999 by Roy Patchell on previous Euphonium-Tuba Forum on this site
I posted this message to the tuba-euph group and it generated an interesting discussion maybe someone will read this here and have an opinion:
"What is wrong with EEb tubas? There seems to be a prejudice against them in the music world in general. I cannot tell any real difference in tone or sonority between EEb and F tubas. Also, for converted trumpet players, the EEb has great advantages in that the bass clef can be read as treble clef (after adding three #'s to key signature). There seem to be many good modern EEb models available (e.g., Besson, Willson, Yamaha). And there seems to have been a great many EEb tubas produced in the past during the golden age of brass (and 3-valve models at that); this would strongly suggest that the EEb tubas have merit. Why does there now seem to be such prejudice against the EEb?"