With the repair plus a cleaning, the horn plays well, but is unlike anything I've played before at this size. The best fit I have for it is a PT88, but I'd love to hear what's worked for others! Intonation is pretty easy to handle, E Eb D in the staff are pretty flat but everything else is pretty close to where it should be, and high Ab / C, both of which are (reportedly) problems on some of these are pretty easy to handle.
As far as response, I've never played a C where execution of the fundamental etudes (Kopprasch and Rochut) was easier, both because of the pretty good intonation and the ease of legato and staccato playing. Despite being on the large side of 4/4, it's very, very easy to play quietly and delicately with clarity. The low register is easy to handle as well. When not pushed, it has a nice, round, pleasing sound, definitely more American than German but not quite as fluffy as a Conn 56j/Eastman 632.
However, where this horn is quite different from what I'm used to when trying to play it with a bit of 'fist.' It takes way different input to get to that kind of sound than with the PT5 I used to own (which plays very similarly to a rotor PT6). This might (?) be due to the unique long leadpipe design these DS's have. Getting this effect from a PT5 was pretty simple, brute force plus a slightly shallower mouthpiece, but the DS doesn't respond nicely to that treatment. On the DS, it takes a lot of precision. The buzz has to be exactly right and I have to keep my corners pretty tight, which is not how I'm accustomed to playing C tubas, otherwise the sound kind of backs up. I'm going to have to practice more to achieve this effect consistently!
For now, this is nice fit for the playing I do. I use my (fabulous) B and S Symphonie F tuba for as much as possible in the community orchestra I'm part of, and the DS should be able to handle a lot of contrabass tuba rep that it'd be no fun to play the F on. However, if we play something like Tchaikovsky 4, where "fist" is really what I'd be trying to achieve, I'll have to think long and hard. I could bring the big tuba and work to make the kind of sound I hear in my head, or bring the F tuba, which will achieve the sound I want easily but take a lot more work to project the lower notes out to the audience.
A photo of the horn is below, you can see the scarring/compound folds on the left side of the bell, it honestly looks better in the photo than it does in person. There are some posts on the old forum that talk more about the oddities in the construction of the DS, the long leadpipe, removable valve section, etc.
