I used a rifle sling on a Miraphone 1281 F, worked pretty well but it took some time to get it right. Where I to do so now I'd try a padded, quick adjust sling that way you can easily adjust it no matter what you're wearing and it'll be more comfortable to get into. Tying it off will give you a ...

I prefer bass trombone and Eb tuba, but then I prefer that for just about everything except giant Bb tuba music. 😀 My last year or so in the Army I played a Miraphone 1281 Petrouchka for everything except marching, I thought it worked pretty well in brass quintet even though the one we got wasn't as ...

Trying to work through the compensating fingerings for this in my head:

C 4
B 24
Bb 14
A 124
Ab 234
G 134
Gb 1234

That would hurt my brain, especially that 124 A.


One of the DC guys played a 983 primarily, but also posted on the old forum that he played a 4 valve Eb helicon, a 5 valve Eb ...

That's a chunky bell, looks bigger than a 983 and closer to a 981 or the like. What it really reminds me of is an Eb cut to F. Rich Watson, rip, had a big Holton Eb that had a fantastic sound but also had iffy intonation. He told me he initially had it cut to F but it was so bad it was extended back ...

I lol'd at this. I played a Hirsbrunner Eb at the Army SOM that was pretty rough, low C and C in the staff was like a 3" different 1st slide pull. No idea why they had this, I asked the supply NCO if he had an Eb and he pulled this out. Everyone else played a 1291 Bb except for a woman in the ...

Been wanting to pick Vikentios Gionanidis's book up for a while.

BTW, to muck up the works here, a friend of mine has recently starting playing on a tuba mouthpiece that has a horn rim on it. I kid you not. He is a pro, and i'm not being facetious. it is a new release of some kind. He said he likes it. Rim is narrow like a horn rim, not the diameter of a horn ...

I assume it must be silver then.

My favorite, 4/4ish contrabass tuba is the Miraphone 1291 Bb. The 191 has a better sound (and a magnificent low register!) but I find the 1291 plays much easier (particularly around D-B below the staff) and has much better ergonomics (tall guy). I played a few normie horns, Conn 56j and a 187, for ...

It’s pretty cool in person.


It is definitely much more impressive in person. I saw it as a kid up at Interlochen. Impressive engraving work & the biggest Sousaphone I had ever seen. I remember thinking -geez gotta be a giant PITA to march in a 2 mile parade with it on your shoulder! :bugeyes ...

Valved bass/contrabass trombones, whether straight or bent, have been around for over a century, here's a bent Bb from the early 1900s. There's a YouTube video from a bass trombonist who mostly plays period instruments now, he has a video playing an early 1900s bent 4 valve F that sounds really nice ...

I bought an F contrabass trumpet from Grant at the contrabass compendium website. I emailed him asking about it, he said he was primarily a saxophone player and was up for selling it. Super cool horn, tons of core, played very well. It went away in a purge, along with my Kanstul contrabass trombone ...

The slide setup on my Eb cimbasso-thing is really very ergonomic. Short main slide in the leadpipe to set overall length (per the builder, this was to get correct length during building it), long Marzan style reversed slide behind the top bow, usable top slides for all the valves. I can sit my wrist ...

That bottom picture reminds me that no matter how wild and wacky the tubas of Tuba World are, piccolo trumpets are a close runner up in overall whackiness. I played with a guy once that had a tunable bell piccolo trumpet (cannot remember the brand), he said he had a WOODEN bell for it.

I had a chance to purchase Chuck Dallenbach's gold Schilke/yamaha CC tuba that he used in the glory days of the Canadian brass. I still regret not buying it, not because it was a fantastic tuba, but because of the association with brass history.


I never saw it, but I used to play with (and for ...

Okay, so I am very interested in a tuba that one of my erstwhile students now owns. It was described to me as a model I did not know existed.

Not being a "specs fan boi", I do not feel like wasting a lot of time on the Miraphone website reading meaningless decimal places. I want actual hands-on ...

Maybe I will just do that when the opportunity presents itself.

On the other hand, the tuba plays surprisingly well and the valves are in good shape. The body could use some tough dent ball love, but for now I will have to get familiar with it.

Maybe it’s the mouthpiece combo but 1+3 is better ...

My first exposure to anything more than 3 valve Bb tuba/bass clarinet/baritone saxophone was my first time playing in All Region. Multiple bass clarinets, at least one contra, a few bassoons, maybe a contrabassoon,... I think the tune that really blew my mind was a piece called Into The Storm. A ...

Anything new on this? I think I'll miss the New Carlisle TC but I'm going to the Valpo TC if I have to ruck my cimbasso from wherever I am.