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So, I just recently have acquired the means to by probably any F tuba I want. I wanted to know your opinions on a couple of horns: Miraphone firebird, Meinl Weston Kodiak, Miraphone petrushka, B&S JBL Classic, And the Meinl Weson 45SLP. Any other great suggestions would be appreciated. I plan on making a purchase if possible AT ITEC this year.

Petrushka wins. If you disagree, we can fight at ITEC

Assuming money is no issue
-If I were going to buy a new rotary F tuba, it would probably be the JBL Classic.
-If I were going to buy a new piston F tuba, it would probably be the Yamaha Bobo.

Your mileage may vary, but those are the horns that do what I want from the two different styles of tuba...

As a side note, if I were looking for a big F or a small CC, I would probably buy an Eb!

-T. J.

Tony Clements keeps going back to the Yamaha Bobo. He played an absolute killer recital years ago at Santa Clara University, mostly on the Yama-Bobo. Tony does a lot of comparing of tubas - as much as somebody can get there hands on them here on the left coast, that is.

Go to ITEC and play every F tuba there, narrow it down to a few, play the chosen ones again, and decide if you like one enough to purchase it....

Meinl Weston 2250 NP

The last time I had an opportunity to buy an f tuba, I decided on my Petrushka. This was primarily because I wanted a horn that was more versatile and able to be comfortably used in any situation (maybe not as perfect as other horns in certain situations, but good enough all around) and that essentially boiled down to the ease of pistons in the low register. I am not a huge fan of the big piston sound on a lot of f tubas floating around now, but found that the size of the Petrushka was a good middle ground, and for whatever reason it also seemed to maintain a lot more of that zippiness or zing in the sound that the German rotor horns have, which I love.

If you can, Give a Gronitz rotor F tuba a blow. The horn should tell you the rest.