What Do Tubists Use In Different Countries?

[Ricardo]

In Australia we were, for a long time, taught Eb tuba at school. This was great as Brass Bands are widespread. Now a much higher percentage are being taught Bb, much to the dismay of many. Eb seems like a much better ‘one tuba.’ Lighter, able to play solos more nimble whilst supporting a band.

As amateurs Eb was (still is?) most popular, with Bb a distant second mainly played by Brass Band players who may not be able to play Bass clef on BBb tuba (myself included ). These days many of the very good amateurs seem to have a CC tuba.

As the world became smaller CC and F tubas became the must have for any aspiring pro. Although a number of pro and conservatory trained players stuck to Eb as their bass tuba.

So for a long time we were much like the Brits, but the C and Bb tuba have become more prevalent. F tuba remains a more specialist instrument for the conservatory trained.

In Australia it was the Sovereign EEb, but now seeing plenty of front action EEb’s, Wilson, Miraphone

What is the Eb tuba of choice for most players?