Most in tune tubas

[michael_glenn]

What is the most in tune BBb, CC, Eb, and F tuba you have ever played on? And of those, what was the most in tune tuba of any key you have ever played?

[J.c. Sherman]

Alexander 164 CC

[bort]

In my experience, Miraphone 188.

[Ace]

Best in-tune CC I have owned is the Schiller miraclone (JinBao 410?) Next best is the Miraphone 188. These two horns are a delight to play.

Ace

[eupher61]

Any tuba that the player has taken the time to learn how to play it. Some old Alex tubas can be remarkably in tune. Some Yamaha remarkably hard to tune. My B&S F is, for me, point and shoot. A particular Besson F I am familiar with is beautiful.
Player+instrument+mouthpiece+work=in tune. For any tuba.

[iiipopes]

The 1971 Besson New Standard 3-valve comp tuba I used to own was the most in tune tuba I have ever played, or probably will ever play. With a tuner, it was never more than a few cents out on any pitch, and the slots were wide enough to lip any pitch either direction to temper the note into any given chord. It had "the dent" on the primary knuckle between the 1st and 2nd valve. This did make the horn slightly stuffy, but raised the pitch of the fifth and seventh partials so that the fifth partials were in tune with the standard fingerings, and the seventh partial Gb and G nat could be fingered 1st only and 2nd only, respectively, and were usable.

To pay for this splendid intonation, I had to put up with its heavy brass, with a stuffy 1+3 C above open BBb, and no near-pedal or actual pedal tones - Low E nat 1+2+3 was the limit. But this horn was for concert band, so the near-pedal and pedal tones were never required, anyway. I also eventually had to have a third lung with the Wick 1 (no letter - the tuba was old enough it had the small English receiver) that was the mouthpiece that brought out the magnificent tone to go with the superlative intonation.

[AndyCat]

My 1974 3 valve Imperial BBb is easily the most in tune instrument I've played.

[Matt Walters]

Show me someone else who plays more different tubas in a day and is not locked into what they are familiar with than me. My chops are very neutral and my main slide pull is usually within 1/2" of where really good players set their slides. My 2 cents opinion on this one:
Most in-tune BB tubas are:
1a) King 2341 (newer fixed bell model) may be the most in-tune tuba ever regardless of key
1b) Eastman EBB-534 Copy of King with tighter valves and nice nickel silver trim.
2) Cerveny CBB 683 series and some of the Chinese copies of it.
3) Dillon DBB-641 (Chinese made copy of Yamaha YBB-641) has a tighter leadpipe so the kids can't lip it out of tune as easily as a Yamaha which is very in-tune but easy to play out of tune.
4) B&S GR-51L is very in-tune if you consider D in the staff 1&2 instead of open.
5) Miraphone BB198 Siegfried BBb

Most in-tune CC tubas
1a) My own York CC is still my bench mark.
1b) A factory reproduction of a prototype I made and hope to see in production within a year.
2) Most Miraphone CC188-5V tubas. There seems to be about 1 out of a hundred aren't as nice. If I had to order a CC tuba sight unseen, this is the safest bet.
3)) Dillon, JZ, Mack, Wessex, etc.... -410 (The Chinese built Miraclone tubas you can get with various names engraved on it) is very in-tune.

F tubas
Let's face it. All F tubas have to be learned in order to play well and in-tune. Some just suck more than others.

Eb tubas
I'll leave that up to you brass band guys. I don't play Eb tuba very much and I don't want to start a war across the pond.

[Frank Ortega]

Martin BBb tubas, both Mammoth and Renowned, and every Martin Sousaphone I've ever played.

[MikeMason]

Thor deserves a spot on this list

[bisontuba]

Show me someone else who plays more different tubas in a day and is not locked into what they are familiar with than me. My chops are very neutral and my main slide pull is usually within 1/2" of where really good players set their slides. My 2 cents opinion on this one:
Most in-tune BB tubas are:
1a) King 2341 (newer fixed bell model) may be the most in-tune tuba ever regardless of key
1b) Eastman EBB-534 Copy of King with tighter valves and nice nickel silver trim.
2) Cerveny CBB 683 series and some of the Chinese copies of it.
3) Dillon DBB-641 (Chinese made copy of Yamaha YBB-641) has a tighter leadpipe so the kids can't lip it out of tune as easily as a Yamaha which is very in-tune but easy to play out of tune.
4) B&S GR-51L is very in-tune if you consider D in the staff 1&2 instead of open.
5) Miraphone BB198 Siegfried BBb

Most in-tune CC tubas
1a) My own York CC is still my bench mark.
1b) A factory reproduction of a prototype I made and hope to see in production within a year.
2) Most Miraphone CC188-5V tubas. There seems to be about 1 out of a hundred aren't as nice. If I had to order a CC tuba sight unseen, this is the safest bet.
3)) Dillon, JZ, Mack, Wessex, etc.... -410 (The Chinese built Miraclone tubas you can get with various names engraved on it) is very in-tune.

F tubas
Let's face it. All F tubas have to be learned in order to play well and in-tune. Some just suck more than others.

Eb tubas
I'll leave that up to you brass band guys. I don't play Eb tuba very much and I don't want to start a war across the pond.

Matt-
Looking forward to seeing/playing your CC factory reproduction prototype when it is in production. Also, a great list of horns you added!!
Mark

[Billy M.]

Most in-tune CC tubas

1b) A factory reproduction of a prototype I made and hope to see in production within a year.
2) Most Miraphone CC188-5V tubas. There seems to be about 1 out of a hundred aren't as nice. If I had to order a CC tuba sight unseen, this

1b - Now you got me all curious!!! What size will this new wonder be?

2 - Yep, I believe it'd be fair to vouch for this as my 188 fits the bill. Excellent intonation.

[Cthuba]

1a) My own York CC is still my bench mark.
1b) A factory reproduction of a prototype I made and hope to see in production within a year.

I've been waiting patiently on here for when Matt would finally plant that seed in here!

[MackBrass]

If i can pull a tuba out and play it in tune the first time i play it without making any adjustments its meets the criteria. Most in tune tubas I have played are as follows

F TUBA, my 70's B&S PT8 is plug and play.


CC tuba
Cerveny 683, not sure of the model but its the smaller CC, plug and play, this is on the top of my list.

Jinbao 410 CC, plug and play.

PT6 and Wisemann, as Joe mentioned the top line f and g can ride a little high but no other slide pulling is needed. I have found that even the 2 4 CC# and FF # works well.

Mirphone 184 that Baltimore Brass has. Some are better than others hut I found using the sellmanberger solo mpc on this model is the key.

Tom

[EdFirth]

I play mostly Kings but have always found the VMI 101's and their many Chinese copies to play very well in tune.Ed

[tusabtuba]

My 1935 5-valve York made as a CC for Philip Donatelli is very well in tune.
The newish MW 3450 I have is extremely well in tune
I once owned a Boosey & Hawkes F that was beautifully in tune and sold to my stand partner Jeff Arwood, because he kept borrowing it.

The "mammoth" 3-valve BB-flat Martins we had in college had the same fifth partial problems as most tubas, that's why The Navy Band and other DC Service Bands bought them with the main-slide tuner arrangement.

Tubastuba

[tylerferris1213]

The Getzen CB-50 CC tuba plays very well in tune! The ONLY note I have to pull for is low Db.

I also have very good intonation on the PT-10 F tuba. The one I play on was owned by Mike Thornton. From what I've gathered, he got the pick of the litter.

[pjv]

Interesting; German(-style) tubas seem to dominate these lists.

[J.c. Sherman]

Since my sarcasm fell on deaf ears...

BBb: Old King BBbs. But my Yamaha 641 and King Monster present(ed) 0 problems for me.
CC: Miraclone. Freak of nature.
Eb: Was my Imperial, now I've played a 632 NEO and I'm having second thoughts.
F: My 621 is damn near perfect for me. I recall the original 181 Miraphones were spectacular.

J.c.S.

[toobagrowl]

This should include sousaphones, marching tubas and the rest of the "tuba family".

Intonation is mostly a player "thing". But there is no doubt that some tubas simply play better in-tune than other tubas.

The most in-tune tubas & sousaphones I've played, in no particular order:

- Yamaha 201/321 BBb.
- King 1140 BBb (yes, the little 3/4 tuba)
- King 1241/2341 BBb
- King BBb sousaphones (all models that I've played)
- Yamaha 411 BBb sousaphone

Notice they are all "school" BBb's -- found in many middle schools, high schools, and colleges. They all offer good/excellent intonation.
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Haven't played one yet, but the Yamaha 202 BBb marching tubas used by some of the top DCI corps sound well in-tune to me