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There's been a Kalison 2001 F tuba at the Tuba Exchange for a while now, I was looking at taking it for a teast drive a possibly buying it. I've never played a Kalison, come to think of it I've only ever seen one in person. I was just wondering about the quality of the horn. Any info is greatly appreciated.

This is a pretty awesome horn for the money.

The intonation is not bad at all and it blows more freely than most large F-tubas.

The reason I didn't buy it was because it was absolutely enormous. It's as big as a 4/4 CC tuba! I'm sure it would be a great quintet/orchestra horn.

I ended up buying a Mirafone Firebird which is a completely different kind of horn.

Hope that helps.
Frank Ortega

Has anyone played Kalison's other F tubas? Like the 2044?

Thanks!

Joseph

Frank Ortega wrote:This is a pretty awesome horn for the money.

The intonation is not bad at all and it blows more freely than most large F-tubas.

The reason I didn't buy it was because it was absolutely enormous. It's as big as a 4/4 CC tuba! I'm sure it would be a great quintet/orchestra horn.

I ended up buying a Mirafone Firebird which is a completely different kind of horn.

Hope that helps.
Frank Ortega

That's an interesting review because a player who browses this forum has tried out this horn and found it very difficult to get to play in tune. Interesting.

richland tuba 01 wrote:I was under the impression that you don't want a free playing f tuba... my firebird isn't free blowing at all to me.

You are correct sir! One's F tuba shall fall under one of 2.5 categories, but don't worry- you'll get to complain about ANY of them!
-piston F tuba- playable like no other, easy low range, in reality a nice sound BUT doesn't have a "German sound" (never mind that your C tuba probably doesn't either!)
-rotary F tuba- "the sound," translation= 3 or 4 different sounds throughout the horns range, most likely a funny low range, "doesn't play like a C tuba!!"
(the .5)- cool, usually small but not always, F tubas made out of small (usually) York/Conn/... Eb tubas- awesome horns with good intonation, low range, and sound, but not "professional"

Bob Kolada wrote:

richland tuba 01 wrote:I was under the impression that you don't want a free playing f tuba... my firebird isn't free blowing at all to me.

You are correct sir! One's F tuba shall fall under one of 2.5 categories, but don't worry- you'll get to complain about ANY of them!
-piston F tuba- playable like no other, easy low range, in reality a nice sound BUT doesn't have a "German sound" (never mind that your C tuba probably doesn't either!)
-rotary F tuba- "the sound," translation= 3 or 4 different sounds throughout the horns range, most likely a funny low range, "doesn't play like a C tuba!!"
(the .5)- cool, usually small but not always, F tubas made out of small (usually) York/Conn/... Eb tubas- awesome horns with good intonation, low range, and sound, but not "professional"

And the MW 2182

J.c. Sherman wrote:

Bob Kolada wrote:

richland tuba 01 wrote:I was under the impression that you don't want a free playing f tuba... my firebird isn't free blowing at all to me.

You are correct sir! One's F tuba shall fall under one of 2.5 categories, but don't worry- you'll get to complain about ANY of them!
-piston F tuba- playable like no other, easy low range, in reality a nice sound BUT doesn't have a "German sound" (never mind that your C tuba probably doesn't either!)
-rotary F tuba- "the sound," translation= 3 or 4 different sounds throughout the horns range, most likely a funny low range, "doesn't play like a C tuba!!"
(the .5)- cool, usually small but not always, F tubas made out of small (usually) York/Conn/... Eb tubas- awesome horns with good intonation, low range, and sound, but not "professional"

And the MW 2182

Bwah?? I did not like the (admittedly only) one that I played. The only thing I remember specifically was that it was too damn tall for such a small horn. Little tubas shouldn't smoke. Don't worry- there WERE other things that I disliked!!


Bob "LIKES the 621, and if he could hold it comfortably would have one already"Kolada

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WVUtubaman12 wrote:There's been a Kalison 2001 F tuba at the Tuba Exchange for a while now, I was looking at taking it for a teast drive a possibly buying it. I've never played a Kalison, come to think of it I've only ever seen one in person. I was just wondering about the quality of the horn. Any info is greatly appreciated.

The Kalison 2001 F tuba at the Tuba Exchange . . . if you buy it, they will ship it to you. You then have a trial period of a week or so . . . if you don't like it, you can send it back. At that point, you'll be out the shipping both ways, but you can try it. Best advice: go try it on-site. Bring a good tuner and/or a recording device of some type to see if it's what you want. Yes, it's a HUGE F tuba. Yes, it's 4P/1R in silver plate. Yes, it has a BAT tone (for an F). Yes, you can probably get it at a very good discount.
I had it out on trial. PM me if you'd like to know more.

some one asked what CC tuba I play one. The answer is a Conn 52j.

WVUtubaman12 wrote:some one asked what CC tuba I play one. The answer is a Conn 52j.

You might want to consider something else - it is possible the Kalison is too similar to your Conn to expand your tone color palette very far. I have no experience with it, but many individuals on this forum have good things to say about the Cerveny F.

Thanks for all of the advice. I'm going to start play testing some horns in the next few weeks. I understand that the materials and the production process are a big part of the quality horn, but when you get to horns that are made of top quality materials, with a fantastic production work (MW, Miraphone, B&S, Yamaha, etc.) does it come down to a matter of personal opinion. I mean, I hear people talking about "that sound." are we just talking about a good tuba sound or what? why do some horns have that sound and others don't. I guess I'm kinda asking for F tuba 101. I know CC horns, I know what I like in a CC horn, I'm just charting new territory here.