Re: Re: what's the differance??????


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Posted by Wade on October 03, 2002 at 23:12:58:

In Reply to: Re: what's the differance?????? posted by Matt Walters on October 03, 2002 at 08:42:08:

A BIG four piston set uses up FAR less length of your open instrument than five inline rotors. A five valved instrument that uses inline rotors suddenly tapers into a long bit of straight-bored tubing. This causes the designer to have to figure out exactly where in the open horn a long straight section will cause the least damage to the overall intonation and timbre.

Pistons partially avoid that problem by placing the set closer to the player and then adding a larger fifth valve somewhere down the road. Many four piston sets have a slightly larger fourth bore as well.

If your fifth is short (a flat half- or whole-step) then you can even place it before the pistons. In the case of the fifth rotor being the same bore as the piston (ie - not a ROTAX!! ), you can make the leadpipe even shorter and quicker flaring by placing it in front of the first piston.

Ihave always suspected that the type of valve affects the sound as much as the bell shape and bow size. I have played horns that were based on the same body and bell, but came in models with either type of valve. As much as they looked alike, they played very differently; sound and "blow" were quite different from another.

B&S turned the F tuba world upside down when they came out with a functioning "tapered bore" bass tuba. By fitting pairs of rotors of three bore sizes in the stack, they nearly eleminated the stuffy low notes by having really large tubing for the fourth slide loop. By doing this, they sort of solved the low register thing and maintained a fairly "Germanic" timbre. Then the leadpipe was shortened up a bit by having it enter 5 from the side, rather than the top. This cut out about a half of a foot and allowed for a faster flare, and a bit lighter attack for the player. Quite cute of them.

I play an Alexander 163 CC and a YFB 621, so I cover both extremes I guess. BTW - My 621 sounds NOTHING like a euphonium, but I have a bucket of a mouthpiece on it...

: ^ )

Wade




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