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Are DEG Bb contras bigger than Yamahas?


dcibrando

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Spirit has Kanstul, but both are larger than Yamaha. I prefer Kanstul :D

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Yes the Yamahas were smaller and were used by the Cavies Crossmen and Cadets. They were convertable Tubas that could be used as both a concert and a marching Tuba. I'm not a Tuba player but my friend who marched with it all summer said he had issues with not overblowing the horn because of its size. This year, Yamaha has produced a new model marching Tuba that is bigger and has the valves in a position like that of the kanstul and the Dynasty's. The size is bigger than the old ones and I would venture a guess to say about the size of the Dynasty Bb ( the bell larger than the old one which was a 17 1/2" bell so I am assuming that its either 19" or 20" which would be what the bell on the dynasty 4 valve horn is) The Kanstuls that most corps use have a 21" bell.

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Yamaha YBB 201: .728" bore, 17.5" bell and about 19 lbs.

Kanstul KMT 200: .689" bore, 21" bell and 24 lbs.

Dynasty M880: .710" bore, 20" bell and 25 lbs.

So it depends on what standards you are using to differentiate their size. In bore size, the Yamaha is much bigger than the Kanstul or Dynasty. But in bell size, the Yamaha is smaller. Also the bell throats of the Kanstul and Dynasty are much wider and therefore make the horn appear much larger.

As much as I like the idea of having the 4th valve, I don't know if the extra weight is really worth it. Yeah, it'd help with intonation and the lower octaves, but most arrangers realize that you can't hear lower octave contra parts when the contras are on the back hash so they limit the lower octave writing. I never marched with a 4th valve and never had intonation or range difficulties.

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  • 4 weeks later...
In bore size, the Yamaha is much bigger than the Kanstul or Dynasty. But in bell size, the Yamaha is smaller.

Actually, Mike, I'm pretty sure the new tubas we got this year have the 20" bells.

(That, and the performers don't have to contort their arms to play the thing!)

Hope to see you soon......

Hey Gary...

I hope the new horns have the bigger bell. The smaller bell I was talking about was with the old model 201s that we used this past season.

I can't wait to get up there and check out these new horns.

I'm going to email you off-board so we can catch up on what's going on.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Got to play this horn this past week at TMEA. Love it, absolutely love it. Yamaha took the bell from their YCB 822 and put it on this horn, so it has a 19.5" bell. Larger bell and bell throat than the previous Yamaha we've been using. This horn projects rather well.

It is fairly open-wrapped and therefore rather free-blowing. It's easy to hold and balances rather easily. There's going to be a couple minor changes on the horns we'll be using this summer from this first batch that came out. I talked to Kurt Witt, Yamaha's wind instrument product manager, and we're going to use a bit narrower leadpipe so that you won't have to stretch your neck so far to reach the mouthpiece. The horn also features a nifty little device where you can tune the horn at the leadpipe and use a screw to lock it in (much like the screw that trumpets have on the 3rd valve slide where you can set how far it will kick out). Kurt told me we're going to move the screw to the backside and reinforce it someway so that it won't get ripped off.

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