Question about Geneva cardinal e flat tuba Vs besson sovereign e flat tuba

[iCupboard]

Hey there. I am new here. I have a Besson Sovereign e-flat with a gold brass bell. I was wondering if anyone here owns or has tried a Geneva Cardinal e-flat tuba that had it compared with a Besson Sovereign e-flat tuba? I would love to know what you think of the Geneva!

[davewerden]

Welcome to the forum!

We talk mostly about euphoniums, but we do have some tuba players or doublers here. Maybe someone will have some perspective to offer.

I play a Sovereign E-flat tuba myself (once every few years). Mine is from the early 1980's, and I don't think a gold brass bell was an option then. But it plays nicely. My only beef now as I get older is that it is really heavy in the hard case! It lives in my basement and the stairway is narrow and steep. Then upstairs there are some narrow corners to make before I get it outside. Anyway, I used to play it more and was in a couple of brass bands along the way. But these days I don't sound quite as good as I did when I was actually using it semi-regularly. Here is my only recent example, FWIW:

https://youtu.be/FQ7fEH-f-hI

It is my own arrangement of Voi Che Sapete (Mozart).

[iCupboard]

Thanks for the reply. I loved that piece you played.

Hopefully someone can chime in on the Geneva!