Yamaha Silent Brass initial impressions

[sdloveless]

Well, I pulled the trigger on a Yamaha Silent Brass System (let's call it an SBS) tuba mute. It arrived yesterday and I was able to take it out of the box and assemble it today.

Sweetwater shipped it in the factory box, which they had opened in order to toss in a copy of my receipt along with a little baggy of candy. I don't eat candy, so I gave it to my daughter. The packaging is very well thought out and the box itself it quite sturdy. One would really have to abuse it to damage the contents.

The assembly instructions are clear, but the whole thing is intuitive enough that I really didn't need them (with one exception). It only goes together one way. There is a tuning chart in the instructions that gives starting points for adjusting the center rod based on the key of the horn. I wouldn't have known how to do that just by looking at it.

A while back Daniel Ridder posted a video comparing different mutes. After watching it, I had a friend come over with his decibel meter and we compared my full volume efforts without a mute and with my Schlipf practice mute in the JP179B. In short, about 90dB without and about 70dB with the mute. We used these numbers to calibrate a metering app on my phone. You can read more about it here:

https://www.tubaforum.net/viewtopic.php ... 85#p106885

Today, after assembling the mute, I got out the same horn and my Schlipf. The metering app again returned about 90dB without a mute and about 70dB with the Schlipf. With the SBS in the bell, and strapped down, I was not able to push the meter past 59dB. I could actually hear my own lips buzzing over the sound coming out of the bell.

A few dB examples for comparison.
90dB - power tools. Possible hearing loss with continued exposure.
70dB - a vacuum cleaner.
59dB - normal conversation volume. FWIW, this is the same number returned by the meter when I sniffed as loud as I could from the same distance.

So far, I'm fairly impressed.

I have yet to play with the included electronics or check intonation, but I will soon and will report back here.

[the elephant]

I want to hear your impressions of the mute with and without the electronics. The plug-in stuff really raises the price, but I keep reading that you can purchase the mute alone, and that it is worth it.

[Mary Ann]

My experience with the horn version of that was that I hated it. It changed the interaction between me and the horn so much that it negatively affected my playing. The friend who owned it didn't seem to have that problem, or he was more talented than I am, or whatever -- I hope it works out for you. In some practice situations, you just hafta, but I didn't hafta, so I chose not to.