The Miraphone 282 is a superb (intonation, etc.) smaller B-flat - yet with model 86-bore rotors.
Much more recently, the very-highly-touted (and not just by Miraphone, but by reviewers) Miraphone model 494 (3/4 B-flat) has been introduced. I'm pretty sure that it's smaller than the 282 throughout.
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When I was in high school (c. 1972 or so...and probably they were produced a bit earlier), the model 1270 "Standard" and model 1271 (three/four top-action piston B-flat tubas) were introduced by Miraphone with a c. 17mm (.669") bore size. ...I believe their competitor was/were the Meinl-Weston 10/11 models.
The ORIGINAL TOP-ACTION Miraphone model 1270 (as our school system really couldn't afford the four-valve 1271), played pretty well, actually.
(The houses surrounding the high school were c. 900 sq. ft., lap siding, no porch, and gravel parking.)
Later on, Miraphone took this model, flipped it to four-valve front-action, and increased the bore size.
To date, I've never had the opportunity to play this later/larger-bore/front-action adaptation.
I've always wondered about them.
I sorta wonder if they might actually could have sold a ton of them, were it not that they were introduced in the midst of the "anything bigger is better" American tuba craze.
Carl's looks to be in particularly well-preserved condition.
I believe the bore size is the same as with the model 85 (rotary) tubas.
Something else - with its .740" bore size and with the SLANT config, this valveset is probably the "ideal" that so many "frankentubaists" are looking for - to use in their "builds" (though it would be a damn shame to pull this one off of this tuba).
Carl's tuba - here - appears to only ask for a couple of (easy) alterations, in order for it to have the tuning-on-the-fly slides that players expect to see, these days.
