Mead springs lite ... or not?
I'm very confused.
I thought I'd order the "Mead Springs Lite" to see if I liked them in either my euph or my EEb tuba. The Mead Springs are specifically advertised to be suitable for Eb tuba as well as euphonium.
For some reason, I couldn't get the ordering stuff to work on the Just For Brass site and so I ordered them via Amazon Marketplace from Louisville Music Company. They came today. Very puzzling. Consider the picture:
The original Mead Spring is on the right, and one of the Mead Springs Lite is on the left. The Lite one is noticeably shorter that the original, and it is of a (to me) MUCH smaller diameter. The descriptions of them on the web do often say that "the lite springs are slightly smaller and lighter". But that diameter difference is a bit striking. In addition, the original Mead Springs are not cylindrical, but bulge in the middle. The Lite ones I got are fully cylindrical.
Then there is the issue that the original Mead Springs come designated for specific valves since they are of different strengths. None of the descriptions of the lite ones I have seen say anything different -- only that they are lighter. But there is NO indication with the lite springs that came that they are valve-specific, and indeed they appear identical. $37 (plus $5 shipping) for a set of identical cylindrical plastic coated springs seems a bit much. It seems to me that the two major distinguishing features of Mead Springs is that they are distinctively shaped and designed for different strengths in each valve. These have neither feature.
I haven't actually tried these yet, but was thinking of trying them in the EEb tuba as well as the euphonium. However, given their skimpy size, I'm now a little concerned about doing so. And more generally I'm thinking maybe I should just return them without trying them. The package from Louisville Music, by the way, has a label on it that says "Mead Springs Lite (Baritone) $36.95" and ""justforbrass.com & justforwinds.com".
What I'm really wondering is if anyone has tried these and has any comments. I don't suppose anyone has tried them in a tuba?
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)