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Iam seriously in the market for a 186 5v. Any opinions on this model?

I have a 186 4U and a 1291 5U, both BBb. The 1291 is more robust than the 186 and is a piston horn. Apart from that either one is an excellent choice and would do well in most types of ensemble work.

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As has been often said before on TubeNet, it is difficult to go wrong with a Miraphone(or Mirafon) 186. I'm not sure you need the 5th valve, but it should be OK, anyway. It's a great all-around horn.

Do you actually intend to use the 5th valve, as in T-4 for low Eb? If so, I suppose. But having been fully back into a 186 BBb 4-valve for awhile now, and of course this comment is tempered by my playing all sorts of band literature instead of orchestra, but I don't need one. I don't see ever needing one. I live in an area that has one regional symphony, and they have several regional faculty and other younger guys who have the luxury of a lot more time to practice than I do lined up for the spot for years to come. I don't mean to sound narrow, but I really don't want to play anything that could require one, either.

Besides, other than T-4 for low Eb and everything down for near pedal BB nat, or the occasional alternate fingering, say for BBb for something really soft, or the odd trill fingering, where would you use the 5th valve on a regular basis, especially in the concert band repertoire? And of those above mentioned, how often do you ever really see them, in any literature? Not often.

I put a 5th rotor on my Mirafone 186 BBb mainly 'cause I had some spare parts ..... and I could. It's tuned to a 2-3 combination although conventional wisdom seems to sway toward to flat whole step configuration. Do I use it? Heck yes... LOTS!... for just about every 2-3 combination as they tend to be a bit on the sharp side when using the 2nd and 3rd combination..... like Gb in the staff and Db below the staff. I'm seriously thinking about putting a similar 5th on my Marzan and King.

For those with uses for it, go for it! Glad to see it used.

If I had a 5th valve, I'm contemplating it as an ascending 1/2 step valve, because I play second ledger line B nat and bottom of staff F#/Gb much more than the lower notes, and my breath support and intonation are not the best when I get a lot of valves down.

Any ideas on how that might be fashioned onto a Miraphone 186?