Comparing Tubas

In Europe, tubas were made in proportional dimensions, such that bell diameter and body size (and bore) were held approximately in scale with each other. Many German makers adopted a system of quarters to describe the general size of the instrument. A standard tuba was considered a 4/4 instrument. It typically had a bore of about 19mm, and a bell diameter of about 17 inches or a bit less. The Miraphone 186 is a 4/4 instrument of that type. Rudolf Meinl makes a whole series of instruments following this naming convention. Their larger instrument is a 5/4, with an 18" bell and a large bore, and they even list a 6/4 instrument with a 20" bell and a huge bore.

Hirsbrunner was the first European maker to specifically copy that most famous of BAT's, the York made in the early 1930's that was owned by Arnold Jacobs and is now owned by the Chicago Symphony. Other similar instruments from that era included the Conn 36J Orchestra Grand, and various huge Martins. When Hirsbrunner offered their York copy, known as the Yorkbrunner (and later the HB-50 Grand Orchestral), they apparently wanted a way to describe the instrument's large size that would not be possible with just a picture. They used the term 6/4 in their description, in line with European convention. But unlike the Rudolf Meinl series, these horns are not proportional in bell size, body size, and bore. The bells are large, the bodies huge, but the bores typical of 4/4 rotary tubas. So the body size is probably the most accurate way to think of these designations.

What is a 6/4 Tuba?

Before World War II, American tuba players in bands often used a sousaphone, partly because of its portability, and partly because of its sound. It's more about the "American" sound, but suffice to say that it resulted from the sheer size of the large sousaphone then popular. Of course, no tuba player in an orchestra could use a sousaphone, not even a rain-catcher model with the bell pointed up. But the sousaphone sense of bottomless, enveloping sound influenced many players and orchestra leaders who wanted those organ-like qualities in their ensembles, and they demanded a line of very large instruments from the American manufacturers. York, Conn, King, Martin, Beuscher, and others obliged with a series of very large Eb basses loosely called Monster tubas, and also with even larger Monster BBb and CC tubas that we now call 6/4 instruments, or...

Big-A** Tubas (BAT, for short).

In conclusion, there is no standard for these sizing terms,
so they mean nothing that can be objectively measured.

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