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Yesterday I was in Mesa, AZ and decided to stop in Milano Music to see what tubas are in stock. They have a Nirschl J700, a Jupiter 3/4 BBb rotary and a couple of 3 valve tubas. I played the Nirschl for a few minutes with a Shilke 67. These are my thoughts. I currently have an older Mirafone 186 and have owned a Conn 20J.

This is a 4 valve BBb silver tuba. It is shorter than my Mirafone and heavier. The valves seem to have tight spring that required more effort to push than what I am used to. The 4th valve seemed to be too far for my little finger so I had to move my entire hand to use the valve. I do not have small hands. The horn was nicely put together and has an adjustable thumb ring.

It played very well. It is very centered. The entire range I could play was very clear and did not take as much work as my Conn did. I enjoyed playing it and it has a nice clear, solid sound. The bottom range was good. I had some problems with low f but that was probably me as I have not been playing much. Also I was using a borrowed mouthpiece. I did play it for about 30 minutes and held it on my lap with no problems. I have to use a tuba rest for my Mirafone.

All in all I liked playing it and would consider one in the future. I looked on Barth's Brass Blog and it looks like the newer version has been redesigned. The website was not clear as to where to get these or I just missed it.

Thanks for reading.

Hi-
The production CC and BBb piston tubas, now called Gemeinhardt, will be soon on a ship to the States. Last I heard, expect something around Labor Day. Contact Dick Barth directly for more info.
Mark

Same J700, not redesigned you can find contacting Walter Nirschl directly. WNTU1 lacquered, without case almost EUR 4,700.00 (ITEC 2012 - Linz)

Hi-
The Gemeinhardt piston BBb, the J-744 (4v) or J-745 (5v), in lacquer with MTS style case with wheels and great Helleberg copy mthpce, will have a street price, I believe, around $5,222 for the 4v-----silver and/or 5v is add'l. Same pricing for the J-844 and J-845 CC tubas.
Again, contact Dick at Gemeinhardt directly for more info, or use this as a guide when pricing the Nirschl 700 BBb you recently tried out in Arizona.
Best of luck!
Mark

PS. Don Harry has a silver W. Nirschl J-700 4v BBb he has used in Orchestra, and he compared his to the Gemeinhardt J-744 lacquered horn when Dick brought the CC and BBb Gemeinhardt tubas to Buffalo recently-- you might want to contact Don directly for his thoughts.

Thanks for the information.