schiller mini Bb tuba?

[Jose the tuba player]

its in the tuba section of my jinbao catalog and it says the same thing on the web site, so im guessing it is?
ill post a pic of the jin bao catalog

[Jose the tuba player]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8f8FF ... sp=sharing" target="_blank" target="_blank

[Dan Schultz]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8f8FF ... sp=sharing" target="_blank" target="_blank

Jose.... JBBB350L is called a 'junior tuba'. IT'S A TOY.... a barfonium.

[Jose the tuba player]

with all these issues with jinbao i am surprised no one has started a pos tuba thread listing everything wrong with them.

[ghmerrill]

I think these have been around for a while. It appears identical to what I was lusting after a few years ago when Tom McGrady was selling them at Mack Brass (the Bb-only version). It's a large bore rotary valve euphonium or "tenor tuba" advertised at times as a "junior tuba", "baby tuba", "children's tuba", or "tenor tuba". I thought it would be way cool as a euphonium/tenor tuba. But they had something of a reputation for lousy intonation.

When I called Tom about it, he warned me off of it and said he wasn't selling them any longer because they were crap. The last one he had was up on Ebay at that point for around $500 with some pretty clear caveats.

Too bad. It could be a neat instrument with a bit of manufacturing effort. I remain puzzled (along the lines of some of Bloke's comments) that the Chinese could be producing would be regarded as significantly better quality instruments if they devoted just a LITTLE more effort to quality control.

[Dan Schultz]

It's refreshing to see folks telling the truth about some of the crap that's on the market for a change instead of hiding behind statements like "it's a good value for the dollar" when they really want to say "I wish I had spent a few more bucks and bought a GOOD horn".

It's true that these horns can be made better with a few hours 'on the bench' but most folks are reluctant to spend money on their 'brand new horn'.

I enjoyed Wade's comment about making the rotors better after he gets his handy-dandy Ferree's swedging tool and collets. This won't help bad rotors a bit if the clearances inside the housing are already excessive.

Quit buying this stuff and hold the maker's feet to the fire until they make the necessary improvements. Yeah... the prices will go up but at least we'll have more playable choices.

[Wyvern]

Once the last few of these are sold, Wessex is actually stopping keeping the Bydlo tenor tuba, as the intonation is not great in C and impossible in Bb - plus experience is the build quality is not so good. Not good enough to sell with Wessex on the bell.

To correct misunderstanding, most of these are actually made by Huashen and NOT Jinbao. All those with C slide are from the Huashen factory, as the Jinbao version only plays in Bb. Also the Jinbao version costs twice that of the Huashen from factory. I have not had any from Jinbao to compare the quality or intonation.

I do have one available in raw brass with extra valve if anyone wants to easily modify

[Dan Schultz]

Once the last few of these are sold, Wessex is actually stopping keeping the Bydlo tenor tuba, as the intonation is not great in C and impossible in Bb - plus experience is the build quality is not so good. Not good enough to sell with Wessex on the bell....

Good for you, Jonathan! .... for recognizing some of these horns as inferior and not selling them.

[Dan Schultz]

I enjoyed Wade's comment about making the rotors better after he gets his handy-dandy Ferree's swedging tool and collets. This won't help bad rotors a bit if the clearances inside the housing are already excessive.

These are just loose bearings. There are no leaks and compression is actually pleasantly good. That is why I will take the time to do this. Otherwise I would have assigned this cheap horn to the pile used in the teaching program as a child-sized example of rotary valves to be paired with a euph as an example of piston valves......

Oh... I had no doubt you knew what you were doing. I just wanted to head off the stream of inquiries about 'getting rotors swedged' from the high school crowd.

[Bob Kolada]

The one I played two (?) years ago played just fine as a Bb. However, it was far more of a bass trombone sound than euph or tuba, had a flat fifth, and was kind of a pain to hold.

Rather than any more manufacturing time spent on these, I'd much prefer to see a rotary valve set on the comp euph's body. THAT plays very well.

[MackBrass]

Once the last few of these are sold, Wessex is actually stopping keeping the Bydlo tenor tuba, as the intonation is not great in C and impossible in Bb - plus experience is the build quality is not so good. Not good enough to sell with Wessex on the bell....

Good for you, Jonathan! .... for recognizing some of these horns as inferior and not selling them.

This is something I have not seen before and all I can say is holy cow. As long as there are dealers buying the garbage there will be garbage made. It took me a long time to decide what to carry and takes even longer buy, test, evaluate and select something add to my list of what I think are great horns. There is a reason why I have a limited selection of what I stand behind and I must say that this blows me away. It's a shame there are companies out there that do sell anything they can make a buck on and this is a shame to those of us that are trying to do the right thing.

Out of almost 500 compensating euphoniums sold I am not lying when I say I got my first dud this past year. I am sure I could have fixed it myself but instead I gave it away to someone that needed it with the understanding that they could not sell it. They can give it to someone else but no money would trade hands on it. On models that I have bought on spec that did not make the cut, these are nice parts horns that we keep in house.

One thing this business has done for me is to be able to give back. I can hear in a potential customers voice at times money is difficult and I do like to make a surprise every now and then by sending a gift that was not expected. And the answer is no, I only send out what I carry never a POS.

[MackBrass]

The one I played two (?) years ago played just fine as a Bb. However, it was far more of a bass trombone sound than euph or tuba, had a flat fifth, and was kind of a pain to hold.

Rather than any more manufacturing time spent on these, I'd much prefer to see a rotary valve set on the comp euph's body. THAT plays very well.

This is what I am working on once the comp body gets here. I have the complete rotor assembly just waiting for its new home.