Posted by Jay Bertolet on June 06, 2002 at 08:22:25:
In Reply to: Holton 6/4 at ITEC posted by Phil Hawkins on June 02, 2002 at 21:02:25:
I played this Holton at ITEC and it sounded okay. To be fair, I compare every 6/4 horn I play nowadays to my Nirschl. That may be a bit unfair because I'm pretty used to my Nirschl by now and finding a horn that feels as good with almost no adjustment on my part may be a pipe dream.
That said, I felt the Holton sounded very good. Rob Rusk did an incredible job restoring this beauty and the workmanship is truly inspiring. The biggest downsides to this instrument (for me) were the very awkward action of the 5th valve and the response. Generally, the response wasn't as quick as my Nirschl and in the low range, it was even worse for me. Using my current playing techniques, I got much more "bark" in the low register than I'm comfortable with on a horn this size.
As an aside, I also played on the Nirschl 6/4 they had at Custom, a newer version of my own horn. I didn't like it either for pretty much the same reasons (response not as good as my own horn) and I found that very curious. Supposedly, the newer Nirschl tubas have several minor improvements that enhance the intonation, sound, and response of these horns. These were improvements that I was seriously considering for my own horn when I had the cash together. What a nice surprise it was to realize that I won't have to go to all that trouble with my horn because I'll enjoy it just fine "as is".
The 6/4 horn that really impressed me at ITEC was the Willson. I played that horn and was really impressed at how well it played and felt. Unfortunately, the sound I got out of the horn was a bit smaller than on my Nirschl and so it really doesn't fit into my puzzle. If I didn't have my Nirschl, it would be a horn I'd consider very seriously.
The other horn that really knocked my socks off was the Rudy CC that Lee Stofer had. I believe he called it a model "43-45". This horn has the valve section of a Rudy 3/4 grafted onto a larger and shorter bell section. It also has somewhat larger top and bottom bows. This horn was amazing! Wow, I couldn't believe how much sound you could get out of this baby. In addition to all the things this horn could do, the rotary valve action was easily the best and faster I've ever seen. Lee told me this was a prototype that Rudy is coming out with and I can tell you that I'll be waiting to look closer at one of these when they come down the pike. One of my students, Roy Wimbush, spent quite a while playing this horn at ITEC and he sounded really great on it as well. Someone is going to get really lucky when they buy that horn.
My opinion for what it's worth...