Nirschl J700 - short review

[rodgeman]

Yesterday I was in Mesa, AZ and decided to stop in Milano Music to see what tubas are in stock. They have a Nirschl J700, a Jupiter 3/4 BBb rotary and a couple of 3 valve tubas. I played the Nirschl for a few minutes with a Shilke 67. These are my thoughts. I currently have an older Mirafone 186 and have owned a Conn 20J.

This is a 4 valve BBb silver tuba. It is shorter than my Mirafone and heavier. The valves seem to have tight spring that required more effort to push than what I am used to. The 4th valve seemed to be too far for my little finger so I had to move my entire hand to use the valve. I do not have small hands. The horn was nicely put together and has an adjustable thumb ring.

It played very well. It is very centered. The entire range I could play was very clear and did not take as much work as my Conn did. I enjoyed playing it and it has a nice clear, solid sound. The bottom range was good. I had some problems with low f but that was probably me as I have not been playing much. Also I was using a borrowed mouthpiece. I did play it for about 30 minutes and held it on my lap with no problems. I have to use a tuba rest for my Mirafone.

All in all I liked playing it and would consider one in the future. I looked on Barth's Brass Blog and it looks like the newer version has been redesigned. The website was not clear as to where to get these or I just missed it.

Thanks for reading.

[bisontuba]

Hi-
The production CC and BBb piston tubas, now called Gemeinhardt, will be soon on a ship to the States. Last I heard, expect something around Labor Day. Contact Dick Barth directly for more info.
Mark

[turo]

Same J700, not redesigned you can find contacting Walter Nirschl directly. WNTU1 lacquered, without case almost EUR 4,700.00 (ITEC 2012 - Linz)

[bisontuba]

Hi-
The Gemeinhardt piston BBb, the J-744 (4v) or J-745 (5v), in lacquer with MTS style case with wheels and great Helleberg copy mthpce, will have a street price, I believe, around $5,222 for the 4v-----silver and/or 5v is add'l. Same pricing for the J-844 and J-845 CC tubas.
Again, contact Dick at Gemeinhardt directly for more info, or use this as a guide when pricing the Nirschl 700 BBb you recently tried out in Arizona.
Best of luck!
Mark

PS. Don Harry has a silver W. Nirschl J-700 4v BBb he has used in Orchestra, and he compared his to the Gemeinhardt J-744 lacquered horn when Dick brought the CC and BBb Gemeinhardt tubas to Buffalo recently-- you might want to contact Don directly for his thoughts.

[rodgeman]

Thanks for the information.