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Good day,
I'm interested in hearing from you all reasons why you didn't buy a new horn. I have been F tuba shopping for awhile now and hearing why people didn't get a particular model of tuba gave me more insight on what to check out on a tuba while testing it. For example, I had read that Bloke found the open C on the Miraphone 181 to be really sharp. So when I was trying out a Miraphone 381 Bel Canto I made sure to check that out and sure enough the open C was almost 40 cents sharp. So I wanna know, what about a new horn (any key, but I'm personally interested in F tubas) made you pass on that model of tuba?

I'll start, I passed on the Wilson rotor F tuba because of I found the horn to be too heavy sounding and playing, plus the fifth valve trigger was not user friendly.

One tuba I should have not purchased but did was an HB2. The whole horn played gloriously with a focused, dark sound; with the exception of a couple notes...

The BBb and AA below the staff just blew/felt/played like the low CC on most rotary F tuba. The horn was decently priced and in good enough condidion to allow myself to justify purchasing it and learning how to get those notes to blow just like those around it.

It never happened.

I spent months working on and being frustrated with those two notes and never fully being satisfied with the horn, or what I could do about that problem. Finally, I sold it. My next CC was nowhere near the quality of the Hirsbrunner, but did have several small issues that were fixable (at least to myself).

The (expensive) lesson: Never buy a horn you're not completely satisfied with, no matter how 'great' it seems.

I prefer to think positively about situations, and my own role.

I did buy a new four rotary valve Cerveny F helicon, and was pleased to have Dillon music order one built for me with silver plating. It was a good decision for outdoor jazz & swing gigs, where intonation is a non-issue, but the horn's beauty and portability meet my needs. The retailer's and manufacturer's reputations were important.

I bought a nearly-new Willson 5 RV CC as the first C to ever touch my amateur's lips, sight unseen, because of the horn's reputation, a fair price, the seller's reputation on this board, and because the horn would not limit my progress in musicianship and would have the potential to support the needs of my community orchestra and bands. I wanted a challenge and was not disappointed.

Your question is strange.

Last time I went tuba shopping, the reason I didn't get any of the horns I didn't get was that they weren't the horn that I wanted, and that's it.

Now, if, as you post, you are asking why we didn't get a horn to figure out what to look for in a tuba, well, you could just ask us what to look for in a tuba.

When I was shopping, to replace a horn that I had worked with for 25 years that had been stolen, I wasn't looking for a replacement because I knew I wouldn't find one. I was looking for a do-it-all CC tuba, and I knew that after years spent playing older German and Austrian instruments, I wouldn't sweat intonation (because there is always a solution to intonation problems, unless you're playing a totally shitty horn, which is frankly rare). So I was looking at sound, response, and versatility. Pretty much in that order.

The funny twist - my old horn was found (largely thanks to this forum) and returned to me. So in the next year or two, I hope to put my "replacement" horn up for sale/trade, and start looking for a good solo F tuba. This time, knowing more what kind of music I'm playing these days and what I'm looking to do, I'll be looking for different things. Timbre is less important than response this time around, and I use microphones enough that I'm not worried about size, either. So this time I'm looking for a small, easy to play solo F tuba that sounds great. Different criteria for a different tuba that serves a different function than my good-for-everything CC main axe.

"Old ones are better".
Gee, I don't think so. The new ones I tried I kind of liked. S(some) had better valves, but not so good intonation. It seems to me that the the player has a lot of control over speaking & intonation, and it's really tough to evaluate a new horn in a few minutes. . .or even, maybe, a few hours.

bububassboner wrote: I'll start, I passed on the Wilson rotor F tuba because of I found the horn to be too heavy sounding and playing, plus the fifth valve trigger was not user friendly.

OT: That F is, IMO, one of the great tubas I have ever played. I agree with you about the characteristics, but dang.........that thing rate way up there for me. The fifth paddle on the side thing is an option IIRC. I played one that had a right thumb 5th a while back. What a horn.

Back on topic: 2 years ago I had sold a couple of instruments and was super hot on getting a new Mirafone 190. I really liked the old ones and was convinced that this was the answer. After playing on 2 of them I found out who wrong I could be in life. There was a range from F below the staff down a M3rd to Db that felt like a pillow was stuffed into the bell. I could not center any of those 5 notes on either horn. Really wish that was not the case because those horns are beautiful.

I have a very simple pass/fail test that dictates if I will continue to consider an instrument. On a CC, does the low G speak quickly, freely, and with good sound. Same goes for an F, only its the low C. No stuffy uncenteredness allowed. Basically a 4th valve test. Then I search for any notes that are really out and not easily correctable.