Posted by Jay Bertolet on February 02, 2003 at 20:59:38:
In Reply to: Rudy Meinl posted by Tubatuba on February 02, 2003 at 15:58:04:
I think it depends on the specific model you're looking at.
I'll run down the RM CC models that I'm familiar with. I won't comment on the F tuba models because I don't play F tuba and am unfamiliar with them.
3/4 - Pretty much the same as always. This design has been around for a long time (as long as I've been playing) and it never seems to change. The newest ones I've played have been just as much of a joy to play as the older ones.
4/4 - Not nearly as good as the older ones. The older ones had a slightly different wrap. These horns had a tendency to have intonation problems. RM tried to adjust the wrap to fix those problems. Unfortunately, the resulting horn had a different (but equally bad, in my opinion) set of intonation problems and the horn lost some of the quality of the sound. Perhaps they'll go back to making them the old way some day.
5/4 - Pretty much the same story as the 3/4, nothing's really changed in the design and they play as great today as they did in previous years. Just a wonderful horn.
CCC - Much better! The original run of piston CC tubas was pretty bad. I personally played a couple of them (only a few were made) and they were nearly unworkable. Bad intonation, inconsistent registers, very weak low register. By contrast, the newer CCC is a really nice horn. Some say the lower register is a bit stuffy but the players that like this horn really swear by it.
4345 - In my opinion, this horn will probably replace the 4/4 design. It was not available in the 70's because it is a new design. The one I played last summer was truly amazing. I've heard a rumor that the reason this horn was made at all was because of a supposed shortage of piston valves in europe. To continue sending horns out the door, RM had to adapt the CCC design to use rotaries. If this story is true, what a lucky break! If subsequent examples of this model play as well as the one I played, I'll certainly be in line to get one.
My opinion for what it's worth...