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There are a lot of questions about what an AGR (adjustable gap receiver) does or doesn't do. I don't play an Adams euph and don't have one on my M5050, but folks who play an Adams do.
I read this over on TubeNet by Matt Walters of Dillon Music here. Matt Walters seems to explain it pretty well I think. Here's a copy of what he posted:
I read this over on TubeNet by Matt Walters of Dillon Music here. Matt Walters seems to explain it pretty well I think. Here's a copy of what he posted:
I thought I would put some information out there on TubeNet about the AGR.
While most drivers don’t know they have a tire with low pressure until the light comes on in the dashboard, Professional race car drivers can tell the difference in the handling of a car with as little as ¼ PSI difference in the tire pressure of a tire.
Well, some tuba players can tell the difference in response (articulation) that a small fractional change in the receiver gap creates. MOST tuba players don’t know how bad they sound so they won’t be able to get any benefit out of something as subtle as a receiver gap change. (Please don’t think I am being holier than thou as I know full well how low on the totem pole I sit as a tuba player because I get to hear some the best layers in the world come through our store.) So, who is the Dillon AGR for? Lets start with who it isn’t for.
If think your tuba SUCKS, installing a Dillon AGR will not un-suck it. If your tuba plays naturally out of tune, the Dillon AGR won’t make it play automatically in-tune. If your neighbors think what they are hearing is a badly played bag pipe when in fact you are playing your tuba, the Dillon AGR won’t fix that. I have indeed seen the Dillon AGR installed on some very bad tubas. Let me put it to you straight. The Dillon AGR has never made a good horn into a turd. The Dillon AGR has never made a turd of a horn into a beautiful princess with a golden voice. AND…the Dillon AGR has never made a bad player sound great. Some people will sound like crap no matter what you put in their hands. So who is the Dillon AGR for?
If you have a mouthpiece that you like but you hear too much “foooo” in the beginning followed by the bloom of the sound, i.e. “fooWHAAAH”, that is indicative of too little gap for your personal style of articulation, instrument, and mouthpiece set up. The Dillon AGR after installed will let you increase the gap (space between the end of the mouthpiece shank and beginning of the leadpipe proper) until you can get a solid block of sound right from the beginning of the articulation. “tAAAHHH”. If you get a stutter, “Ta….AHHHH” in the sound when you articulate a half note, then you have too much gap happening for your personal genetics/style of playing and the instrument mouthpiece combination. With the Dillon AGR installed correctly, you can minimize the gap all the way to zero gap if need be.
Too little or too much gap and your playing won’t come out clean to the audience or audition committee without you doing herculean effort to compensate. The number one thing I hear from the GOOD players who talk to me after they didn’t get advanced to the finals and/or get the job is, “The audition committee said I didn’t play cleanly enough.”
If you have a good tuba that is in-tune, has a nice sound, but doesn’t articulate cleanly for you playing it on that one mouthpiece that you love, the one mouthpiece that feels so comfortable that you keep coming back to it, then a Dillon AGR is for you.
For the rest of you, keep buying expensive mouthpiece, after mouthpiece, after mouthpiece because you are trying to find something different that works with your tuba but doesn’t bother your chops. And when you compare mouthpieces between manufacturers, you are also dealing with a different gap setting as mouthpiece makers don't always use the exact same size/length shanks even though they may all call them American or Euro shank. So was it the mouthpiece cup and rim or was it the slightly different shank which changed the receiver gap that made you pick one mouthpiece over the other?
While most drivers don’t know they have a tire with low pressure until the light comes on in the dashboard, Professional race car drivers can tell the difference in the handling of a car with as little as ¼ PSI difference in the tire pressure of a tire.
Well, some tuba players can tell the difference in response (articulation) that a small fractional change in the receiver gap creates. MOST tuba players don’t know how bad they sound so they won’t be able to get any benefit out of something as subtle as a receiver gap change. (Please don’t think I am being holier than thou as I know full well how low on the totem pole I sit as a tuba player because I get to hear some the best layers in the world come through our store.) So, who is the Dillon AGR for? Lets start with who it isn’t for.
If think your tuba SUCKS, installing a Dillon AGR will not un-suck it. If your tuba plays naturally out of tune, the Dillon AGR won’t make it play automatically in-tune. If your neighbors think what they are hearing is a badly played bag pipe when in fact you are playing your tuba, the Dillon AGR won’t fix that. I have indeed seen the Dillon AGR installed on some very bad tubas. Let me put it to you straight. The Dillon AGR has never made a good horn into a turd. The Dillon AGR has never made a turd of a horn into a beautiful princess with a golden voice. AND…the Dillon AGR has never made a bad player sound great. Some people will sound like crap no matter what you put in their hands. So who is the Dillon AGR for?
If you have a mouthpiece that you like but you hear too much “foooo” in the beginning followed by the bloom of the sound, i.e. “fooWHAAAH”, that is indicative of too little gap for your personal style of articulation, instrument, and mouthpiece set up. The Dillon AGR after installed will let you increase the gap (space between the end of the mouthpiece shank and beginning of the leadpipe proper) until you can get a solid block of sound right from the beginning of the articulation. “tAAAHHH”. If you get a stutter, “Ta….AHHHH” in the sound when you articulate a half note, then you have too much gap happening for your personal genetics/style of playing and the instrument mouthpiece combination. With the Dillon AGR installed correctly, you can minimize the gap all the way to zero gap if need be.
Too little or too much gap and your playing won’t come out clean to the audience or audition committee without you doing herculean effort to compensate. The number one thing I hear from the GOOD players who talk to me after they didn’t get advanced to the finals and/or get the job is, “The audition committee said I didn’t play cleanly enough.”
If you have a good tuba that is in-tune, has a nice sound, but doesn’t articulate cleanly for you playing it on that one mouthpiece that you love, the one mouthpiece that feels so comfortable that you keep coming back to it, then a Dillon AGR is for you.
For the rest of you, keep buying expensive mouthpiece, after mouthpiece, after mouthpiece because you are trying to find something different that works with your tuba but doesn’t bother your chops. And when you compare mouthpieces between manufacturers, you are also dealing with a different gap setting as mouthpiece makers don't always use the exact same size/length shanks even though they may all call them American or Euro shank. So was it the mouthpiece cup and rim or was it the slightly different shank which changed the receiver gap that made you pick one mouthpiece over the other?
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