I have seen several St. Petersburg 209N CC tubas for sale on the website in the last few years, so I thought I would give a review since I have owned two different 209N's since 2008, and wanted to give my input concerning this horn.
The first one I bought was in 2008, and within a year, all the Nickel finish on the inside loop was gone! It was down to bare metal! I contacted Vince Simonetti at Tuba Exchange, and they honored the warranty and sent me a new one a couple of months later. I still have the second one, and would like to give some insight into the horn for others who might possibly buy one of these new or used, sight unseen.
Both horns still had grit in the horn from manufacturing when I received them. Sloppy preparation at the factory. I have had trouble with both horns playing first space Ab on the staff. For some reason it is extremely difficult to play this note cleanly. It is not the 2-3 combination with the valves, because it plays the lower and upper Ab cleanly and in tune, and the 2-3 combo lower Eb cleanly. The first F below the staff is hard to center the pitch on, as is 4th valve low G. I have found the horn to play well and sound good overall in the low register, but much harder to play above the staff. I am using the TE Rose mouthpiece that came with the horn. I have found it to be the best match for the horn after trying a Bach 18, a Shilke 69C4, and a 120 Helleberg that I already had.
The valves are fairly smooth and are quiet, but not Miraphone smooth and quiet! As some others have suggested on the website, I believe the bore is a little large for the size of the horn. An .830" bore is Kaiser BBb size, and I think the whole valve setup is off of the 202N BBb tuba. It takes a lot of air, especially in the pedal range. The horn dents very easily in top and bottom bow, but it is not because the metal is too thin, I think it is too soft. This tuba is very heavy for it's size, at around 24 lbs. The tuning slides are very thin metal, and some have very scratchy action.
I have had to replace a couple of parts in the valve linkage, and the Tuba Exchange has been excellent at honoring the lifetime warranty that came with the horn. I paid $3800 for the horn new, and at the time, and still now I think it was a pretty good deal. The Chinese horns were still pretty much junk in 2008, so it was less than 1/2 the price of the Miraphone 291 I really wanted. My suggestion would be play before you buy! The Chinese copies may be an alternative in this price range now.
For what I use it for, (Mostly trad-jazz and polka/Octoberfest music) it has served me well. It has a very rotary BBb sound that I (and others) really like. Sure, I would like to have a B&S MRP-C, or a Miraphone 291, but am $15,000 and $12,000 short! Overall, this 2nd one has held up pretty well the last 10 years, and for about the $2500 they go for used, not a bad deal. There are no perfect tubas out there, we all know that!