King 2341 Mouthpiece Recs

[blacksheep]

For those of you who play on these old style horns - what mouthpiece do you find works best? I’m looking to try a few out and would love recommendations.

[blacksheep]

i like both the bach 12 and the sellmansberger symphony

[MN_TimTuba]

On my newer style 2341, after working with a half dozen assorted pieces, I've landed on my Perantucci PT-88. I use it for everything - concert band, solos, Octoberfest, quintets. It gives fantastic low range power and plenty of high range accuracy. For my mouth and my style, it's what I choose.
Happy hunting.
Tim

[bloke]

King tubas are so good that they work pretty well with any widely-agreed-as-good medium large mouthpiece.
The only question being "Which ones of the medium large ones do you personally like?"

[tofu]

I use a Bloke Solo with a #2 rim. Funny somebody above mentioned using the Bloke Symphony. I had one of those and did not like it in the 2341 - which kind of demonstrates that you really have to try a mouthpiece in a horn yourself to find what works best for you and what you need the horn to do.

[prairieboy1]

The PT-50+ is the mouthpiece of choice for my King 2341.

[edfirth]

Me too.

[russiantuba]

The Bobo Symphonic was one of the mouthpieces used in the final testing of these and the Conn 5XJ series. YMMV.

[MG]

I’ve been playing a Helleberg since 1981 and for the most part, it has always been my go to mouthpiece. It got damaged to the point of no return and when I got a King 2341 I decided to try a G & W. I asked G & W which mouthpiece was most like the Helleberg and they said the Willowaw. I love it on my King 2341. For fun though, I purchased a new Conn Helleberg a couple of years ago. Now, I go back and forth between the 2 on the King 2341. The Conn gives me a cleaner attack while still providing plenty of volume in all registers. The G & W is slightly larger with a deeper cup giving me more volume and sound, especially in the lower register. The upper register is fine on both of them. Flexibility as well. I’ve been using them for a few years now and I still can’t make up my mind which one I prefer. And I probably never will. Occasionally I try my G & W Diablo and it works just fine but it doesn’t give me that bottom that the other 2 do. My 2 cents for what it’s worth.

[tofu]

They’re around and pretty inexpensive - but a Conn 2 works pretty well as a does an old style Schilke 67 with the outside exterior that resembles a Conn 2 or Conn 1. The old style Wick 2 also works pretty well. These all have worked for me over the years, but my preferred piece is still my Bloke Solo.

[Pauvog1]

This would be my shortlist:

Bloke's new brass ultimate grand orchestral MP, especially the threaded rim version if you need/want a different rim choices than the standard #2 style rim he has on the 1 piece variety.

The Sellmansberger Symphony, 3 piece stainless.

Laskey 30H (or the variants with people's names on them)

The RT50

[tubanh84]

King tubas are so good that they work pretty well with any widely-agreed-as-good medium large mouthpiece.
The only question being "Which ones of the medium large ones do you personally like?"

Second this. I had a chance to play both an old and a new King model and it sounded amazing on my Mike Finn H, PT50, PT50+, and Helleberg 120. Played a Tchaik 4 rehearsal on the older model for fun, and it did a shockingly good job.

[MG]

UPDATE:

My previous reply: I’ve been playing a Helleberg since 1981 and for the most part, it has always been my go to mouthpiece. It got damaged to the point of no return and when I got a King 2341 I decided to try a G & W. I asked G & W which mouthpiece was most like the Helleberg and they said the Willowaw. I love it on my King 2341. For fun though, I purchased a new Conn Helleberg a couple of years ago. Now, I go back and forth between the 2 on the King 2341. The Conn gives me a cleaner attack while still providing plenty of volume in all registers. The G & W is slightly larger with a deeper cup giving me more volume and sound, especially in the lower register. The upper register is fine on both of them. Flexibility as well. I’ve been using them for a few years now and I still can’t make up my mind which one I prefer. And I probably never will. Occasionally I try my G & W Diablo and it works just fine but it doesn’t give me that bottom that the other 2 do. My 2 cents for what it’s worth.

Since then, I settled on the Helleberg and was happy with that until I visited Willis Music in Ohio. I was getting my King cleaned up and tweaked and trying some Lidl BBb’s while I was there. I saw a brochure for the “Paul the Great” mouthpiece and asked Chris Hite about it. Mostly, who is Paul the Great, why does he have a mouthpiece named after him and what did he do that was so great. He got one out and I was trying it out he suggested I try it on my King. So I got the King out of the case and compared Paul the Great to the Helleberg. As I was comparing them, Chris said “I have a mouthpiece I think would work well with that horn” and he unpacked a RT-88 Maxx. It’s one of those heavy walled ones. Anyway, I played my Helleberg, then Paul the Great and then the RT-88. Playing the same passages on all 3, we both agreed that Paul the Great was not so great for the King & I. Going back and forth between the Helleberg and the RT-88 Maxx, it was obvious that the RT had a lot more presence and core than the Helleberg. What really surprised me was (even with a more rounded inner rim than the Helleberg) how clean and clear the articulation was with the RT. I was not expecting that. I was torn between the Willawaw and the Helleberg for that reason. The G & W gave me the bigger sound I liked but the Helleberg gave me cleaner articulation. The RT-88 Maxx gives me both. So, when I found out the price of the RT-88 Maxx, there was no hesitation. I bought it!

I’ve had it a week now and have been playing 1.5 to 2 hours a day with it and can say that it is now my mouthpiece of choice for the King 2341. It has so much more presence. A solid core and it’s very comfortable. The lower register is really open and, outside of a couple of extreme high notes, the upper register is virtually the same. And for the amount of time I spend up there it’s not really a factor.

My 2 cents for what it’s worth.

[iiipopes]

King 2341 tubas are probably the most mouthpiece insensitive of any tuba out there. So whatever you have will work. If you want a little darker tone, use a Conn Helleberg or derivative that matches your embouchure. If you want a little brighter tone, use a Bach 18 or derivative. Think about how many dozens of mouthpieces out there that advertise as being Helleberg-esque or by contrast a rounded cup. They all work on a 2341.

[tofu]

well you piqued my curiosity and it appears Paul the Great is also a Perantucci MP:

"Paul the Great Pro" model designed by Perantucci
Cup: 33.7 mm
Medium sharp inner rim
Rim: 7.0 mm
Clearly defined
Cup shape: Deep funnel cup
Bore: 8.55 mm
Easy response
Lively sound
Silver-plated

[Rick Denney]

I use a Sellmansberger Symphony in the new-style instrument, but I think it would be a strong contender in the old-style 2341, too.

Rick “going for clarity” Denney