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Going only on the knowledge I had in the 60's/70's....

Either a Conn 2XJ or a King 124X.

I don't think I had even heard of Miraphone or Meinl when I was in high school/Navy. I had played some of the big Bessons while overseas but thought they sucked.

I graduated from high school in 1967. My school received a donation of one Miraphone BBb 186 in maybe 1964 or 65 for use in the select wind ensemble. Aside from the Conn sousaphones used in the regular band, that was the only tuba I knew about. When I entered college in '67 I wanted to purchase a horn of my own. I wanted a Miraphone but couldn't afford one. As it turned out, I bought a Meinl-Weston. from Mr. Bell at a big discount through my teacher Mr. Torchinsky. I knew nothing about them except I could afford if I saved every dollar I made for a year. As for a mouthpiece I used a Bach 24 W in high school and switched to an 18 in college. I sold it years ago and have been happily playing my 186 CC for around 30 years or so.
Sorry for the ramble...Happy New Year
Pete

My 1941 Holton 6/4 BBb with the custom mouthpiece I currently own made by King back in the 60's. I could also go with the Conn Grand Orchestral 36(?) and the largest Holton mpc available back then. Incidentally, I'll be 73 this March so I fit your hypothetical timeline. Back then I was busily persuing a PhuD in mathematics and only played the occasional job with a ratty old Conn sousaphone borrowed from my high school band director.

Knowing what I know now, I would have bought a tuba and mouthpiece of some variety 30 years sooner. I might have even purchased the same tuba I now play, Olds O-99, if I was playing mostly in a quintet, which is what I like to do. Who knows, it took me 30 years and a scheduling accident to realize what fun I was missing.

bloke wrote:quoted for emphasis:

knowing what you know today

Oh. Sorry.

I'll have that Rudy 6/4 BBb please.

Prolly a king 2341 old style. I still really like how they sound out front when I go to concert band festivals.

Holton 345, if I could pick and choose from several to find the best. Barring that, a Rudy 5/4 BBb.

Strangely enough, I would have bought a Hirsbrunner BBb (HB-19) and Conn Eb but, I have a Willson 3400, today as it was a better horn when I tried all the Eb's on the market. I would still buy a M-W 182 and, btw, all the horns I have with 5th valves, have 2 whole step 5th valves. And, I do have a Conn Jumbo Eb, too. I use virtually every horn I have at one time or another for work (gigs) and, in purchasing horns, my wife has not only never said "No," she has encouraged the purchase of several of the horns I have owned. Just lucky, I guess.

Earlier, choose between a 186, an Alex, or a Bell MW. Most likely CCs. Probably a Cerveny F.

'90ish, as an orchestral player, the Yorkbrunner. Quintet, if that 186CC was still around, it; possibly a HB 1. B&S F--the one I have.

Now...The same F, or one of the Bel Canto or Petruschka. Solo stuff, a Norwegian Star. Big horn...Bruckner or a frankentuba, Martin bell. Quintet or other smaller use, an old Piggy if the 186 wasn't still around.

OK, I was just a babe in the woods in the 60's/70's (I played my first tuba note in 1975);
I'd definitely have started on a King 1241 seeing that those tubas have such a brilliant intonation. C3 & C4 were good to me when I started. (I don't use them now but try them out occasionally and still enjoy what they can do).

I'd look for the magic Alexander BBb & F.
I'd buy a B&S Symphonie before my teacher Roger Bobo did and impress him with my awesomeness.
I would have try harder, much harder, to convince Roger to sell me his Conn BBb contrabass trombone.
I'd have a cimbasso made (before it was in style) and reek havoc amongst my fellow musicians.

An to finance it I'd buy up as many York tubas as I could, keep 2 that I like. and sell the rest to Tubenetters for way too much money, mwa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!

Knowing what I know today, I would have enthusiastically thanked my High School Band Director. He purchased a new MW 25 with a Bach 18 mouthpiece that was new for me. (For a trombone player, he wasn't so dumb.) I babied that horn and played it, but I didn't know what I had. It was, and still is, a great horn for a high school level player. There was an old Conn Eb Sousaphone available. I likely should have learned Eb and stuck with it. I would have also formed a brass quintet.

The foot notes to this story are I brought my 1912 Martin in to him to test one time in the '90's. He loved the horn saying, It has no bottom (meaning the low tones were really good). I think he really loved that horn because it represented his victory of instilling the love of tuba in me. The MW 25 is still at the school today and has recently been restored. I recently heard the current players saying they "had" (stuck with) to play the old horn. I think I need to talk to those kids. They don't know what they have……..

Principally, the same one I use now: Besson Eb Imperial.

Second and third: Alex CC and Alex F.

... and rotary King BBb.

In 1961 at the end of my freshman year in HS my family took a trip to Wisconsin and stopped by the Holton plant in Elkhorn. The only horn they had for me to try was a beautiful silver CC which we could have bought for about $850. Of course it was too big and clumsy, didn't have rotary valves and was not in BBb. Enough said.

Assuming they play like the current one piece 2341, probably one of the older King Bb's. One of the seemingly rare fixed bells would be preferred as I don't like tall horns. That and a small York or Conn Eb. Hell, I could see myself playing only the latter (as I do now!) as my interest in large ensembles has faded considerably the last few years.

My 186 is from @1971. I'd use a Rose Orchestra mouthpiece with it. Why try to fix what isn't broken?

A Holton 345. If I were successful and playing in a symphony in the 1990s I would probably have purchased a Hirsbrunner York when they became available.

I think the larger Marzan's came out around then - 4/4+ Can sound like 5/4. I love the sound and response of the rotary ones. If I had one with good intonation (easier to find on he the BBb than the CC) that would have been the go-to horn. Conn2 mouthpiece as the multi-purpose on it, with a Mirafone c4 for the solos and full sized Helleberg for the big stuff.

I often find it curious that someone will post a fun, hypothetical thread, and then not give a response of their own.

How about it, bloke?

Andrew (Who'd probably take a Holton 345, a B&S Symphonie, and wonder whether the Rudy 3/4CC was around back then)