“Swiss Army Knife” tuba

[DonO.]

I have a purely hypothetical question. Let’s say you could choose any tuba, but it has to be your only horn. It has to serve at least adequately (and hopefully even better) in any situation that is required of it- orchestra, band, ensemble, solo, etc. What would you choose, and why?

Let’s make it even more fun with choices in both “money is no object” and “ I’m on a budget” categories.

[MikeMason]

Rudy 3/4 c or miraphone 186. Budget- Mack miraclone

[MN_TimTuba]

For what I do - community bands, infrequent orchestra, plenty of church solos, Dixieland, pit orchestras - my King 2341-5 does it all well. The intonation is as good as my Miraphone was, and the Lee Stofer special touches make it almost play itself. It's both big enough and small enough. I'm pleased.
Still miss my Holton, though! Probably always will.
Budget horn? Old style 2341 with both bells.
Money no object? Probably gold brass Miraphone 1291-5 BBb with a trip to Joe or Lee for lapping, smoothing, and tweaking. Lee is half the distance, but Joe has a fish pond, hmm.
Tim

[Sousaswag]

My F tuba. Willson 3200 FA-5. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the MRP-C I own. But, my F tuba has these qualities that make it just a perfect horn.

It’s smaller, and easier to handle. It’s perfect for teaching as the MRP is just so big. I love teaching lessons with this tuba.

Agility. Say what you will, but I think F is just easier to play. Getting around the horn in all registers, jumping around, it’s just got more natural agility being that it’s much shorter.

For the things I do, I don’t necessarily *need* a C tuba, but I’m glad I have it. I don’t want to be in a situation of only being able to have one. It’s got THAT sound. I love it.

The F is a great tuba to bring to small gigs, quintet, teaching, and those things where I’m not sure what to bring. It’s good enough that I feel confident covering whatever I need to on it.

[matt g]

The 4/4 horn in my signature is pretty darn close.

The Eastman horn based on its design is a decent budget option.

If I were working with a really tight budget, I’d probably hunt for a decent 2/3J.

[russiantuba]

Kalison Daryl Smith

Conn 54J

If I wanted something a hair larger, maybe a Gronitz PCM. I like my 1291CC, as I can do everything with it, but I prefer something a hair smaller for the solos I do on F tuba.

[the elephant]

My current 186 CC, and if I could not have that then a 1980s-era 188.

[jtm]

My current 186 CC, and if I could not have that then a 1980s-era 188.

Here I am trying to ignore that nice 60s Bloke-certified CC 186 in the sale listings and you had to go and say that.

[hubert]

MW3250 (CC) might make you happy!!
Flexibility is great: helps a lot in smaller settings and for solo.
Sound is large enough for bigger ensemble (larger than you would expect, given the compact size), excellent projection.
No "tuning problems" of any significance.
Hubert

[kingrob76]

The answer is a 188, most preferably from the 1980's. I know many may lean towards a 186 but I feel like it's easier for me to make a slightly larger horn play smaller than a smaller horn play slightly larger. If you're going to own one horn AND need to cover almost anything, this is my choice.

That being said - I can think of at least 10 models of interest I would be content with for this kind of role. It's really a "what floats your boat" question.

[tubanh84]

but I feel like it's easier for me to make a slightly larger horn play smaller than a smaller horn play slightly larger.

I'm sort of in the opposite boat. I'd rather have the innate responsiveness/flexibility of a smaller horn and then work to make it play larger. This is coupled with my personal bias that above a certain volume, no one will hear the tuba in the ensemble anyway. So I would go with a large F tuba or a 3/4 CC tuba - Works great for solos and small ensembles. I can make it play big enough to be credible in large ensembles. And if I'm in a band, there will be other players (in my version of this hypothetical), so if my horn is a big light, I'll get a boost. I'd favor a CC or an F for low register fingering ease.

I've yet to play a more versatile horn than my 184. Even before I had it, my go-to was my (admittedly tiny) MW182 F. And it worked in a surprising number of settings.

[Doc]

My current 186 CC, and if I could not have that then a 1980s-era 188.

Here I am trying to ignore that nice 60s Bloke-certified CC 186 in the sale listings and you had to go and say that.

Let me help you with that:

186
186
186
186
186
186
186
186

[Doc]

If you're asking me my personal choice, it might be might vintage 186 CC. Or possibly a Rudy 3/4 or a compensating Eb.

If you asking about a general recommendation for a rubber stamp/do-it-all/great intonation/great sound/great craftsmanship/great horn-to-horn consistency/not mouthpiece sensitive/fits-in-anywhere/have to buy it sight-unseen tuba, my recommendation has been, still is, and will likely be for the foreseeable future:

Miraphone 186 BBb

Followed closely by a Miraphone 188 CC. A King 2341 BBb is not far from the mark.



186

13

hut hut!

[bort2.0]

Miraphone 188 is an obvious answer for me, too. I've never felt that it was perfect for anything. But it's really good at everything. And doesn't that just about sum up a Swiss Army Knife!

I think the 188 is PERFECT for ME in an orchestra. Like perfect perfect. I think it's underpowered in a large band. And too much for a quintet. And alright for solos I guess, but that's the least of my concerns. I sold my 188 because I was no longer playing in an orchestra. And now, that's all I'm doing.

I think a large Eb would work pretty well for all this. I didn't keep my Besson 983 long enough to find out, but believe that it could have done just about anything without much trouble. Well, some weird (to me) fingering patterns for extended down-low playing, but the sound was no issue.

[edfirth]

The recording in the media section on here of Harvey with the Gil Evans band is a pretty good case for a 2 or 3J. He did almost everything on his Conn that they are based on at the highest level, in my opinion.Here in Central Florida, Dave Gannett and Jay Mueller played those Conns as their only horns in every concievable situation and they made more money at it than anyone else down here. And there were plenty of really good players schlepping multiple horns to their jobs. Just a thought. Ed

[Nworbekim]

i don't get to play that much out here in the boonies, but i believe i could comfortably "make do" with either the 186 or the 2341... i prefer rotors so my first choice would be the 186 but i'd be comfortable either way. the 2145 is growing on me but i'm NOT comfortable with a CC at this point. i should say not VERY COMPETENT with a CC at this point, so i wouldn't be CONFIDENT.

[jtm]

My current 186 CC, and if I could not have that then a 1980s-era 188.

Here I am trying to ignore that nice 60s Bloke-certified CC 186 in the sale listings and you had to go and say that.

Let me help you with that:

186
186
186
186
186
186
186
186

You're not helping.

[Doc]

Here I am trying to ignore that nice 60s Bloke-certified CC 186 in the sale listings and you had to go and say that.

Let me help you with that:

186
186
186
186
186
186
186
186

You're not helping.

[spirtuba]

The MW 2040/5 Eb tuba is my "Swiss Army Knife" tuba. It'll will always be my first choice for anything, band, orchestra, jazz. Quite often I choose to play Eb tuba in orchestras instead of the big CC, I like the way it blends with the trombones and trumpets. In both orchestras I play, nobody ever notices which tuba I have with me (as long as it's a reasonable choice), so it's completely up to me what to bring. A 4/4 CC tuba could be a do-it-all tuba too, I used to use a pt20 for about the same things.

[bort2.0]

Here I am trying to ignore that nice 60s Bloke-certified CC 186 in the sale listings and you had to go and say that.

Let me help you with that:

186
186
186
186
186
186
186
186

You're not helping.

Well, let me help you with that:

188
188
188
188
188
188
188
188