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The Miraphone 181 is an F tuba that has been around for quite some time (and I realize this model has some pros and cons). But it doesn't seem like many come up on the used market. You see far more B&S stuff or Firebirds, but few 181s. Is it because the people who have them tend to keep them? Or are there just fewer out there to begin with than I think? Something else??

when i search the for sale section of tubenet, i don't see a shortage of miraphone 181 f tubas for sale.

the b&s f tuba has been produced in some variation for at least 35, maybe even 40 or more years. i expect that there are a lot more of them around.

the miraphone 181 has been produced for how long? maybe 10 years? 15?

some folks may disagree, but i see the firebird as the replacement for the 181.

I too think that the Firebird has pretty much marginalized the 181.

The original 181 was likely PT inspired at the very least. I have heard of people having luck with the 181, but the ones I tried out in years past just didn't do much for me.

I do agree though, that the 181 doesn't seem to come up much, or certainly not as much as it did 8-10 years ago. I'm not sure why.

Interesting.

This isn't something that I'd ever really thought that much about, but you're right.

Honestly, I don't think Miraphone was seen a major player in the US market for F tuba until the Firebird and then the Petrushka. Yes, they had the 180 and an early 181 that was a B&S copy, but the market for F tubas was really just flat out dominated by B&S and a handful of MW models that are now largely considered to be obsolete.

The 181 went through several revisions, but still never seemed to catch on. By the time the latest 181 was out, F tuba choices had exploded...piston and rotor from Yamaha, B&S, MW and more.

Then Miraphone came out with the 281 Firebird and the Petrushka which I believe has made the 181 even more obscure. I've played several examples of the 181 though. As with many tubas, the great ones are great and the others are pretty awful. Honestly, I always kind of liked them.

Right, I definitely understand the "role" of the Firebird now, as compared to the 181. I was more asking about the 181's that are already out there from the past 10-15 years. The B&S version of the Miraphone F was short lived, and there probably aren't many like that around.

Tom, that's an interesting point -- that there wasn't a huge market for F tubas 15 years ago, especially not from Miraphone. I've tried a few 181's before, and they must have all been pretty good ones, I remember liking them.

I wonder if the old adage holds especially true for earlier Miraphone F tubas... the best ones stayed put in Germany.

Having played a 6v, gold brass 181 for the last 5 years or so - I can tell you it can have a beautiful mellow tone when you want, or it can be made to cut and project through almost anything. It does have some intonation quirks, but when you learn them, and how to fix them, it's a great horn. I've enjoyed mine in everything from solos, quintets, to orchestra, and (Big - 85+) Brass Bands. (And the low C is just like any other note ) It has a bottom end that's very solid, and can really sing in any range. I'd really like to try one of the newer 181's with the Firebird valve section, to see if the intonation is improved, but I'm not rushing out to buy a replacement for this one.....