MW 182?

djwesp · Post by **djwesp** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 5:56 pm

I know these are small horns, but just how "small" do they play?

I've searched the site high and low, and spotty reviews are there on this horn. None of them offer too much insight (that I've found)

Anybody own one? Anybody played a while on one? The knocks? The pros?

(now that we have pros labeled on the site, why don't we have a review section where they can comment on equipment they and their students use?)

greatk82 · Post by **greatk82** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 6:01 pm

I owned a MW182 for about 3 years, though only two count as I was in Iraq for the middle year. I loved this horn, but it was very small. I had sold my CC prior to enlisting and my unit had really terrible horns, so I needed something bigger. I used it very successfully in tuba-euphonium quartet, but it often felt to small for brass quintet. It was great for strolling gigs. I hope that this was a little help. Consider contacting David Graves via this board as I traded the horn to him for a Kanstul CC.

bttmbow · Post by **bttmbow** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 7:01 pm

These are great horns. I have one that I won't ever part with.

The only downside to them is that they don't have an "expansive" bandwidth below D beneath the Bass clef staff (with regard to supporting a large powerful brass section), but in other applications, such as solo/chamber , jazz, Bydlo, SOME Berlioz, Tannhauser overture, Midsummernight's Dream Over., the end of the first act of Meistersinger (just to name a few), this horn will do well, possibly better than many other F tubas.

Play some to find out for yourself!

Chris Hall

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Thu Feb 22, 2007 8:31 pm

bttmbow wrote:The only downside to them is that they don't have an "expansive" bandwidth below D beneath the Bass clef staff

Lee Stofer had one that I tried out for about a week, and from my experience Chris is being kind on the low end and maybe not enough praise for the top end. The C,B,A was not useable on the one I played. I have since come to believe that if played one everyday for a while it would come, but never enough for me to support a group, even a quintet. Melodies above the staff however were some of the most exquisite sounds I have ever made on any instrument. I wish I could have kept it, but I was looking for a quintet horn and couldn't abide the low end. You cannot imagine how sweet the highs are though.

MikeS · Post by **MikeS** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:24 am

tbn.al wrote:I wish I could have kept it, but I was looking for a quintet horn...

Sorry to go off topic a bit but you have a 184 and you are looking for a quintet horn? The 184 I used to own was about as perfect a quintet horn as I could imagine. I agree with you on the MW182. Exquisite sound and response in and above the staff but not an all-round horn.

Lee Stofer · Post by **Lee Stofer** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 10:51 am

I would agree with Al's assessment of the 182 F, but only to a point. The high range is exquisite, as you should expect on a smaller F tuba. But, this one is not as small as it looks, for it is wrapped tightly and does not have a small initial bore. I played that tuba in an 85-piece orchestra for three performances, including playing loud and low passages, and there was nothing but positive comments. That said, I did have to use a large mouthpiece, and I did have to work quite hard to do that. This is one of the German F tubas that requires the use of a German mouthpiece with a large rim opening and shallow bowl to get the most out of it. I am not a Meinl-Weston dealer and am not likely to ever become one, but I can say that this model is a good one. The only Meinl-Weston F that I like any better is the hard-to-find Walter Hilgers small model F tuba.

If I personally owned a 182 (and I did seriously consider keeping that one), I think I'd plan to use it in a traditional F tuba role in an orchestra, and have a fine solo horn that I could use in quintet if I wanted to.

djwesp · Post by **djwesp** » Fri Feb 23, 2007 5:13 pm

Lee Stofer wrote: If I personally owned a 182 (and I did seriously consider keeping that one), I think I'd plan to use it in a traditional F tuba role in an orchestra, and have a fine solo horn that I could use in quintet if I wanted to.

Thanks Lee.

Right now I use a Besson 983 for a lot of things and a bigger CC horn.

I love my Besson to death, but am tired of the horn being a little big for some of the things I'm being asked to do. It comes down to the horn not facilitating my needs very well right now and borrowing an F for that specific application is hard to do here in Nebraska.

The Contrabass or the 983 will be what I use most of the time. I do plan on test playing a batch before I buy, however, just like when I went hunting for a new CC when you get there it is a little overwhelming. I'm trying to narrow down my choice when I get there so I'm not like a kid in a candy store.

When that kid in a candy store goes in there, they all sound good. Because test playing tubas is darned exciting.

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:54 pm

Lee Stofer wrote:I played that tuba in an 85-piece orchestra for three performances, including playing loud and low passages, and there was nothing but positive comments. That said, I did have to use a large mouthpiece, and I did have to work quite hard to do that.

If Lee had to work hard to get it done, I might as well not even attempt it. The day Lee showed me that horn for the first time he picked it up cold and played Bydlo without a hitch. And then to show me the difference he grabbed a big old CC and did it again. It's the rider, not the horse.

tbn.al · Post by **tbn.al** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:04 pm

MikeS wrote:
tbn.al wrote:I wish I could have kept it, but I was looking for a quintet horn...
but you have a 184 and you are looking for a quintet horn?

I didn't have the 184 then. I was still searching. You are right about the quintet horn. No matter what I play now, I keep coming back to the 184. It may not be everyone's perfect quintet horn, but it is probably mine.

Steve Inman · Post by **Steve Inman** » Mon Mar 05, 2007 6:21 pm

I parted company with my 983 because I didn't like the extra resistance in the compensating low register AND because it was a little too broad in sound (for my ears) when I would try to cover 2nd 'bone parts in a brass quintet (w/o taking them down an octave).

Horns to consider:

YEB-321 / 381 (a bit more focus to the sound than the Besson)

YFB-621 -- even more focus, tighter sound

MW 182 (as mentioned)

Besson 777 Eb (?) if you can find one -- 12" bell, iirc -- enough said. I used to own the Besson 220 student Eb and liked the very compact sound -- euph on steroids, but the intonation had some issues. Didn't keep it.

For any of these horns, however, you will need something bigger to convincingly cover the contrabass parts out there. The Yamaha 381 with a bigger mpc might do this job in a very small orchestra (pit orchestra for example), but that would be about the limit.

Cheers,