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I have a Chinese tuba (Golden Cup) that is pretty close to a 186 clone. It's similar to, but not identical to, Mack Brass's model 200. While the intonation seems to be pretty good, I wonder what I would do if I needed to pull to get notes in tune. While a very nimble individual could reach #3 and #4 slides and even the main slide (hand through the bottom of the horn), the only really convenient pull is #1, on top. As you go down into the lowest octave, not every note uses #1.

I'd be interested in what others do with these (186 and the Chinese clones) tubas as far as pulling.

I actually do not find my horn a crap shoot at all. Having spent several hours playing it with a tuner on the stand, I don't find much that is out more than about ten cents, once the slides are set right, difficult as it may be for horn snobs to believe. I bought the horn from a guy who was moving on to grad school and was told to get a CC for that. He said he didn't like pulling slides and lipped things into tune. From what I've seen that is entirely possible on this horn.

I have a trip planned for tomorrow,but in a few days I'll post some info from watching my tuner.

I'm sorry if this horn isn't as bad as some expect and want it to be to substantiate their prejudices. I was just interested in what others do with their 186's and their Chinese clones to compare with my experience.

I considered an older, American horn, but I had limited funds available and this horn allowed me to trade the Besson BBb I advertised a while back and add $200 and get a new (used) tuba. The alternative (King 1241 or similar) would have cost about $800 more. Buying a used Chinese horn allowed me to pretty much dodge the depreciation bullet. When I've more cash I'll consider upgrading, if other horns look better at that point.

Anybody want to say what they usually pull on a horn like this?

Rings or rods make for accessibility to those slides that are not convenient.

Thanks for the advice, Jason, and my apologies to the Elephant if I misread his post. There's been so much silliness around here lately that I may have assumed too much. Sometimes ducks don't quack, they just peep a little.

I have five different mouthpieces and have tried them all in my tuba while using the tuner. I did find that a couple are better than the others with intonation.

I agree with you that pulling all over the place is not something I want to do, could keep up with or expect to have to do. I'll have to take another, more critical turn with the tuner and look specifically at what notes might need help and what alternate fingerings and slide pulls are available. It would not be very difficult, on my horn, to rig a pull ring or handle for #3, which is behind #1 and about four inches shorter. It's hard to reach in there without hitting #1 and pushing it in, but a little handle would fix that.

Right now it's off to Kentucky's Shaker Village for a tour. I don't think the Shakers had any tubas, so I'll be off for most of the day. . .I'll be thinking about what would work for a handle.

I had a 186 clone and did not have to do much slide pulling. The 5th valve slide is very accessible and was used on a couple of near-pedal notes. I pushed in 1 for D in the staff. That was about it. Top space G rode just hair flat for me, but as long as I was conscious of it, that note was easily played in tune.

I found the blokepiece solo models to work really well on this tuba; the symphony model did not give the horn quite enough "zip" or "zing" that seems to be the only shortcoming of these horns (at least the lacquer ones.). If I had a 186 clone again, I would definitely be curious to try the grand orchestral mouthpiece on it - unlike the symphony which is meant to tame punchy horns, the g-o puts a little burn back in the sound. Since the only shortcoming I noticed on my lacquer 186 clone was that it sounded slightly more "blah" that the original (although I am told the silver models do not experience this as much) the g-o mouthpiece could potentially be a perfect fit. The plus side to that was the clone did not sound like a contrabass trombone when pushed hard, as some original 186's are apt to do beyond a certain level.