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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.

i like both the bach 12 and the sellmansberger symphony

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

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?"

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.

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

Me too.

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

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.

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.

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

bloke wrote: Fri Jan 30, 2026 10:18 pm 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.

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.

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.

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

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