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I am just wondering what you use personally
Me I use a shilke 62 and a conn Hellerberg

I currently have a few and might be going down a rabbit hole.

Schilke 62. I don't care much for this one. It produces a "breathy" sound on both of my tubas. I can also hear my own tongue movement. On the other hand, if I really concentrate I can get a nice round tone out of it, but it takes work. That's probably a hint I should be using this one.

Helleberg. I have a 70s/80s Conn that was given to me by a teacher in the early 90s. A couple years ago I purchased a new 7b. I like the sound of both, but find the rims equally uncomfortable. I've always had issues with air leakage at the corners of my mouth with the larger one. This isn't a problem with the slightly smaller 7b.

HN White Equa-Tru 25. I bought this because it's period correct for the 1240, which I thought was pretty neat. One of the old catalogs describes it as being appropriate for BBb and monster Eb basses. I like it, though it feels a bit small. I haven't played it much.

No name mouthpiece that came with the JP179B. This mouthpiece looks like a Bach 18, but I haven't measured it to see just how close it is. I don't like it at all. FWIW, this mouthpiece is nothing like the mouthpiece that should have come with the horn, based on the description on the John Packer site. It lives in a pouch in a desk drawer.

Yamaha Jim Self. I love this one. It's comfortable for long sessions, and seems to result in a tone similar to the Conn Helleberg. It's a keeper.

Tucci RT-24+. I picked this up a few weeks ago while visiting Buddy Rogers Music to try some Lidl tubas. I haven't really spent much time with it yet.

I have 3 I use (semi-)regularly.

On my DS, I use a Blokepiece: #2 32.6mm rim, Symphony cup, Symphony shank. (I also have a #2 33.2mm rim and Orchestra Grand cup and shank that I rarely swap in)

On my 181, I use either a Giddings Matanuska or a Yamaha John Griffiths. It mostly depends on the context and the sound I want at the time.

My two favorites are the Yamaha Jim Self and a PT68.
They both play very well for me, and give a full, warm clear sound. Those are my go-to mpcs

I have other mpcs that I like and use every now and then for more specific parts, or on different horns I don't play as frequently.

Alex 163 CC: Stofer Geib (regular and Air Corps, depending)

Alex F: Sellmansberger Solo #2, 32.3 #2 rim

York BBb: Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand Ultimate

Piggy: Sellmansberger Symphony, 32.9 #2 rim

Besson Eb: Sellmansberger Imperial, 32.6 #2 rim

Conn 36K: clear Kellyberg

Besson New Standard euph: Schilke 51D

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I have an "All-Star E-Bass" mouthpiece here to plug in to a few turn-of-the-century E-flat tubas, and a regular-old-Helleberg for noodling around on random tubas in my shop. I have about 50 other mouthpieces I am not really using, so those probably need to go.

I use various of my own cup designs - cup designs which are borrowed from successful classic cup designs but slightly altered as well as their throats having been altered - along with various cup opening widths of my narrow #2 profile rim - which avoids a sharp interior edge.

Depending on the mouthpiece and the instrument, I use this rim profile with a 32.3mm cup opening, a 32.9mm cup opening, and a 33.2mm cup opening.

I believe that the rim profile is probably the most important feature of a mouthpiece, but I also believe that "same cup opening for every mouthpiece" is humbug.

None of my cups are Helleberg cups.

Back when I still played a model 5450 C tuba - which features a very hot low register, I extended the depth of one of my standard models by an additional eighth of an inch (one of my extra tall screw rims) to tame the hot low range on that particular instrument, but I don't need to do that anymore, since that instrument has been sold.

Ok please define "very hot low register."

Gnagey 4/4 CC - Mike Finn H for 90% of things; Cooley Helleberg for some solos; Olka CB1 for loud and low

Miraphone 184 CC - Miraphone TU28

MW 182 F - Bobo Solo; sometimes as Helleberg for ensemble playing.

I've gotten accustomed to the Martin 33 that came with my Martin Mammoth and now quite like it. The bottom end feels open and free while the top has a sweet, dense sound.

Mirafone C3 for my Martin medium Eb. It's comfortable for long gigs with a decent balance between upper and lower register but doesn't excel at either.

Miraphone C4 I use in both the Martin Eb and the Willson Eb. It has a nice bark on both Eb horns for when I need to play bass trombone parts. It is a bit harsh sounding on the Willson when I need to blend with the String basses. The C3 is much better for that. C4 has a sharp inner rim that is uncomfortable on long programs where I play a lot.

Mary Ann wrote: Tue Jun 24, 2025 10:02 am Ok please define "very hot low register."

If you just think "low G" within 50 feet of a Thor, a ff low G with a crisp, immediate attack comes out of the bell. Holy cow!

I am currently in flux, but at this moment I use…

1989 Kurath F — Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand Ultimate

1971 Mirafone 186 CC — Sellmansberger Symphony

1964 Holton 345 CC — Schilke SHII-CLE

2011 Yamaha YCB-826 CC — Warburtion TG1-L

I am "in flux" because I have two more of the OGUs on the way, and may choose to switch to that mouthpiece on the two BATs. I like it on the Mirafone, too, but prefer the Symphony on that tuba, though that could change…

PT-50+ for three of the four horns listed below and the HN.White Equa-Tru for my King recording bass.

As things stand, I use:

F. Schmidt 2103 BBb — Laskey 30G

Wessex Bombino small compensating Eb — Denis Wick 4L Heritage

John Packer JP274MKII euphonium — RT-7C

Alternates, respectively:

Kellyberg (cold weather and annual alumni game choice), PT-36 (if more bass is needed), PT-84 S (when I'm out of shape)

Kelly 25 (cold weather), PT-84 S (more low register presence)

Getzen (really Faxx) 1½G (for low register playing)

On the slide things, my choices are more set in stone:

Getzen 1052FD — Pickett 1.5S (more of a 1¼G size)

1962 Holton 168 — Bach 5GL

1957 Conn 6H — Warburton 9M or 9D (I use this top more often) on a T3* shank (roughly the size of a Bach 5 rim)

I don't have any alternates for my trombones, except for the Warburton tops above.

I believe that, at least for most tenor trombone players that own both large and small bore instruments, it's worth trying mouthpieces with the same or similar cup openings.

I'm trying to get to where I consistently use the same mouthpiece and stop wavering. Right now I've been using the Robert Tucci RT45 on both of my CC tubas. Occasionally I will try the Miraphone Rose Orchestra. They are like 1a and 1b. Similar but a different.

Mary Ann wrote: Tue Jun 24, 2025 10:02 am Ok please define "very hot low register."

blatant, not round, and even though a pretty big tuba...

... not as extreme, but maybe a lot like playing a double low something or other on a 184 with a gas pedal pushed hard to the floor and a shallow mouthpiece...

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...but my main point is that - as long as I have what I have found to be a superior-for-me particular rim contour, the size of the rim donut doesn't matter very much and I can play on different cup shapes, cup depths, and throat sizes, as long as they seem to pair up with a particular tuba nicely.

I've tried and tried and tried to like the so-called Helleberg II / Conn 2 / 30H style cup contours that so many people find useful, but I just can't seem to like them... but I feel like I've done my best to have come up with a version of that that I dislike the least, and I'm glad to sell it to anyone who likes that cup style/shape but might be looking for a better version of it (the typically self-deprecating named "Sellmansberg 2"). >>> Just because I don't like it, doesn't mean it's not really good. and hey: I'm just a blue collar tuba player.

You ought to use "Selleberg II"…

I don’t use a mouthpiece. I find it creates the truest tone to what my body naturally produces.

I kind of go back and forth. I'm mainly reporting because I like to write "Marcinkiewicz", and Marcinkiewicz H1 and H4 are regular options; H1 for contrabass, H4 for Eb and sometimes the sousaphone. Josef Klier "Exclusive" 5A and "Exclusive Classic" 4AA. James New C1 (copy of Conn 1.)

The C1 is a nice mouthpiece, surprisingly hard to tell the difference between this and a Conn Precision style Schilke 67, though the C1 has an unusual sort of bottomless cup profile.

The Marcinkiewicz mouthpieces are the ones that seem to give me the most freedom, for better or for worse, like they're "closer to the metal." And have slightly smaller shanks that match the normally cited "American" standard, where most everything else is closer to "Euro" though in most cases the American makers would have said they're making standard shanks.

I've been curious about the Warburton line because I think he may have made my Dillon F1 mouthpiece from decades back. I like that one a lot. (And as it happens, it also drops all the way into the receiver. I later got a used M1C that must have come from the same era but sits a lot higher in the receiver, and I haven't found much use for it.)

And I had what could be the same issue with my Schilke 62 - breathy.

depends on the horn / genre of music / venue

For different tuba(s):

Bloke solo #2 rim
Bloke Imperial #2 rim
LM-10 Tommy Johnson with a Houser rim
Schilke 67 (old style) modified
Wick I and Wick II (both old style)

For Sousaphone & Helicon

Kelleyberg
Bloke Solo with Lexan rim

Glaikit wrote: Mon Jun 23, 2025 11:38 pm I am just wondering what you use personally
Me I use a shilke 62 and a conn Hellerberg

What tubas do you use?