Posted by Richard Murrow on August 21, 2001 at 20:48:15:
In Reply to: DO monsterweights work?????? posted by Alan on August 21, 2001 at 14:13:39:
Alan,
I'm a freelance tuba player in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I also teach at TCU in Ft Worth. Mark gave me a set of these wieghts recently to try on my 56J Conn. My horn already plays GREAT as an all-around tuba, but I must tell you that the monster weights made a very noticeable improvement. I tried the weights in a variety of applications. I first tried using four, one on each piston, which deadened the sound a little too much for my taste. Then I tried various combinations of 2 - 3 weights. Finally I settled on using them on the 1st and 2nd valves only. This seemed to work great! I've been playing more years now than I care to think about and I'm not sure I'll ever understand the science behind this sort of thing. I'm am sure of one thing though, I've made a living for a lot of years using my ears and my ear tells me that there is a positive difference in the sound that is generated from my horn after using the monster weights. I hear more smoothness in slurring, more clarity and center in the sound and a quicker response. I've also had very positive comments about overall volume and projection from other players who didn't even know that I had the weights on my horn. This was the first set of piston weights that Mark has done and I would encourage you to try them whether you have a piston or rotary valve tuba. I hope this helps.