Miraphone model 98 B-flat playing characteristics and learning curve - VIDEO added on PAGE 10

[bloke]

EDIT:
OK...Against my own BEST ADVICE to everyone else, I posted a friggin' VIDEO on PAGE 10.
...and - not only a video, but - a very familiar orchestral excerpt, of all things.

[bort2.0]

I'm glad you went through with it. That's a one-time chance right there!

[bloke]

I don't know how long I'll keep it, but it checks all of my picky-@$$ boxes.

Some know that there aren't many models that I would consider for personal acquisition.

"Project" tubas - that I've built - have had to prove themselves prior to getting very far into them.

When testing this one, I had the same crappy (seemingly chronic) sinus headache and stomach queasiness, but - even so - this thing is easy to play.

specs: 19.75" x 40.5" x .835"

bell rim: kranz

weight: about like a big old tuba weighs

weight in the case: plenty

special features: goofy-lookin' 4th valve

...There are a couple of slide length ranges that I will change, and It needs a really good (nope: NOT what y'all call a "bath") professional cleaning, but - just as it is - it rocks.

These things look really goofy (most seem to buy based on pictures, yes?), they're rotary (out of vogue), and B-flat (really out of vogue), but I'm old/(experienced?) enough to be VERY skeptical YET very unbiased. (When this model first appeared, I wonder how many didn't even bother to try it - when on display at tuba shindigs...??)

With the minor issues that will be addressed soon, I'll probably put it through Easter rehearsal paces in the morning.

This Winter/Miraphone case weighs a lot...but i would consider it ill-advised to drag it up and down stairs and through doorways in a (no matter how superbly-made and well-padded) sack.

bloke "Its hard enough to play a tuba, without having to deal with a hard-to-play tuba...I ain't dealin' with any o' them no more. This is one of those rare attracts-the-attention-of-bloke ' fool-'em-into-thinking-I've-been-practicin' models...and yeah: I've played the 497."

[ronr]

Please help those of us out of the loop, but what is it? Looks like Miraphone engraving, and it looks huge; kind of like a bigger brother to my JP 379Bb.

[Rick Denney]

This tuba is awesome. I just played a few scales and arpeggios on it for about three minutes, and it’s an amazing instrument. It’s weird looking, but amazing.

While Joe was trying that one, I was down the hall trying out the 184 #2, and comparing it to my Eastman 534. The 184 still needs a couple of things (that Joe has described) that are well within my skill set to address. But I have time to ponder it. It does just what I wanted—provides a bass tuba effect that can sound right playing a quintet scored for two trombones—and gives me a low register that will play even on a bad tremor day for me. I’ve struggled with the F below the staff—it requires the sort of relaxation that allows tremor to get out of hand.

It’s also nearly as light as my Martin plastic tuba.

We each took home a tuba we did not arrive with.

Rick “staying the night in Knoxville, early rise and hit the road tomorrow—gotta be back in NoVA for an 8 PM Easter Vigil gig” Denney

[bort2.0]

@ronr it's a Miraphone 198 "Siegfried"

[matt g]

The fourth valve routing is somewhat clever because it allows the fourth valve to have an easily accessible top pull from the front. It also shifts the valve cluster a bit to the center, which can’t hurt on a tuba of this size.

From photos, the first valve slide looks a little hard to reach and could benefit from a ring or trigger. That being said, I think that the fourth valve layout and fifth valve accessibility are likely worth the trade.

[bloke]

I will be pushing the #1 slide in for 2nd space C - as with the compact Holton, and I will be physically changing the tuning ranges of a couple of slides, as previously mentioned.
I haven’t played it much, but I haven’t yet found much more need (again: same as with the compact Holton) for number #1 slide-pushing.
——-
In the past, I owned so many different really big tubas, and really never sat down and played music on them, as about all I did with them was to play scales and arpeggios to remind myself of their intonation quirks - as well as all of the necessary related slide choreography. With this one (ironically, larger than any of the others), I’ll be able to sit down and enjoy playing some songs.

[bloke]

Tomorrow (Easter) is - per this rehearsal I just left - is wall-to-wall Richard Webster (bass trombone) - so ol’ 98 is going to have to wait for some other day.

[pjv]

Pushin' the first.

With a tuba that large, you might find playing the C with the 4th is just as easy.
Might.
Just sayin'

[bort2.0]

Tomorrow (Easter) is - per this rehearsal I just left - is wall-to-wall Richard Webster (bass trombone) - so ol’ 98 is going to have to wait for some other day.

Uh oh... It's already not earning you $...

[bloke]

I’m not having any trouble holding/balancing it, and - though the #1 slide is slightly crowded – there’s still room to reach it comfortably and operate it, and without adding any hooks or rings to it. Most everything with the #1 slide is about 3/4” to 7/8” of an inch out, and see is all the way in. That’s not much of a shove.

I will be barely shortening the entire instrument, and lengthening the #3 circuit. There will be no consequences, as far as finish/lacquer is concerned.
I will also be replacing the two 4th circuit upper bows with nickel silver bows, and - since I’ll be replacing the #3 slide bow with a longer one, I’m getting nickel silver for that as well, and here’s the reason:
Big tubas tend to cool down fast - once they are set down on their bell and abandoned. Condensation forms after-the-fact and runs downhill to the upper crooks, which can then begin to red rod.

Pushin' the first.

With a tuba that large, you might find playing the C with the 4th is just as easy.
Might.
Just sayin'

[bloke]

@bort2.0

Once again - after this new-to-me euphonium (which has been sitting in its case ever since I used it on a Memphis Symphony Christmas double-header gig on one tune) reminded me of how incredibly good it is…again: making me sound AS IF I’ve been practicing.
There just aren’t that many instruments - with which someone can double - that lock in to the pitch as well as this euphonium…particularly without practicing on the instrument at all / ever.

That having been said, we’ll have to see how the future “basstrombasso” works out.

bloke “The level of the ease of playability of the instruments - in the bloke tuba room - just continues to soar higher-and-higher into more-and-more rarefied air. The thing (that those who seem to hold professionals in awe) like to repeat: ‘Professionals can play any instrument, and sound like that,’ Is not simply not true, and - further: One might notice that professionals don’t just play ‘anything’. Yes, it IS the instrument… definitely, to a certain extent. ”

[bloke]

I believe this thing (with a mouthpiece stuck in it) weighs around 27 lbs...

...or (according to the TFFJ) 53 lbs.

Even though larger bore and longer - with every slide circuit also longer - than the heaviest 6/4 C instrument I've owned, it's three pounds lighter.

Oh yeah:
Walmart is now out-of-stock on these...
I bought the last one they had.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Miraphone-98 ... y/30417338

[matt g]

It’s about the same weight as my 2165, although the 2165 had weight added on purpose.

[York-aholic]

I think it’s name should be “Plumber’s Nightmare”.

[bloke]

Ahead of time, I was planning on converting the fifth circuit to the FF semitone length, but – just like a lot of other things on this instrument that don’t make any sense (because things that don’t look like they could possibly work, actually work perfectly and beautifully), both the low E and B are spot on with the (typically: flat) 523 fingering, and that’s leaving all of the instrument’s slides in their standard positions.

Discussing this rarely-built model with a friend of mine - who was a full-time orchestra tuba player, we both agreed that this model is “stupid”, because it looks like it should be a disaster, YET it plays better than anything else in its size range
- ever designed, fabricated, and sold.

[djwpe]

Option 1 for the name, but pronounced as per the DJ in Reservoir Dogs (0:52 in this clip)




Congrats on the acquisition, Joe

[donn]

"Lap sousaphone."

[bort2.0]

I find this tuba interesting, because Miraphone had typically been said to be so stuck in their traditional ways, that they weren't open to trying new things.

A good while ago, I met Alan Baer while he worked on one of my tubas in his garage. During the 90-minute tuba rant he unleashed, he talked about his work with Miraphone for the original 1291... And how they largely ignored much of his design choices because "that's not how we build tubas here" or something like that.

@bloke, my only question is, does the actuation of the 4th valve feel any different from valves 1--3? The rod is significantly longer on the 4th than 1--3. Is there any noticeable difference?