checks all the negative boxes, YET...

[bloke]

...better and much more useful than many tubas made today.

Based on everything that's supposed to be desirable today, here are the negatives:
- only 3 valves
- BB-flat
- top-action
- 1st slide not accessible
======================
Here are the positives:
- magnificent majestic sound
- 1-3 and 1-2-3 in-tune
- false tones rivaling those offered by the best sousaphones
- only really troublesome pitch being sharp E-flat in the staff
- no accessibility to 1st slide as a distraction

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326408261715

[MiBrassFS]

You could work that first valve slide. What else ya gonna do with yer left hand…?

Not sure about that valve on the right… seems to have a bit of… texture…

[humBell]

...

- false tones rivaling those offered by the best sousaphones

...

There was a thread recently (within a month or so) expressing difficulty in bringing the first false tone up Eb in pitch. It may have specifically referred to a removable bell version...

That said, i fielded a request last fall to borrow a tuba to play in school, and after some back and forth, this is exactly what they wanted. Previous school had a recording bell version available for students.

As for slide manipulation, play it at a very shallow angle (bell much more toward players right than up), and slides are much easier to adjust while playing.

Add to the negatives* that their default is a British shank receiver.

*or at least something to keep in mind.

PS How come there aren't more Eb versions of these? And someday, i will track down one of these valve sets for an antoniohone...

[bloke]

yeah...I was more referring to the model, not the condition of one instrument, and nor the pricing of one instrument being offered for sale...

...but (readily admitting fault, here) I DID link it to a for-sale forum, and not to a discussion forum.

[peterbas]

.

[humBell]

That is twice the price then what they are being sold for in Europe.

Would that be a negative box it checks?
I suppose $674* shipping would be then, too...

[iiipopes]

Ah, yes! My favorite. To add to the above:
G & D fingered 1+2 on other tubas is fingered 3 alone on these tubas, because 3 is not pulled to get 2+3 and 1+3 better in tune. That's what the comp loops do.
On the tuba I used to own:
1) the aforementioned Eb was in tune; and
2) it had a dent in a valve block knuckle, kind of like the infamous F-tuba "the dent," that allowed 7th partial Gb and G nat to be in tune fingered 1 alone and 2 alone, respectively, as well as fixing the little bit of flatness on middle line D.
The only reason I sold mine was that the soldering was not the best, to put it mildly, and I was starting to make bi-weekly trips to my tech to solder the next joint or ferrule that had come loose.

[peterbas]

.

[bloke]

That is twice the price then what they are being sold for in Europe.

yeah...I would be quite surprised (ok, yet passively congratulatory) if it sells without a serious pricing adjustment...

...but (again) the more-and-more I think about it (particularly with tubas which are contrabass and as large as sousaphone, with honest-to-goodness usable false tones), the more convinced I am that the 3-valve compensating system is considerably more desirable than the typical 4-valve non-compensating system...and sure: if the first slide (on typical 3-valve comp) were rigged for on-the-fly manipulation, even more so.

3-valve compensating vs. 4-valve non-compensating:

> 1&3 is good with 3-valve compensating ////// 4 is pretty good with 4-valve, yet many pull it (ie. flat) as a compromise between 4 and 2&4

> 123 is also good with 3-valve compensating ////// 2-4 (even with 4 pulled just a bit to help it out) is still usually quite sharp

> 2&3 is often dubious with 3-valve compensating ////// 2&3 is often dubious with 4-valve

> With 3-valve compensating, much of the range below E must be played with "false tones" with low D (2nd valve) usually behaving particularly well. ////// With 4-valve compensating, the only pitch between low E and the open fundamental which is pretty good (with no slide adjustments) is low D, with the valve combination 234.

again...For the false tones to function really well, the tuba needs to be contrabass and large (as are the old BB-flat Besson 3-valve compensating tubas).