A little bit of Bydlo! Tenor Tuba Showdown

[notaverygoodname]

First off, a huge thank you to David Werden for resisting the urge to transpose this to treble clef with 7 sharps. This drastically facilitates my ability to play this on instruments in Eb.

Second, let me put out some disclaimers.

This video is just a demonstration of my mouthpiece concept, and my Tenor Tuba sound concept. I'm not intending to show off my non-existent talents, provide an unqualified review of the arrangement, or perform any unwanted shilling for Josef Klier. I'm a hobbyist collector and I'm playing a mouthpiece that's 4mm wider than my preference on instruments that aren't anything to brag about.

So, which is your choice for best Tenor Tuba?

[highpitch]

One man's sharp is another man's flat.

Tone wise, the Eb tuba had some magic, but one or two of the spells were buggard.

Overall, the Besson compensated 3-valve got my vote.

DG

[Sara Hood]

More opinions

Personally, I thought that the Conn 20-I had the best sound. Whether it was tenor tuba or not, I can not say. Just that I liked the Conn sample the best.

I agree that the Couesnon Bb Bass sounded the worst. It was thin, like the horn was not being filled up with air/sound or like it was leaking air from somewhere. It was a dog. The final instrument (Eb Alto Tuba) had some of that same, not "full" sound.

The Eb Contrabass Saxhorn was interesting. Although, those top notes sounded like you were really pinching to get them out. It didn't do them any favors, even though the rest sounded alright.

Thank you for letting us hear a sampling of your collection (smile). Maybe someday you will find the "perfect horn and mouthpiece" together.

- Sara

[MarChant]

For me, the first Besson sounded the best. Best option of course would be a "French" tuba in C.

The Couesnon probably has some leaky valves, maybe it could benefit from thicker oil.

A good Eb bass tuba should be a reasonable option. I remember back in the day I used to play this with the Youth Orchestra; I sometimes did it on my CC tuba, but most of the time I played it on a Lark baritone, by lack of a better option at the time...

[notaverygoodname]

Thanks for the responses, so far.

All this love for the Eb Bass...maybe I'll see if I can find a mouthpiece that lets me play that high without clamming furiously. It doesn't really like this mouthpiece that much, but I certainly can't play this high on my go-to mouthpiece. Not sure how anyone plays this in its original octave on CC Tuba. Where there's a will, there's a way...I guess?

Yes, the Couesnon is hooped, unfortunately. I hoped it would redeem its purchase cost and behave itself, but it was having none of it. The Alto Tuba was just a last minute joke that I added when I remembered that I even had that mouthpiece. I do not endorse playing an Alto Horn with a 24mm wide cup diameter. Its awful, but a hilariously lazy way to get through Bydlo.