New Miraphone tubas for 2009

[pierso20]

Here it is back in the summer:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28459&p=247555&hili ... ba#p247555" target="_blank" target="_blank

Said and done.

[cdatuba]

I´m salivating with the re-new-ed 190(90B) and 291B(bruckner).
Wich would be better?
Someone played the 190 whit new valves or 291B prototipes?
Which of this to uou buy?

[tubashaman2]

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[MartyNeilan]

Where does the Miraphones tone lie ...

Miraphone tones never lie, James, they never lie.

[cjk]

For the new miraphone piston F a couple more questions:

Does it sound more like a 180F/B&S F, or more like a Yamaha F/MW 45SLP F tuba?

IMHO, I do not find the Miraphone 180 F tuba and (any) B&S F tuba to have similar sounds.

[imperialbari]

Where does the Miraphones tone lie and how much does it cost

Do you imply that the tone may be bought separately from the instrument?

Klaus

[tubashaman2]

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[MikeMason]

James,I know you aren't that interested in my approval,but i sense you maturing.I like the care you are starting to take in your word choice.Certainly not all the way there yet(as few if any of us are),but i sense a difference.All the bashing on tubenet is paying off.Just an observation(Bob is in this category too).I challenge all of you to tell people when you have a positive comment about them,not just negative.It can be a powerful force in your and others' lives.Now,where's that pic of the german beer girls.....

[mceuph]

I had a chance to spend about 15 minutes with the new MIraphone F at Midwest last week. As a euph player, I can say that it was by far the most fun I've ever had playing a tuba! Incredibly responsive and easy to play. By no means am I an expert on F tuba sound, but I would say it's definately more of a solo horn, and felt as natural to me as playing a big euphonium. If it helps at all, I feel the same way about the Yamaha F in terms of ease of playing (keep in mind that this is coming from a euphonium player's perspective). I had a tuba player with me who played it and immediately said "Wow, now THAT'S a fun horn!" I would love to own one of these for solo and quintet work.

[ztuba]

any other French tuba players played on this?? I wonder how it compares to a french C tuba... that would be VERY useful... specially if I were to want one of these ONLY for bydlo

[tubashaman2]

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[tubalou]

Hi,

I tried this "Petrouschka" F tuba in Paris during one week with Olivier Galmant and Philippe Gallet (Miraphone Tuba Quartet) who worked with Miraphone on this Piston Valves F Tuba.
To react to the posts I read on the forum, I could say:

The Petrouschka is not a "Piston Valves Firebird": the body is in all points different
It's possible to play Bydlo wiht it without any problems, but in France, most of the conductors ask to play Bydlo (and several other orchestral excerpts) on Saxhorn Basse Sib. The French C Tuba is not any more used in orchestras except in Paris Opera; because the sound is too bright to marry with the modern trombones. Sometimes, orchestras are playing on vintage instruments, and then, the tuba player is taking 6 valves French C tuba.

Comparing to the Yamaha 822, it's true that there's a big likeness in design, but, for me, it's very different to play

What I don't like in Yamaha Tubas is that's very difficult to change the sound's colour... Everyone who's playing this tuba have almost the same sound. Big low register, but too much for Bass Tuba (for the french school).
With the Petroushka, you have a good low register, but not too large. This Miraphone is very easy to play in each register, very easy in upper register. Intonation is very good. According to me, it's the best Piston Valves Tuba I ever tried.

Gronitz 125: very large sound, but not enough high harmonics, very poor intonation, very easy to play, bad projection, difficult to have a good articulation

Yamaha 822: good sound, big low register, but difficult to change the colour, poor intonation particulary in upper notes (from C to F), Eb always too low, not so good projection, too close from a small C tuba (according to me)

Yamaha 621: good sound, but sometimes too bright, good intonation, very easy to play, good projection, too small for orchestra or chamber music (except the third part of an euphonium tuba quartet), very good to play as jazz soloist

MW 45 SLP and 46SLP: good sound but something rigid and bright in the feeling when you play, very bad ergonomy, very good projection, good intonation, very tiring to play

Rudolf Meinl FPiston Export Model: very very rich sound, full of harmonics, very good projection, bad intonation (but with the 2 triggers it's OK), too much expensive

Hirsbrunner 388 and 389: good sound but I don't like silver plated tubas, I find the sound too much "BouBou", not so good intonation, good projection

B&S 3109: poor sound especially in low register, bad intonation, bad projection...

Kalison and Willson F Tuba: I don't know these tubas very well, so I don't want to say anything on these ones...

With the Miraphone Petrouschka:
True Bass Tuba sound on each register (Very Large on upper notes, large on lower notes)
Very rich sound, full of harmonics; it's very easy to have his own sound changing the coulour
Very very good projection
Good intonation ( I had just some little problems on the Eb medium...)
Very good articulation
Valves have a very short action comparing to others F tubas
Very Ergonomic: very easy to play standing up

I'm gonna buy it as soon as possible. And according to Miraphone, the catalogue price should be between 8500 and 9000 euros. The only regret I have is that's impossible to have the "Petrouschka" with a sixth valve, like the firebird.

Bye and Happy New Year to everybody

[tubalou]

bump

[Roger Lewis]

I've been fortunate enough to have spent quite a bit of time with this instrument, both during the development stages and at Midwest with the finished 1st production model. All I can say is GREAT HORN! Yes it looks like a mini 1291, but every measurement on this instrument except for the size of the bell at the top flare is bigger than the Yamaha 822. The bell is a 16 1/2" bell compared to the 17" bell on the Yamaha.

The low register is fantastic. The tuning is extremely good and it plays with great ease in the high register. There is nothing "small" about the sound of this instrument. The one big advantage that the Miraphone has is - color (for the French - colour). You have an infinite number of colors available to you, through the entire spectrum, on the Miraphone that you cannot get from the Yamaha. The tuning is much better than the Yamaha (in my opinion) and beyond that, it is just a flat out fun horn to play!

All 4 pistons are factory vented, allowing for very smooth slurs. The slides are all accessible to the player for adjustment when needed and they are stepped (though the first one was not) to cut down on how much drag there is on the slides. The soft tones are warm and sweet and yet you can really light it up if you wish.

As I said at the top - GREAT HORN! You have to play it to believe it.

Just my $0.02 for what it's worth.
Roger

[Ferguson]

We've been testing a production model of the new 1281 piston F tuba for a couple of days now. It's a wonderful horn. It's more stable feeling than a Firebird, has excellent projection, and you can really lean into it and breathe. There's a little pop from the rotary valve, but everything else is very smooth. I'd prefer softer springs, but that's easily done. Yamaha springs come recommended. We took some photos to compare size with the Firebird, Yamaha 822, and Gronitz PF125. I'll post those here as soon as they're edited. This is a small looking tuba with a big sound. I think it'll be a winner.

Regarding the comments above about the Gronitz F tuba, I have to disagree. I have compared this new Miraphone to a Gronitz PF125, and both are excellent instruments. Gronitz would not have the fine reputation they do, nor would they command the prices they ask, if they made a difficult playing, out of tune horn. There are lots of great instruments out there these days, and rarely is one model the choice of a majority of players.

This new Miraphone F, and 17 other tubas, euphoniums, and other oddites, will be on display at the Seattle Tuba-Euphonium Conference, January 9-11, 2009. Info is here: http://www.seatec.org" target="_blank. After that, we'll ship it off to the Army Band Conference. It will be at Ferguson Music for most of the third week of January, for local SoCal players to try out.

Best,

Ferguson

[Alex C]

Here it is back in the summer:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=28459&p=247555&hili ... ba#p247555" target="_blank" target="_blank" target="_blank

Said and done.

Trying to end a thread on Tubenet is like trying to squash jello-o: it can't be done. If the thread runs long, it has to endure a slow and painful end.

[Alex C]

[ The Firebird (and, probably, this "piston Firebird"...??) is still not my personal choice, for some of the very same reasons that the 186/188 C tubas (even though the intonation/overall response is very workable) are not tubas that would choose to use.

No, I talked to Marcus Theinart about the piston F and it is a new design from the ground up. Not related to the Firebird except, maybe, by coincidence.

[bort]

Any comparison between this and the MW 2182? I think the 2182 is a lot smaller, but I'm not sure...thoughts?

[Ferguson]

Here are a few horn-dorn pics of the new Miraphone 1281, taken by Noah Gladstone. Notice the long length of the little curved tubes exiting the pistons. There aren't any extra ferrules there, but instead a long graceful curve, usually transitioning right into a long nickel outer sleeve. Very sleek, most easily seen in pics 1, 4, 6:













And here are some shots comparing the size of the Miraphone to several known quantities. First is 1281 vs 281 Firebird:



Here's the 1281 vs a Gronitz PF125:



And here's the 1281 vs a Yamaha YFB822S:



Best,

Ferguson

[tubalou]

Hi,

Very nice photos! We can see on these photos, that this Petrouschka is closer to the Gronitz in appearence than the Yamaha.

Regarding my commentary on the Gronitz: I only talk about my experience. I love to play this horn.I owned three ones in the past. But each time I go to an audition or to an international competition, the jury made me the same reproach: too many intonation problems and a big problem of projection.

I asked Gronitz to build one PF125 with two triggers and with a sixth valve (quarter tone); and I decided to play the mouthpiece Romera 3 which is better for projection.
I managed to play in tune, but I was always thinking about which trigger to use, and when I was thinking about it, It was very hard to concentrate at the same time on music.

Finally I decided to change for a B&S 3100 (PT10, no?)
I had other problems: harder to play, low register very closed, but IN TUNE! and a very good projection
Since I changed, I won more prices and more auditions...

But I was waiting for a F tuba with pistons valves, like this Petrouschka.

Comparing to the MW2182, the 2182 is much smaller than the Miraphone.

Bye

Tubalou