Miraphone 181 F (5 or 6 valve)

[rascaljim]

I've got a 181 6v yellowbrass. I know a lot of people with the gold brass, but when I picked this one out it was off a shelf at brasswind with a few other yellow and goldbrass versions. I went with the six valves because it really gives the low F a much nicer sound than the false tone used on 5 valve F's.

The tuba is a miraphone... meaning that it will get bright on you if you aren't careful, but the trade off is the stellar low range. This tuba has one of the easiest low C's you find on an F tuba. The rotary valves this horn are better that the ones you find on the miraphone C's (and the ones on the c's are already pretty good in my experience) they're very tight as well.

Be careful though... I find the workmanship is not as consistant as I would like (or at least it wasn't on my batch) I've got a few questionable tube fittings as well as a couple of weldings on some braces come undone from what I suspect to be some welder forcing the braces to fit. Also not all of them played as well in tune or consistantly for sound throughout the range. Basically those last couple of things can happen with any assembly line brass instrument.

The tuba is a 5/4 without a doubt. I've used mine in many orchestral situaton(including Bruckner 4) (and obviously at auditions on the circuit), more than one quintet, as well as many solo performances with accompaniments from bands, orchestras, and other ensembles. I often use my 181 as my main gig horn as well.

As far as mouthpieces... I've used the miraphone TU23 (C4) and I currently use a Pat Sheridan S3 mouthpiece.

Hope this helps making a decision
Jim Langenberg