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I know that some people own Allora clones of the Miraphone 191 and I was wondering if Allora instruments are decent. Are they of Chinese origin? What opinion do the repair guys on this forum have regarding Allora instruments?

My wife is a trumpet player who would like to own a flugelhorn. I noticed this Allora flugelhorn on Woodwind Brasswind. http://www.wwbw.com/Allora-AAFG-103F-Se ... 13493.wwbw" target="_blank" target="_blank
I like finding good deals on good products, however, I don't like buying garbage.

Any opinions are welcome.

Thanks,
Matt

Can't speak specifically to Allora tubas, but at least some of their trumpet and trombone models are made by B&S, and it appears that their flugels are as well.

My first tuba was an Allora 186 copy and I loved it. I had been playing the college's Miraphone 186 for years and the Allora made a good replacement for it in my hands. I eventually sold it to a young music ed major at my alma mater and as far as I know he's still playing it without any problems with the horn being around 5 years old in fairly constant use.

how is the allora 191?????? if you have one are you happy with it???????????????

I recently (2 months ago) bought an Allora 191 on ebay from someone who posts here regularly. I am happy with it so far, but I am just an amateur player so my demands and expectation may not be what someone else may have. I play in a community band and a small church ensemble and it serves me well. I have read that sometimes intonation and workmanship on knockoff horns can be problematic but this particular horn doesn't seem to have any serious problems (again, at least to my amateur standards).

mshores wrote:I know that some people own Allora clones of the Miraphone 191 and I was wondering if Allora instruments are decent. Are they of Chinese origin? What opinion do the repair guys on this forum have regarding Allora instruments?

During a visit to South Bend a few years ago, I spent a little time with an Allora 191, in a side-by-side comparison with a Miraphone 191. The Allora was competent, but it was not on the same planet as the Miraphone. It is possible that the one I played was not the best example, and Roger did subsequently express regret that he hadn't had an opportunity to play around with mouthpieces during my visit. But with the same mouthpiece in both instruments, the Miraphone was more open and resonant by a sufficient margin that my bassoonist niece (proximate reason for being in South Bend on that occasion) thought the difference quite noticeable.

Without the two being played side-by-side, though, the Allora would have seemed more reasonable. It is certainly a real tuba, and not one of the tuba-shaped objects that came from that part of the world in previous years. I would still prefer a smaller King 2341, however, if I wanted a Bb tuba of that general size and configuration, but the Allora would be far better than nothing and at its price that might be the choice at hand for some folks.

The Allora I played was made somewhere in Asia, probably China.

Rick "who has been more impressed with 186 copies from China than with 191 copies" Denney

I briefly owned an Allora euphonium ~ 6 yrs ago. I sent it back within a couple of days to the seller because the thing was so horribly out of tune despite alternate fingerings, pulling slides, etc. The sound and make of the horn were good. I ended up getting a Weril and was happy with that.

I want to say that at that time it came with VMI paperwork.

I concur with Rick Denney on this one. I own a 191, and tried the Allora 191 copy at WWBW a few years ago. The Allora shares one intonation quirk with the 191, namely that D below the staff is a tad sharp fingered 1-2, and is better fingered 3. (At least that's the case for me; YMMV.) The Allora doesn't sound as resonant as the 191; on the other hand, last I checked it was less than half the price, and struck me as a decent horn for the money.

Neil McKay

I am glad to hear honest reviews. So many people write off products from the far east just because where they are manufactured. Now this isn't to say that the far east manufacturers don't have room to improve because we all know that they can be better, but I am referring to people who write off instruments they have never tried and assume they are garbage ONLY because they are manufactured in the far east.

There are good horns coming from Asia. In the past years there have been many improvements, and they are probably only going to get better. This isn't good or bad, it's just the way it is.

Are these horns Rudy Meinl quality? Not by a longshot. I do believe that there are some horns that are a great value for the cost.