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I am currently pursuing my undergraduate degree and will be looking in the near future to buy my first tuba. I would prefer a CC 4/4 if possible, but I am not sure what a reasonable price range can be. Can someone shed some light on what I should look for when I buy one?

You're venturing down a deep rabbit hole. Depending on make and model, you could spend $4500. Or you could spend $14500+ and everything in between for a 4/4 horn. The cliche answer is talk to your teacher, but I worry more about sound quality and ease of pitch control before looks.

This topic has been beaten to death on TubeNet. There are some CC tubas listed here which would be good for starter tubas for under $2000 used. The thing to do would be to just browse through the topics and posts here for a few hours and take in the information. Talking to your teacher if you have one would be good. The quality of the inexpensive Chinese tubas has gone up in the last couple of years and one of those would be well under $5000 new.

Click on the Sponsors link in the middle of the opening page. There are a number of dealers who sell both new and used tubas. They help support TubeNet and are worth a look.

I will definitely keep talking to my teacher about it, but she is a trombonist and thought I may have a better idea from fellow Tubists. But I will definitely keep researching on the forum and contacting the vendors to see what is in my price range/what I need to save.

1.5x the comparable BBb tuba price.

You should probably buy this horn:
TubeNet • View topic - Sanders B&S 4/4 CC 5 rotary valve tuba
viewtopic.php?f=4&t=69566" target="_blank
I'm way too tempted by it so it would help me out so I don't take out another loan!

Don't buy a new cheap tuba, because what your school has for you to use is probably better than an entry level instrument.

Also, keep in mind that switching to a CC (if that's why you're making this purchase) is a fairly trivial matter compared to honing your technique. All I'm saying is you don't need to be in a big hurry to switch. No matter what you pay for a tuba, it is a huge investment and should not be taken lightly. I would buy used if you can, based on my experience buying a new horn when I did.

Keep your eye on prices carefully as well. I remember when I was buying my horn (miraphone 1291 cc) the price on wwbw jumped from around 6 grand to about 10 grand in the matter of a couple of weeks. About a month later, it was back down around 6. That is just something to be aware of.

I think if you can get a used Miraclone 410 cc in the 1200-1400 range,that's a decent way to go.good player,cheap,not gonna lose any/much on a re sale. And they really play.

MikeMason wrote:I think if you can get a used Miraclone 410 cc in the 1200-1400 range,that's a decent way to go.good player,cheap,not gonna lose any/much on a re sale. And they really play.

YES!!!!!!! Very good advice!

Ace

It seems that the people who bought instruments new around the 70's are retiring/switching to smaller horns. There are tons of older Miraphones/Conns/MWs/B&S floating around for a good price.

ohrlund wrote:It seems that the people who bought instruments new around the 70's are retiring/switching to smaller horns. There are tons of older Miraphones/Conns/MWs/B&S floating around for a good price.

This is me exactly : )