Been wanting to pick Vikentios Gionanidis's book up for a while.

BTW, to muck up the works here, a friend of mine has recently starting playing on a tuba mouthpiece that has a horn rim on it. I kid you not. He is a pro, and i'm not being facetious. it is a new release of some kind. He said he likes it. Rim is narrow like a horn rim, not the diameter of a horn ...

I assume it must be silver then.

My favorite, 4/4ish contrabass tuba is the Miraphone 1291 Bb. The 191 has a better sound (and a magnificent low register!) but I find the 1291 plays much easier (particularly around D-B below the staff) and has much better ergonomics (tall guy). I played a few normie horns, Conn 56j and a 187, for ...

It’s pretty cool in person.


It is definitely much more impressive in person. I saw it as a kid up at Interlochen. Impressive engraving work & the biggest Sousaphone I had ever seen. I remember thinking -geez gotta be a giant PITA to march in a 2 mile parade with it on your shoulder! :bugeyes ...

Valved bass/contrabass trombones, whether straight or bent, have been around for over a century, here's a bent Bb from the early 1900s. There's a YouTube video from a bass trombonist who mostly plays period instruments now, he has a video playing an early 1900s bent 4 valve F that sounds really nice ...

I bought an F contrabass trumpet from Grant at the contrabass compendium website. I emailed him asking about it, he said he was primarily a saxophone player and was up for selling it. Super cool horn, tons of core, played very well. It went away in a purge, along with my Kanstul contrabass trombone ...

The slide setup on my Eb cimbasso-thing is really very ergonomic. Short main slide in the leadpipe to set overall length (per the builder, this was to get correct length during building it), long Marzan style reversed slide behind the top bow, usable top slides for all the valves. I can sit my wrist ...

That bottom picture reminds me that no matter how wild and wacky the tubas of Tuba World are, piccolo trumpets are a close runner up in overall whackiness. I played with a guy once that had a tunable bell piccolo trumpet (cannot remember the brand), he said he had a WOODEN bell for it.

I had a chance to purchase Chuck Dallenbach's gold Schilke/yamaha CC tuba that he used in the glory days of the Canadian brass. I still regret not buying it, not because it was a fantastic tuba, but because of the association with brass history.


I never saw it, but I used to play with (and for ...

Okay, so I am very interested in a tuba that one of my erstwhile students now owns. It was described to me as a model I did not know existed.

Not being a "specs fan boi", I do not feel like wasting a lot of time on the Miraphone website reading meaningless decimal places. I want actual hands-on ...

Maybe I will just do that when the opportunity presents itself.

On the other hand, the tuba plays surprisingly well and the valves are in good shape. The body could use some tough dent ball love, but for now I will have to get familiar with it.

Maybe it’s the mouthpiece combo but 1+3 is better ...

My first exposure to anything more than 3 valve Bb tuba/bass clarinet/baritone saxophone was my first time playing in All Region. Multiple bass clarinets, at least one contra, a few bassoons, maybe a contrabassoon,... I think the tune that really blew my mind was a piece called Into The Storm. A ...

Anything new on this? I think I'll miss the New Carlisle TC but I'm going to the Valpo TC if I have to ruck my cimbasso from wherever I am.

Notice that he doesn't cock his head sideways nor mark any other weird unnecessary movements when taking in air.


They're all very efficient in breathing and staggering breaths during longer notes. The whole video is an excellent watch even if you don't speak German, by following his body ...

6:38 here is fantastic. I've been on a giant German Bb binge lately and have been watching a lot of videos where I don't understand what the guy is saying.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ht1C1fnMWJQ

Joe, have you played the size 5 or 6 Miraphone Hagen tubas? I'm curious how they play compared to your 98. I played a MW195 and a 98, at the same Midwest conference I believe, for maybe 15 minutes each (so effectively not at all) and was more impressed by the 98, if only due do the planetary size of ...

I remember reading about the 3000 serial number on the old forum.

I tried one maybe 15 years ago at WWBW, it was fairly dark but workable and otherwise a wonderful player. The valve ergos were completely unusable unfortunately. I'm 6'9" with about a 37" sleeve and I couldn't use the fourth valve ...

bloke wrote: Tue Nov 04, 2025 6:46 am

ronr wrote: Mon Nov 03, 2025 11:03 pm Does that bass only have three strings?

Times are tough all over.

Mark Sandman played a two string bass guitar, he may have had other financial priorities...

Very cool. I've never played a giant American Bb but the sound and feel is practically visceral through that picture. I remember a guy from Florida on the old forum, he had a cut Holton 6/4 C and a big 3 front valve York Bb and I always thought the York was the cooler horn. I wouldn't do anything to ...