Mirphone Factory Made Recording Bell

[Tonituba123]

Hi Everyone.

I´m Toni from near to Barcelona Spain. I´m new here and very happy for write in TUBENET!!!!!!

I need your help to know something else about this beautiful and very rare tuba.
I have tried to find information or a photo and it has been impossible for me.
There may also be the possibility to put it on sale. I'm still thinking about it.
I would also appreciate knowing an estimate of the price of this tuba in the current market.
I will stop writing. A picture is worth a thousand words.
Accept my apologies for my basic English of southern Europe.
Greetings from the sun of the Mediterranean Sea.
Blow out senseless blow!


Toni

[iiipopes]

It's not that rare. I used to own one. Miraphone developed this tuba and sold many of them in the '60's and '70's to compete with the American market that had many models from many manufacturers of recording bell tubas at the time. It is a good tuba. It is not a great tuba, unless you simply have an affinity for the recording bell. I swapped my recording bell out for a conventional upright bell. What may make it "rare" is that these were usually sold to institutions, like high schools, colleges and universities, and so most of them have been beaten to death. Mine was a refurbished one, which was $1000 less at the time than an almost identical Miraphone tuba for sale in the same shop, but with the conventional upright bell. I now know why, because it cost me about that much to procure a used upright bell and pay for my tech to install it. Mine had an interesting quirk: the collar and tenon were right on one of the nodes for 1st valve Eb below the staff, rendering intonation wobbly on that note. When I changed out the bell, the Eb spoke clearly and cleanly from then on.

I ask the rest of the forum to chime in here, because it is my observation that the recording bell versions still bring a lesser price on the used market than an example in like condition with the conventional upright bell. Please correct me.

[anotherjtm2]

You had the 3-valve version?

[iiipopes]

You had the 3-valve version?

Here is a link to the thread where I describe my tuba, the "Bessophone," after I had the bell changed out:
forums.chisham.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=61956&p=515402
And for some reason, the pix disappeared from the thread, so here is one of them post-bell change:

BessophoneFront150Kb.jpg

[tubajazzo]

I own one, it has the recording bell like yours and a straight one. It is a 4 valve Miraphon Bb 186 in every detail ("86" in the german market), but branded as made by a local brass instrument maker, made in 1993. I like that tuba very much, both with the recording bell and with the straight bell. Intonation is on the high side with the straight bell.
Recording bell tubas are not very common in Europe. What price you can get depends on where the tuba is offered, and how much patience you have to wait for the person who definitely wants it...

[anotherjtm2]

I just got one of those (4 valve BBb 186, from 1965, labeled "Mirafone"), but it's not nearly as pretty. Still, kind of fun to have the recording bell.