Appropriate tubas for brass band

[Breavdah]

For Eb part, Id suggest something small. Because it often serves as a defacto Euphonium (because the actual euphonium often serves as defacto Mellophone/embellishment role). And it would make tuba double-stops in octaves or fifths more clear and interesting sounding. IMO tuba divisi in BBB are overused and too fuzzy if timbres and weights are perfectly equal.

For Bb part, Id stay with 4/4 size. There's so much warm sound in BBB that a big sound is just more broth in the soup. The traditional instrument has a lot of grunt, but without any splash. On the best bands the Eb part seems prominent and when Bb comes in it is its less its own sound and more like hitting a guitar pedal for "Enthicken".

[prairieboy1]

I'm nearly 40 years into the "tradition", having been a member of several "famous" bands: Besses o'th' Barn, Faireys. Brighouse and Rastrick and Foden's. twice!

At Foden's we have 2 Yamaha's (BBb) and 2 Besson EEb in the section. Personally, I've tried many different tubas in brass bands, and no one frowns upon it but they just don't work as well as a 3+1 comp for the full on stuff. Blend, technical passages, sound are all better FOR THIS SETTING. I've tried a St Pete, a York Master, a 2341, a PT6 etc etc but for me, I always return to a 3+1.

BUT, if you're in an emerging brass band country, or a community band, or not one of the "Top 20", then hell, use what you have. I'd rather see a brass band with any tuba players, then no brass band at all....

As for what I think it should sound like, have a listen to any of the top 3 from this contest, but personally I favour "our" bass section sound, it takes a lot of work to not be nasty or overblown, which is too common these days.

Or perhaps I'm just an old fart.
Thanks so much for posting that clip. The tuba section playing was sublime!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SBOU-_ ... mercyMusic

[Oedipoes]

At Foden's we have 2 Yamaha's (BBb) and 2 Besson EEb in the section. Personally, I've tried many different tubas in brass bands, and no one frowns upon it but they just don't work as well as a 3+1 comp for the full on stuff. Blend, technical passages, sound are all better FOR THIS SETTING. I've tried a St Pete, a York Master, a 2341, a PT6 etc etc but for me, I always return to a 3+1.

Hi Andy, could you share your thoughts about the Yamaha Neo BBb?
I might be playing the BBb part again in one of the next seasons, but not on a Besson, because it breaks my back.
I would love to bring my kaiser BBb, however, having played euphonium for over 20 years, and currently playing a B&H Imperial EEb, 3+1 goes natural for me, so preferred for today's Brass band pieces.

Thanks!

[andycat]

Hi Andy, could you share your thoughts about the Yamaha Neo BBb?
I might be playing the BBb part again in one of the next seasons, but not on a Besson, because it breaks my back.
I would love to bring my kaiser BBb, however, having played euphonium for over 20 years, and currently playing a B&H Imperial EEb, 3+1 goes natural for me, so preferred for today's Brass band pieces.

Thanks!

Hi, I like the Neo a lot, I helped do the testing on the prototypes. Certainly a lot easier to handle than the Bessons (and clones) with a far better sound to me, and the tuning is a lot more down the middle!

[Doc]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SBOU-_ ... mercyMusic

And led by our friend Russell Gray!

[Doc]

British brass band music is scored for Eb and Bb basses. My brass band has six tuba players now, and only one of us is using an Eb or Bb tuba. At the 1st annual Texas Brass Fest (which I enjoyed a lot), I saw that even the fancier bands in the state have some non-regulation tubas. Seems to work fine.

So, how much does it matter? One of our cornet players, at a break, said something like

"We really should make sure we're using Eb tubas instead of F. They're supposed to sound more like tubby euphoniums than tubas. Maybe the band should buy a set."

Maybe we should be playing Eb tubas, but surely that's not enough to guarantee the "right" sound. I spent a few minute's with Mike Lynch's YFB-621 a while back, and it seemed a lot like a big euphonium (fun!). And lots of modern Eb tubas advertise a contrabass sound, right?

Is this just a Bb vs. C question? (Does this forum already have one of those?)

If the club will buy Eb and Bb basses, that’s great. If not, your charged with how much you want to pursue ($$$$) the traditional sound. My opinion is that a great band is a great band, but having the proper basses does provide the proper color to the sound to a discernible extent. If the band isn’t that serious about being proper/traditional, it may not really matter.

In our section, 3 out of 4 of us purchased 3+1 comp basses. We each had the money to do it, and we wanted to have as proper British sound as possible (in the same way I play rotary F tuba in small German groups).

In the US, brass banding doesn’t have the same tradition, intensity, competitive pride, and certainly isn’t under the same scrutiny for instrumentation. It won’t matter to the public here in the US, and if your band likes what the basses do, then it’s all good. But if you really want to capture the British sound as much as possible, Eb and Bb basses are in order.

And for the record, the ABB (band and basses) sounded great at Round Top. I’m anxiously awaiting the recording to be made available.

[guy]

At Foden's we have 2 Yamaha's (BBb) and 2 Besson EEb in the section. Personally, I've tried many different tubas in brass bands, and no one frowns upon it but they just don't work as well as a 3+1 comp for the full on stuff. Blend, technical passages, sound are all better FOR THIS SETTING. I've tried a St Pete, a York Master, a 2341, a PT6 etc etc but for me, I always return to a 3+1.

Hi Andy, could you share your thoughts about the Yamaha Neo BBb?
I might be playing the BBb part again in one of the next seasons, but not on a Besson, because it breaks my back.
I would love to bring my kaiser BBb, however, having played euphonium for over 20 years, and currently playing a B&H Imperial EEb, 3+1 goes natural for me, so preferred for today's Brass band pieces.

Thanks!

I think you should try before you buy, definitely, speaking as someone who's played on a Besson, and Neo Bb in European competitions.

Their valves are definitely the best among the 3+1 types. They go down, and they go up. Can not complain about them. However, intonation tends to go a bit low, to the point where i have to do microadjustments with my embouchure to fit with the intruments of the upper octaves. It also feels a slight bit stiff, when doing just that. Suddenly i will jump up a fifth, instead of actually fixing the intonation. Luckily, it is very easy to tune with your section mates, given that they play on the same instrument. Also smoothing out the legato transition from C to D has required perplexingly much work for me. More work than has been needed on other Bbs of the 3+1, but also different configurations. The area between low C and middle G are for me the weak spots on the instrument, which is an area you definitely use quite a bit. For low stuff, dancing from low C down to pedal C, it's very, very solid. Articulation in this area is better than on any other 3+1. G flows, F flows, Eb flows, even D and Db are very manageable. The timbre down here is easy to mold, so that slight slight everpresent growl/rumble/resonance, even at soft dynamics, is highly achievable. It is also very good for pedals. It has to be said that I haven't played Bb kaisers, so I can't compare with those.

However, the Yamaha Ebs are a joy to play! Very relaxing and open. They are maybe a bit prone to exploding, if you give them too much force, but if you stay relaxed and trust your lungs over forcing your lips, they will serve you very, very well.

[2nd tenor]

Apologies if I’ve misunderstood but the note names in Guy’s post above confused me for a moment. The norm here (on this forum) is to use concert pitch names for notes and I think that he has used transposed treble clef (as is the norm in brass bands). To convert transposed treble clef for Bb instruments into concert pitch simply use the name a the pitch that is one full tone lower (eg. C goes to Bb).

[Tuba1153]

If the club will buy Eb and Bb basses, that’s great. If not, your charged with how much you want to pursue ($$$$) the traditional sound. My opinion is that a great band is a great band, but having the proper basses does provide the proper color to the sound to a discernible extent. If the band isn’t that serious about being proper/traditional, it may not really matter.

In our section, 3 out of 4 of us purchased 3+1 comp basses. We each had the money to do it, and we wanted to have as proper British sound as possible (in the same way I play rotary F tuba in small German groups).

In the US, brass banding doesn’t have the same tradition, intensity, competitive pride, and certainly isn’t under the same scrutiny for instrumentation. It won’t matter to the public here in the US, and if your band likes what the basses do, then it’s all good. But if you really want to capture the British sound as much as possible, Eb and Bb basses are in order.

And for the record, the ABB (band and basses) sounded great at Round Top. I’m anxiously awaiting the recording to be made available.

I agree with Bill (as one of his 2 other band mates with a 3+1), The first time I sat down with my CC and was transposing music that I could just lay down in my sleep on a BBb, I immediately started looking for a BBb and an Eb. Right tool for the job at hand, and I have not looked back.