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I knew this day would come. Now, build a SMALLER F and keep it $1200. I'm already in line.

Wonder if it's just a small horn or if it actually sounds good. Amati has a 'children's tuba' just a little bit larger than this.

HI-
Pretty nifty--esp. at that price!
Let's see-$6895 for a German 4 rotary travel F tuba (.610 bore, 8.66" det. bell, & 20 1/4" high) or $1200 for a Chinese 4 rotary travel (or kids) BBb tuba (.590 bore, 11 1/2" bell, & 24" high)--wow!! I am also told this horn plays very nice-amazing.
mark

The 1st valve looks very, very short.

I spoke to the source. These tubas are selling very well in Europe and the price most likely will not remain that low. Get 'em while they're hot!

LANShark wrote:What would the application be for a tuba this small - other than buying a shiny new $1680 tuba that perfectly fits your budding 6 year old musician?

To put in the bell of your 28J.

"Plays great , if you want a instrument on the high notes , above the staff to play Pictures at an Exhibition with out a problem this is it"

I love this statement.

Hmmmmm.......Key of Bb with a Euph bore and bell diameter. I wonder how long it is from MP to bell?

Bob Kolada wrote:

LANShark wrote:What would the application be for a tuba this small - other than buying a shiny new $1680 tuba that perfectly fits your budding 6 year old musician?

To put in the bell of your 28J.

Or you could hang it off the back of a Yorkbrunner et. al.. Kind of like a yacht has a dingy....

Jeff "Ahoy, mate!" Benedict

Cut it to CC (?)

There's a double loop in the main tuning slide....

tbn.al wrote:Hmmmmm.......Key of Bb with a Euph bore and bell diameter. I wonder how long it is from MP to bell?

This is a valid question.
The answer is 9ft. This IS euphonium. I saw similar looking horn not long ago made by Jinbao. They call it children's tuba, but it's just an euphonium/baritone.

Even seller stated: "if you want a instrument on the high notes, above the staff to play..."

I'm pretty sure that Jinbao manufactures horns for M&M. The looks and numbering of M&M and Jinbao are the same.

The seller will not answer my question about the length (18ft vs. 9ft) of the instrument. Here is his response:
"This is a wonderful playing instrument , even though we designed it for a small person, Bb not BBb , will play with a large tone as a $5000.00 Euphioum"

So my conclusion it is 9ft.

Furthermore, I can't see from the picture that there would be extra 6ft of length compared to F travel tuba:

Way to go, people-that-were-drooling-all-over-the-supposed-mini-contrabass-tuba...


I wonder how it actually plays?

Bob Kolada wrote:I wonder how it actually plays?

Suspect! I would not buy without trying first

The Meinl-Weston travel tuba is expensive, but at least does play well - surprisingly well

I didn't care for the MW mini-F. It was very awkward to hold (it seemed like the receiver was at a very odd angle) and I still don't think they're worth 6000.

I reckon the travel tuba was designed by a middle age bloke with a bit of a belly. For me that is where it sat, but I can see that would not work for a big slim chap like you Bob!

Belltrouble wrote:If it is a new tuba model it should turn up at Frankfurt music fair in a few weeks,shouldn´t it ??

If you're going there, look for it and play it if you can. Let us all know if you do.

I think M&M is distributed out of Florida here in the States so I don't know if they would cross The Pond to peddle their bargain wares.

Belltrouble wrote:it may be distributed by M&M in your country,of course,but how often does the same chocolate bar turn up in different wrapping ????


this one is very much likely of chinese origination.................

Oh, I would agree with you there, Kurt.... Keep your eyes open when you go to the show and, if you see one, tell us how it works!

Some poor soul already placed a bid on it...

sugawi wrote:The seller will not answer my question about the length (18ft vs. 9ft) of the instrument. Here is his response:
"This is a wonderful playing instrument , even though we designed it for a small person, Bb not BBb , will play with a large tone as a $5000.00 Euphioum"

So my conclusion it is 9ft.

If this is the horn M&M had at TUSABTEC, it's 9'.

My first thought when I saw it was, "Hey! a M-W travel tuba clone!"

First clue that it wasn't a tuba was my large shank euph mpc fit the receiver.

Second clue was that it got stuffy on the Eb one line below the staff and got worse as I went down from there.

Third clue was I couldn't get anything below pedal E (octave below the staff) to so much as peep, much less speak.

So it ain't a BBb tuba, but overall, it's not a bad non-compensating euph: pretty free-blowing from bottom of staff F through F an octave above the staff; started to get stuffy at D below the staff: below that, nothing; slotting from F# above the staff on up was a bit spotty, but that could have been operator error. Intonation was decent, with nothing unmanageable (unlike the Kanstul euphs, which were anywhere from 19-31 cents sharp on the 3rd and 6th partials).

At ~$1200, I could see a potential market for doublers who prefer rotary valves to pistons; beyond that, I don't see much of a market. For better or worse, the euph world has largely abandoned the valve front configuration in favor of the 3+1 or 4-top, and the ergonomics of the thing are just different enough from 4-front piston valves that I don't see it appealing to euphers who prefer valve-front euphs.

But, hey, I'll give 'em credit for trying something different.