Posted by Bill on July 11, 2000 at 11:35:47:
In Reply to: Convertable BBb Tubas posted by Kendall Prinz on July 11, 2000 at 00:24:24:
if he's concerned only with sound, and the look of the horns has nothing to do with his decision, he may find that the answer is not a convertable tuba, but a higher quality sousaphone. of all the marching instruments i've played, i am of the opinion that a large, well made sousaphone matches the darkness and warmth of a tuba better than any other. convertables tend to be much too bright, sometimes to the point of sounding more like a bass trombone than a tuba. smaller (or fiberglass) sousaphones have similar issues; they're too bright and the sound spreads to easily. from my experience, a conn 20k is the next best thing to a concert tuba when you're on the field. if, however, your band director really wants convertables, i would go with the Kanstuls. they're huge and heavy, but they're the best ones out there that i know of.