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Tuba / bass rigs. Go!
- Thread starter Reptileroundabo
- Start date
I played tuba in high school and when I couldn't afford one I bought a bass.
I am sure there are others out there like you, but I doubt you will get many of the responses you are looking for.
I am sure there are others out there like you, but I doubt you will get many of the responses you are looking for.
I played sousaphone/concert tuba in high school before I played bass guitar (school bought one for the jazz band, I did double duty). I'd love to get one now. Haven't touched one in 32 years though 
I'd do this song
I'd do this song
First post here. Thought it would be a good place to start. I do not play any form of string bass but I have been playing "brass bass" for 25 years. My current setup for my brass band, the Mighty Souls Brass Band, is a 1959 Olds "baby Bb" sousaphone with a wireless shure sm98 microphone going through various effects into a markbass 121. I've been doing much research about bass effects and talkbass has been a great boon to my research thus I decided to join!
I loaned Papa Mali's guy a Gk 1001 RB II and Bag End D10b-deep. Didn't catch the show but from all reports the tuba was tight, punchy and loud...
Ask not what is the best tuba for metal but what is the best metal for tuba!
Ask not what is the best tuba for metal but what is the best metal for tuba!
a big old heavy BRASS tuba is like night and day compared to lightweight fiberglass. Tone and projection suck with fiberglass....they are just lighter, that is ALL. But yes, a good brass sousaphone will cost ya quite a bit, no doubt.
tuba players use amps!...a 1959 Olds "baby Bb" sousaphone with a wireless shure sm98 microphone going through various effects into a markbass 121.
who knew?and welcome to TB
You are mistaken on a few points there. Firstly, they are different animals. I own several of both and prefer fiberglass. Yes, a brass Sousa will have more projection, but that is what an amp is for, you would need to amp either one on stage. Tone wise, you can get just as good tone from a fiberglass Sousa as a brass one, sometimes even better. As far as cost, a fiberglass conn 36k will cost you shy of 4000 bucks. Find me a brass Sousa in the price bracket that sounds as good. Please don't generalize instruments like that. You don't know what is right for you until you get play time on them all.
Credentials: owner of several sousaphones of different makes and materials. 1500+ live shows, and hundreds of hours of studio time with my main Sousa that happens to be an inexpensive 60 year old fiberglass horn held together with duct tape.
Never played tuba, or any other wind instrument for that matter. I was too heavy a smoker to even try. 
Yes, I certainly made a generalization based on a lifetime of experience in the NON-amplified realm of tubas and brass instruments. Fair enough.
This is awesome, I so much want to get a decent Sousaphone! I played tuba and Sousaphone in high school, and I want an acoustic instrument that I can take to the beach. Everyone I play with wants me to get an upright, but damn, their finicky and fragile and really, really hard to play. Besides, the tuba/Sousaphone route will really stand out from the crowd.
I've been seeing lots of tubas/Sousaphones through bass amps recently: The Roots, of course, but also Kirk Joseph with Dirty Dozen brass band, and closer to home there is a killer brass band out of Fredericksburg, whose name escapes me, guy plays an all brass Sousaphone, and No BS Brass Band from Richmond, VA, which kicks major butt and is rising on the scene; heard they were on NPR recently. They have 4 smoking trombone players, and the tuba player plays a pristine concert tuba up on his shoulder, he gets the most authentic tuba tone out of his bass rig of all the amplified brass bands I've heard, and just SLAMS it through the whole show. I want in!
So Reptilerounsabo- you just run the tuba mic into a mixer, and take the line out into the normal instrument in on your bass amp?
I've been seeing lots of tubas/Sousaphones through bass amps recently: The Roots, of course, but also Kirk Joseph with Dirty Dozen brass band, and closer to home there is a killer brass band out of Fredericksburg, whose name escapes me, guy plays an all brass Sousaphone, and No BS Brass Band from Richmond, VA, which kicks major butt and is rising on the scene; heard they were on NPR recently. They have 4 smoking trombone players, and the tuba player plays a pristine concert tuba up on his shoulder, he gets the most authentic tuba tone out of his bass rig of all the amplified brass bands I've heard, and just SLAMS it through the whole show. I want in!
So Reptilerounsabo- you just run the tuba mic into a mixer, and take the line out into the normal instrument in on your bass amp?
Does anyone know of a pedal or effect that can make an electric bass sound like a tuba? I think that would be so cool.
I now run it into its own tube preamp then to my pedal board and directly into the power amp running to my bass cab. It sounds killer with the preamp. I can even overdrive the tube for a really crunchy tuba sound. I love the way it all works together.
I play a king sousa into Genz Benz shuttle 6 mark bass 2x10 57a dropped down in,
I wouldn't play a fiberglass sousaphone ever.Much Prefer older brass tonality.
Former rig was SWR 400 into Ampeg 15"i usually just bring markbass cab for stage, but like the sound of both 2x10 and 15' together a lot.
Have has mixed results with bass drum mics - but should probably try again,. Have has awful results with wireless.mics.
I wouldn't play a fiberglass sousaphone ever.Much Prefer older brass tonality.
Former rig was SWR 400 into Ampeg 15"i usually just bring markbass cab for stage, but like the sound of both 2x10 and 15' together a lot.
Have has mixed results with bass drum mics - but should probably try again,. Have has awful results with wireless.mics.
wildly guessing here, but maybe the same principle applies as with bass guitar cabs; kick drum mics are not so awesome for bass cabs because of their typical heavily pre-EQ'd mid-scoop.
look for "floor tom" mics like the audix D4, mics that have the low end but without the preset scoop.
