Miraphone 191 - A Wonderful Tuba

[Cobra1502]

A year ago I decided to buy myself the best BBb tuba I could find. I had been playing a Yamaha 621 which was very good but just didn’t have the sound a full size tuba had. After a lot of research here and playing a variety of tubas I decided I wanted/needed a 5V Miraphone 191 in gold lacquer. After waiting for almost a year for it to be built and shipped it finally arrived about 3 weeks ago. My first week with the tuba was very frustrating as it played flat regardless of how much I pushed the main tuning slide in. I had a post here on this a few weeks ago looking for advice. Thanks to all who contributed suggestions.

Well two weeks later and all is well. In fact excellent! It sounds great, slots well and it plays in tune with only slight pulling on a couple notes and an alternative on another. So, what changed from a few weeks ago? I found 3 things were contributing to my original flat issue.

1. My practice room has the temperature set around 60F when I am not there. Each 10F requires about 1” of tuning slide which I didn’t have enough of. With room temperature set to 70F and playing the horn for a few minutes it warmed up enough where I almost could get it close to in tune with the slide all the way in.
2. Playing the new horn for a week and getting a sense of the air required and the feel of the horn with a tuner really helped with 1 above.

3. Lastly, I needed a shorter tuning slide so I had more ability to tune properly. I had an A440 slide which should have been okay and most likely is for other players. Note: I played a 191 in June last year (warmer here) and had no issue with tuning slide.

I reached out to Miraphone and Dillon Music regarding my issue. Both companies were excellent to deal with and very responsive. They could have said that it was my problem as the 191 works well with many other people. BUT THEY DIDN’T!! Since my tuba was only 1 week old when I contacted them - they agreed to exchange my A440 slide for an A443 slide. From 8 days of when I first emailed them, I had a replacement built, shipped from Germany, and delivered to me. Just in time for a concert this weekend.

Thanks to folks on Tubenet for some advice, Matt Walters and Dillon Music, and Eva from Miraphone. Awesome customer service.

[Jerryleejr]

Had I not found my 289 I would have went with a 191. Glad it all worked out for you.

JJ

[jpwell]

Why did you choose the 191 vs 1291

[tmz1m]

I think the more interesting question is 191 vs. 496 and why one over the other?

[Cobra1502]

Had I not found my 289 I would have went with a 191. Glad it all worked out for you.

JJ

I liked Miraphone’s rotary setup over the piston plus I wanted a 5 valve. The 496 didn’t have a 5V and it hadn’t been praised as much a year ago as it is now.

[tmz1m]

Makes sense. I really like my 5V 191, and I do think it plays a lot better than their 4V 1291 I used to own. I’ve never tried the 496 but hope to get a chance to do so at some point.

[Three Valves]

I play everything sharp and needed a longer MTS for my Mack-o-clone.

Glad things worked out!!

[Patrase]

Sounds like great customer service.

I tend to play flat and needed a shorter tuning slide on the used Fafner I bought. It had the long version. As luck would have it the repairman I went to had another customer with a Fafner with a short tuning slide that was too sharp for the player. So the repairer organised for us to swap tuning slides and my problem was solved. Considering their must only be a few Fafners in my Australia it was pure luck that we saw him at similar times and could do the swap.

[b.williams]

3. Lastly, I needed a shorter tuning slide so I had more ability to tune properly. I had an A440 slide which should have been okay and most likely is for other players. Note: I played a 191 in June last year (warmer here) and had no issue with tuning slide.

I reached out to Miraphone and Dillon Music regarding my issue. Both companies were excellent to deal with and very responsive. They could have said that it was my problem as the 191 works well with many other people. BUT THEY DIDN’T!! Since my tuba was only 1 week old when I contacted them - they agreed to exchange my A440 slide for an A443 slide. From 8 days of when I first emailed them, I had a replacement built, shipped from Germany, and delivered to me. Just in time for a concert this weekend.

Thanks to folks on Tubenet for some advice, Matt Walters and Dillon Music, and Eva from Miraphone. Awesome customer service.

Did the shorter tuning slide require any cuts to your 191?

[Cobra1502]

No cutting, aligning or bending to get shorter slide to work. It simply slid in where the old one used to be. It is about 1” shorter per side 2” over all. Slide is the only difference between their A440 and A443 models.