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I owned one (BBb) and sold it. Mine was (IIRC) one of the last ones to have the ~16" bell. It was a good horn, with solid intonation. The 4th valve C below the staff had so much edge it would put a cimbasso/contrabass trombone to shame.

I traded it in on a YCB-822S. Had that for a little while and traded it for a 188. Now THAT horn is the one I should have kept. It was awesome. Regardless, I don't play anymore, so the any regrets are a moot point.

IMO, the 186 is a great horn in a section. If you are trying to support an orchestra, it can get a little too bright (for my tastes) at the limits. The 186 is also good for quintets and brass ensemble work. A very versatile horn.

I know that this poll is to get a feel for the application of the 186 in today's world. I think it is still a great horn, and is very useful. However, there are the differences that rotary valves have (mainly from the player's perspective) when compared to rotaries. If Meinl Weston could get the intonation on the 2145 a bit better (it's already pretty good), then it would be, essentially, the 186 CC in a piston horn. The 2145 is also a horn that seems to be greatly overlooked. In fact, most medium-sized tubas seem to be out of vogue. I think mainly because of the sound that many of us hear recorded nowadays is from 6/4 tubas, the concept of sound dictates a bit larger equipment.

No one really "outgrows" a tuba. I could have used a $300 Eb for a good number of decent playing jobs.

No entry for "never owned one, played on a school instrument/other"???

Thought I outgrew it.

Now, every time I hear Don Little play either of his it makes me wonder what I was thinking.

Love the older ones. The newer ones - not so much. No "character".

Intonation on them is good, but not as good as some make it out to be - 5th partial still needs work.

owned one for 15 minutes, then I played a 188. I bought the 188 after that. . The edge aspect turned me off, not to say my 188 wont get edgy but I really have to push it.

I had a school-owned 186 for all of 10th grade and the summer after. I loved that horn, but sadly had to give it back to its legal owner at the end of the summer. I don't anticipate the 186 ever leaving my eye as a horn I'd like to own.

With my quotation marks on the word "outgrow" in my posts in "that other thread," I'm pleased to see another 186 discussion thread.

When I was looking for a tuba, I was actually looking for anything but a 186, because I was not fond of the older "stovepipe" bell, either. But on hearing a new 17 3/4 inch wider flare bell, that tone out of the new ones is, admittedly, great for a lot of applications, but too "vanilla" for my taste.

SO, when I saw the one I bought with the St Pete wide throat, small flare bell at a price that was incredibly low, I hopped on it and am so glad I did.

BTW: use something like a Curry D cup to broaden the overall tone and take some of the edge off. When I need the edge, I use a PT34 and it does great to give the 186 that edge when I need it, and then the Curry mellows it out so much that with the St Pete retrofit upright detachable bell, it postively looks east towards Alex territory.

I owned one and traded it for something a little larger.

By allowing for 6 options, some of them contradicting others, you open for an odd outcome of the poll. According to a reincarnation of FFJ, the press is making things up. Others may do so also.

Klaus, living in an environment free of Miraphone’s

Played one in community band and found them to be a nice player but way to easy to create an ugly sound on. Probably just me, but I can't even make that kind of ugly sound on my King or Kalison when trying. So at least for me, I'll pass.

I play what is either a 186 or 187 fairly often (doesn't say on it, has some features of each), and it took me a few months to get used to the sound. Low range is still kinda average and my flexibility is not-so-great, but I love the way they sound with trombones and each other. When I play it I really try to go for a power sound- that's how I FEEL it should be played. Unfortunately, I play it next to 2 PT-6's and a 56J and they don't quite share the same sound concept.

I played with a 16 year old super-kid in October who had a 186 and the way they locked in together was just amazing.

Personally, I think Kalisons sound ugly as hell and the King/Conn "fatties" to sound kinda tubby. I say this even though I am working on getting an Eb the size of a 1291.

They ARE classics, but the 1291/191 family are my favorite Miraphones. I would like to try a 184 some day; mostly out of curioisity as I am not a stovepipe guy at all.

I had a 70's 186 and traded for a Kalison DS...186s are great horns, but I love the depth (and intonation, as well) of the DS (bloke did some amazing work with it)

Joseph

I've never owned one, but my school does. It's a good horn. Did everything that I asked. Just felt a little restrictive and small (and as a result, often got fairly edgy). It felt a little like a large bass trombone/cimbasso. I wouldn't hesitate to use one in a performance setting, but I'm happy with my Cerveny as a rotary horn. IMO, blows the 186 out of the water (figuratively, and literally)
It's going to be interesting next year...(speculation) I think we will have 3 tubas in our band, playing a 186, a Kalison Pro2000, and (if he lets me) a Cerveny Kaiser. It may be a very interesting blend (and I might have to go down to a smaller horn-CB50 or even a York Eb)

I voted "owned one, glad it's gone." I didn't actually own it, it was a school horn. I'm glad it's gone not because it was a bad horn, but only because it wasn't the right horn for me anymore. It was time to strike out on my own and find something for myself, and I struck gold. Well, brass/silver anyway.

I've owned dozen or so 186's... two 183's... two 184's... and a 185. One of the 186's I added a fifth valve to. I REALLY liked that horn but sold it to make way for others.

The Mirafones are probably the most consistent tubas out there. I've never had a dog but prefer the horns that were manufactured in the 60's. I actually like the older 'S-links' much better than the later generations of uniballs.

I play all of them that I buy and sell for a couple of weeks just to make sure there aren't any problems with them. I have one here now that I'll be selling in a week or so once I've checked it out in a couple of rehearsals.

Soooo..... why don't I keep one for myself?? Although I think the 186's are good horns.... I think I 'outgrew' them when I stumbled onto the Marzans. The next step would be something like a Gronnitz or a big Rudy, I think.

I had a 184-5U CC in high school, around 1970, and it was very stuffy. I bought it sight-unseen from a music store that ordered it for me, and I was too young to try to exchange it.
Sold it. Glad it's gone.

I now have a 186-4U Bb which is great for community band and Tuba Summer, though I think I'll sell it and stay with my old B&S Sonora CC. I guess I played CC too many years to switch back to Bb and love it.

I've only used school owned ones. At first I preferred using them over the 191 in jazz band, but I eventually decided to stick with the 191. I also use them when my 191 is in the shop. Would I buy one? Probably not. They are definitely the benchmark for a decent tuba. My only complaint is that it is hard to play loud without a brassy sound on.

tubamonster

I acquired a 1973 186 Bbb with recording bell from Tuba Exchange in 2005. It has served me well on the few occasions I've used it. Since I have a Rudy 5/4 BBb and a Conn 20J with recording bell I don't use the 186 at all any more. Our Trad jazz group has live recordings of both the Rudy and the 186 and the difference is almost startling. The 186 sounds OK, the Rudy sounds like a Rudy. I'm interested in recording the Conn (a recent acquisition) and comparing it to the Rudy.

I'm still debating as whether to sell the 186. It can't hurt to have a good horn in one's back pocket, so to speak.

I'm one of the three who never plays my 186; mainly because I just don't have enough air to fill it anymore. I love the horn, but it's just too big. It's one I bought from "Bloke" about 15 years ago.

It is funny seeing how some people refer to the 186 as a small horn, and others a big horn. I seem to remember reading somewhere that Arnold Jacobs once referred to his (surely early generation) 186 as "little"?