While researching potential tubas to buy for tuba beginners in our school band, I have been collecting specs of potential candidates (such as Wessex "Elf", John Packer JP077 and the like). However, there is also the option of servicing older stuff in the band basement, so I have been testing out our ...

For a "Northern European" perspective: we start our low-brass youngsters out on 3-valve, non-compensating, top-action baritone horns (British brass-band (BBB) style, like YBH-301), and shift them to Euphoniums (and bigger) as they grow. In some bands they are even started out on alto horns in E flat ...

After a week with the Bach 25 mouthpiece clone:
- Practice works wonders. And thanks to MaryAnn for helpful hints for getting more control in the low register. The 1+4 A flat natural is however still the lowest I can hope to hit somewhat cleanly.
- There seems to be some synergy effects to horn ...

Because I am not a pro but a reasonably intelligent and successful self-taught -- I will PM you what I suggest you do for the low register, which has worked gangbusters for me once I figured it out (and it works on all brass for me; it's just that with a horn-sized cup, it is far less obvious what ...

Thank you all for your input. As mentioned: getting the lips to vibrate with the proper aperture size for the instrument is somewhat important for proper sound production. Coming from French horn (and also cornet and tenor horn in my brass band past), learning to relax a few of those muscles that ...

One variant I've used in the past, which I quite liked, did not use the strap rings at all:

https://blaasmomusikk.no/produkter/unica-bandolaer-kryss-spesial-til-tuba-euphonium-baryton/

There's an adjustable part of it that you tighten around the bottom bow. This part has its own strap ring ...

So I have been asked to fill in on tuba in a youth band, and up to now I've been playing an old B&H Regent Eb equipped with a Kosikup mouthpiece of similar vintage. A tuba this tiny leaves something to be desired in terms of fullness of sound, so to improve on this I found a really nice Wessex ...