selecting a tuba mouthpiece

[Bassboner]

I've been on the mouthpiece safari for tenor and bass trombone as well as euphonium. I've paid my dues. For tuba, I just want someone to give me the answer.

- trombone player with a tbone player's narrow buzz
- don't want a huge diameter
- don't want a huge throat
- something deep is ok
- play an Olds 099, and probably won't ever "upgrade"
- I've already got a Helleberg 7b, and it's ok
- I like the conical cup, but not married to it
- I'll play mostly small groups - quartet/quintet

Fill in the blanks for me here.

[bloke]

Try a used Bach 22 bowl (since you already own a medium-width funnel mpc.), or (if they start putting them on eBay again) a cheap Chinese knockoff of same.
I believe this is one of those, but no longer $20...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/187885380641

[2nd tenor]

The Olds is a three valve BBb so you don’t necessarily need the largest of cups but you won’t get away with a small piece (which you might on a three valve Eb). I second the idea of a Bach 22, some folk will swear that a Bach 24AW is a good all-rounder, but my own choice would be a Wick 3L (which is a relatively small a piece which should do the job, somehow a pal even managed with a Wick 5L for a while on three valve BBb). A mouthpiece should be as big as you can manage and (also) as small as will do the job (some folk haven’t got the chops to manage the size required for the latter, when moving from a smaller instrument it can take some time to build the chops needed).

[anadmai]

As someone who came from Euph, the Wick 3L has been a good mouthpiece. The 4L is smaller but also did a good job.

[donn]

For something conceptually like the Conn 7b, Schilke 66 seems to be a hair bigger at the throat, maybe a little deeper, and the more rounded rim feels a hair narrower though the published inside diameter is the same. Another excellent rim option in this format is the old Conn 2.

[tubanh84]

I play a Miraphone TU28 on my small CC tuba, and it's amazing for it. It's small for a contrabass tuba mouthpiece, but it gives me a good low range, good high range, a lot of flexibility, and it's not as tiring as some of my other mouthpieces.

I tend to use bigger mouthpieces on my bigger horns, but this one is a good small mouthpiece that can do the job.

[Bassboner]

Ok, I've got a Faxx 18 and a Chinese 22 coming in addition to my 7b.. Thanks for all the suggestions! Dodged a bullet remembering there's a difference between a DW 3 and a DW 3L. Also remember that a 24aw has a giant rim that doesn't fit between my nose and my chin. Not ready to dump $200 on a mouthpiece, although that day may come. Thanks again tubers.

[iiipopes]

Yes. A friend of mine who plays euph and another friend who plays trombone as their primary instruments each respectively use a Bach 22 when doubling on tuba. It is between a 24AW and a Bach 18 in internal cup diameter, a rim that is not too wide, and easy to focus with not too large a throat. When I sold my Bessophone to get my Jupiter, the gentleman who purchased it was also primarily a euph player. I had a Bach 22 just to see what it was all about. He sounded great on it. The deal was sealed when I included that mouthpiece for him in the deal.

[Bassboner]

Yes. A friend of mine who plays euph and another friend who plays trombone as their primary instruments each respectively use a Bach 22 when doubling on tuba. It is between a 24AW and a Bach 18 in internal cup diameter, a rim that is not too wide, and easy to focus with not too large a throat. When I sold my Bessophone to get my Jupiter, the gentleman who purchased it was also primarily a euph player. I had a Bach 22 just to see what it was all about. He sounded great on it. The deal was sealed when I included that mouthpiece for him in the deal.

Yeah, that's cool. The 7b is working fine, but I just want to see the lay of the land wrt other options. So I've got a 22 and 18 on the way. A little bit of good advice, and of course practice is gonna get me where I want to go. The easy-to-play 099 is easy enough to handle, good advice and good luck to get a nice horn inexpensively.

[bloke]

In my opinion, the last thing an Olds O-99 tuba needs is a mouthpiece with a large throat.