Posted by Jay Bertolet on November 18, 2002 at 08:57:24:
In Reply to: Cerveney Eb posted by Eb Player on November 17, 2002 at 20:40:08:
I have a Cerveny 641 Eb. It is a very nice horn for my purposes. I use it on Berlioz and Mendelssohn and it works great. Like others have said, the 641 has the typical Germanic F tuba syndrome, where the Db & C just below the staff can be a little difficult to center. It does take some getting used to. The key is to not use too big of a mouthpiece. My experience along these lines is that the larger mouthpiece screws up the intonation and doesn't really fix the low range issues. Like Steve suggested, use a characteristic mouthpiece with the horn and really listen to what you want the horn to produce. While I wouldn't say that these notes eventually become easy, I would say that you do get used to the process and it makes the situation at least workable. In my mind, this isn't an all-around tuba but a specialty horn. Good for what it does but use in moderation.
My opinion for what it's worth...