Old & New Miraphone 186 Tubas

[BavarianFanfare]

Sometime back, my teacher let me borrow his 186 BB-flat that was made in 1970. It had the 16.5 inch bell. I have not played any of the new ones with the larger bell. I was playing a Miraphone Rose Orchestral mouthpiece with the old 186. Are there any differences between the old horns and the new ones besides bell size and linkage. Are these horns basically the same playing wise from one to the other? Thanks.

[iiipopes]

In my community band, there are three Miraphone 186's: 1) an older 16 1/2 inch bell with the "S" arms, played with an older Rose Orchestra mouthpiece; 2) a newer 186 with the earlier form of the direct linkage and larger 17+ inch bell, and a newer Rose Orchestra mouthpiece, and 3) my detachable bell older style with a retrofit St Pete bell which is shorter, and the main tuning side lengthened to compensate.

I have now played with these guys for three years shoulder to shoulder, so I believe I have some good observations:

The older 16 1/2 inch plays and sounds like classic Miraphone, with all the usual expected personality and intonation quirks. A fine instrument. The newer 17+ inch bell one has a bit brighter tone. Comparing the new vs old would be analogous to the differences between a Bach 37 vs a Bach 43 trumpet bell. The newer one does seem to have less intonation quirks, and I agree it also sounds a little more vanilla in tone. My detachable bell, because the stack is shorter for the same throat diameter, has effectively a more conical profile and is darker in tone. But because this has also pushed the nodes down the bugle, the only note that is flat is the mid line D, which needs 12; but midstaff Db, C and B nat are right on with conventional fingerings, and 4th line F is not sharp. But I have to make sure to really open up the jaw and throat on the lower register, because it can now be sharp below open BBb if I'm not careful. I believe this is due to the increased conical profile tending to tighten the partials and octave spread slightly. Since I have 3 pulled for 23 combinations to be in tune, I generally play lowest G 3 instead of 12 to get the added tubing in play; low Eb likes 124 better, and low D 234 is right on, and in the right circumstances when I'm on the bottom of a D major chord full band sounds like you've pulled the 32' pedal smooth reed on a good organ and let the hall open up.

Three horns, three different variations on the basic theme, three individual tonalities that all blend very well due to the same valve block and bugle up to the bell stack.