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Hello fellow tubists, I was curious who all played Meinl Weston 32s and what your opinions were on these tubas especially concerning tone and intonation. Thanks!

I think it is somewhere between a Miraphone 186 and 188 but with a darker sound and it doesn't break up as easily. Intonation is just fine. Great tuba for a student or really anyone who wants a solid 4/4 tuba. If you can get a 5 valve one, $3,500 to $4,000 is a good price.

I now play a Meinl Weston model 30 (4 valve version of the 32) from the 1970's. Over my 40 years of tuba study and playing, I have probably tried about dozen of these at one time or another. I found that they vary from one tuba to next with respect to sound, openness and intonation. The one that I am playing now is the first one that I felt was good enough to entice me to buy one. It has manageable intonation, a good low register and a live sound, but, for me, that took years of searching. However, that was my personal situation.

Meinl Weston is a well-made tuba. The 32 is a good all-purpose tuba, large enough for orchestra, yet small enough to be easily playable in smaller ensembles.To my knowledge, 2 of my major teachers, Paul Krzywicki and Warren Deck, won their jobs with a MW 32.

Though, for me, it was a long journey to the MW 32, I think that they are quite worthy of consideration.

I own one. I like it. As Bort said, the tone is excellent. The intonation on mine has some oddities, but this may be just me, or I may have a deviant model. For the price, you will not get a better-made tuba (unless you're buying from China, but I don't talk about that).

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The one I owned was this, but with 4 valves. Very nice tuba, and it was a complete steal (both when I bought it and when I sold it! )

I have owned a MW 32 since around 1986 (that should say a lot). I have found it to be an excellent all purpose tuba (although I used it mostly for brass quintet and as my backup tuba). My experience with this tuba is that it takes a very slow airstream, especially in the low range. Once I learned to play my MW 32 correctly it has served me well.

Mark

I had the chance to play test one of these at Meridian Winds and was very impressed with how it played. Thank you all for the input. It is funny you mention the VMI Bloke I actually play a VMI 3302 BBb horn and actually considered looking into a VMI CC tuba if the Meinl was not for me.

VMI and Meinl are the same brand, so if Meinl didn't satisfy you, VMI probably wouldn't have either. Aren't they still both owned by Buffet Music?

I would LOVE to play a MW32 against the B&S'ed version.

Did the differing valve block make a lick of difference?