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Hi everyone. What do you folks know about J Michael euphs? Any and all info will be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Hmmm, there's a store near me called "J. Michael Leather and Oak". Think they might be related?

There was a lot of positive buzz on J Michael BBb tubas at the NAMM show last year. I have a bass bone from J Michael that I like quite a lot.

They are Chinese made instruments. Usually that is bad. In the case of my Bass bone, I got a lot more horn than I paid for. I do not want to lead you into believing it is an Edwards at 1/10 of the price. Its no where near that quality. But its pretty good.

For comparison, I think the quality is definitely better than most mainland chinese instruments that you see at Walmart, EBAY, etc. However, it is not any better than Jupiter. Realistically, I would rate it slightly lower than Jupiter.

Hope this helps. Of course, I am only referring to the Bass Bone that was sold to me directly from the distributer. It is possible other J Michael instruments were not assembled as well as my sample.

Japan apparently
http://www.jmichael.jp/tuba.html

SplatterTone wrote:Japan apparently
http://www.jmichael.jp/tuba.html

Now wait--it says "Japanese Technology" and the office is in Nagoya. Dimes to doughnuts, the stuff is made in PRC and distributed by the Japanese outfit. Not that this is a bad thing--but I'd be surprised if the instrument actually bore a "Made in Japan" marking.

Remember, there are horns on eBay that say 'German Engineering". And Nirschl is putting his name on Indian horns.

Chuck(G) wrote: ...

And Nirschl is putting his name on Indian horns.

Well, it's not quite that simple.

Nirschl has been working with an Indian Company through Gemstone Music for well over a year. They are manufacturing on the Nirschl student line tubas and euphoniums in India as the Meister Walter Nirschl (MWN) line. Nirschl's factory in Germany will still produce the professional line of Nirschl instruments.

I was told that initial quality control was typical for Indian instruments but, after numerous visits, the quality and consistancy has improved to the point that the MWN student line (tubas and euphoniums) from India is probably competative with other manufacturers. Price? I haven't heard yet.

The MWN student models I played at Midwest were good. The Meister Walter Nirschl euphonium was equal to the Yamaha 321 euphonium, for instance. The MWN tuba was far ahead of the 300 series Yamaha tubas, comparable with the King 2341 tuba.

Opinions are my own; not affliated with Gemstone, MWN or Walter Nirschl.

Gorilla Tuba wrote:There was a lot of positive buzz on J Michael BBb tubas at the NAMM show last year. I have a bass bone from J Michael that I like quite a lot.

They are Chinese made instruments. Usually that is bad. In the case of my Bass bone, I got a lot more horn than I paid for. I do not want to lead you into believing it is an Edwards at 1/10 of the price. Its no where near that quality. But its pretty good.

For comparison, I think the quality is definitely better than most mainland chinese instruments that you see at Walmart, EBAY, etc. However, it is not any better than Jupiter. Realistically, I would rate it slightly lower than Jupiter.

Hope this helps. Of course, I am only referring to the Bass Bone that was sold to me directly from the distributer. It is possible other J Michael instruments were not assembled as well as my sample.

My band has a Jupiter 582 that I often play. I also played several J. Michael tubas. It may be a coincidence but all J. Michael tubas (that are not different then many other chinese tubas that appear with other brand names) were by far worse the the Jupiter 582. Severe tuning problems, a thin poor sound, and in some cases signs of sloppy construction.

Jupiter, at least the model 582, is in my opinion, based on the insruments I know, is by far better.

But I repeat, this could be just a coincidence of I knowing exceptional good Jupiter 582 tubas and exceptional bad J. Michael tubas.

Kind Regards.
Antero