MRP-C Thoughts and Review

[bloke]

To me - conceptually (and obviously: these are NOT made by Miraphone), these things are what the next size up from a Miraphone 188 should be (in other words, what I would think of a ideally-designed Miraphone C rotary instrument that is in between a 4.5/4 C and a 6/4 C.

To be clear: i’m complementing this model.

[bort2.0]

To me - conceptually (and obviously: these are NOT made by Miraphone), these things are what the next size up from a Miraphone 188 should be (in other words, what I would think of a ideally-designed Miraphone C rotary instrument that is in between a 4.5/4 C and a 6/4 C.

To be clear: i’m complementing this model.

This has been my goal for MANY years. Guess I kinda just blew that out of the water with the Rudy.

This tuba looks great, but has always been out of budget. The closest I had was a PT-6, which was fantastic, and I never should have sold it. Pretty certain I would like the MRP a lot.

[bloke]

yeah…
Considering that – arguably – the nation’s premier orchestral tuba player played an instrument (for decades) that bort2.0 lucked into for the “bort2.0 budget” (and then dumped it)…
I would probably agree (not to mention that it checked all of the bort2.0 quirky boxes) that you shouldn’t have sold it.

[kingrob76]

@bort2.0 could make a second career as a purchasing agent given what he finds and the prices for which he finds those things.

[tubanh84]

To me - conceptually (and obviously: these are NOT made by Miraphone), these things are what the next size up from a Miraphone 188 should be (in other words, what I would think of a ideally-designed Miraphone C rotary instrument that is in between a 4.5/4 C and a 6/4 C.

To be clear: i’m complementing this model.

This has been my goal for MANY years. Guess I kinda just blew that out of the water with the Rudy.

This tuba looks great, but has always been out of budget. The closest I had was a PT-6, which was fantastic, and I never should have sold it. Pretty certain I would like the MRP a lot.

I sold my PT6 years ago BECAUSE it was such a good horn. It was so good that, to me, it made it not fun. It did every job I asked it to almost flawlessly (especially with the 2nd slide kicker). As a result, it didn't have any personality (to me), and because I don't get paid to play, I wanted a fun horn with personality over the best possible horn.

Seems weird when I put it into words like that. I regret nothing.

[bloke]

I'm always up for a challenge...

I've been working on the Prokofiev V excerpts playing a YCB-621 outfitted with a Reynolds Dr. Young mouthpiece, as well as "Bydlo" with a borrowed Conn "Jumbo" BB-flat sousaphone.

[bort2.0]

The Miraphone 1291 that I had was a lot like that. Zero issues with the horn, and I played it constantly for about 5 years with lots of compliments and no complaints. But I eventually found the sound to be a bit dull and heavy and wanted something else. But for sheer playability and everyone else's satisfaction, that tuba was great.

[Three Valves]

I regret nothing.

Regrets,

I’ve had a few.

But, then again…

[Sousaswag]

To each his own.

bort will find that the MRP IS the large rotary C that he's been chasing...

And someday he will have the money to buy one.

Seriously, this is a great tuba. I do have one modification idea.

It's quite a reach for that first valve slide. I would like some sort of pull ring mounted on the side, so I can reach through the horn to grab it. Now, what I don't want to do is ruin the silver. Has anybody thought of devising some sort of clamp system for a pull ring? Rather than soldering it directly to the slide, just clamp one on there that's totally removable.

Or, am I way overthinking this and should just have a stupid ring attached there?

By the way, here's a nice comparison shot of my two horns...

[

[bort2.0]

Add a trigger?

Sounds like a neat idea, you should try it out!

That's a great looking tuba! I'll post about my new big tuba tonight as well.

[bloke]

First, the #1 slide (unless put together better than most) will (probably) need to be aligned.
At that point, you might consider a LEFT hand thumb trigger (spring-loaded) assembly, so that you can actually hold the tuba as a tuba is meant to be held, and operate the #1 slide with the left hand in the optimum position.
You can plate the entire assembly prior to it being mounted, and (for the attaching mechanism on the #1 slide) also RE-plate the #1 slide.
Someone - who does really nice soldering - can probably attach that assembly with only a small trace of "aftermarketism" - cosmetics-wise.

[Sousaswag]

Here is a video link from this horn's first real performance. Hope you like it. I haven't played with real people in quite a while. Not without it's bumps and bruises but this is just a rehearsal.

No video though... Camera was facing the wrong way

[donn]

Delightful tone - I think that tuba likes you. Almost too much core, like I could imagine the rest of the ensemble easily getting bowled over, but I guess that has a lot to do with the recording placement.

[bloke]

Your trombone friend might be your best buddy, but - if you could ask him to pull his tuning slide out, perhaps 1/4th of an inch or a bit more - he would sound better, and the pair of you would sound better.

As it was, thank goodness you and your MRP kept the trumpets honest.

Through some $10 - $20 (??) Tozai disposable headphones, you sound great !

"core" - I still really do not know what that is.
I do know what an electronically-generated sin wave sounds like (not pretty).
"what I heard" - nice, and round as well. When I hear recordings of myself, the sound is always "rounder" (whatever that means) than I perceive (with my own face vibrating, and from underneath the bell).
That size of tuba is supposed to sound "round", yes?

[bort2.0]

This weekend, I went to a Minnesota Orchestra children's concert, and (not accidentally) sat in the front stage-left corner, just a few rows back and unobstructed line of sight/sound to Steve Campbell, who also uses an MRP.

As expected, he sounded fantastic on it. And I can hear a lot of similarities in the sound between his playing and your video, relative to the natural sound that is produced by that instrument.

It's fun to have a tuba that makes really pretty sounds, and makes them without a lot of effort. It makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone involved.

But! Then the hard work begins of making music and all that stuff.

[Doc]

This weekend, I went to a Minnesota Orchestra children's concert, and (not accidentally) sat in the front stage-left corner, just a few rows back and unobstructed line of sight/sound to Steve Campbell, who also uses an MRP.

As expected, he sounded fantastic on it. And I can hear a lot of similarities in the sound between his playing and your video, relative to the natural sound that is produced by that instrument.

It's fun to have a tuba that makes really pretty sounds, and makes them without a lot of effort. It makes the whole experience a lot more enjoyable for everyone involved.

But! Then the hard work begins of making music and all that stuff.

Steve isn’t using the PT-6 anymore?

[bort2.0]

@Doc -- He's been on the MRP for a couple of years now. Still using the same Monette, though.

[Sousaswag]

Thanks, everyone! I’m really very happy with the tuba in every aspect. It’s a totally different sound than my old 5450 and I like this much better. I’ve never played with any of the other players before so it definitely took some time to figure out our pitch

I might put the whole performance up on Sunday, I plan to just set my phone on my stand and hit record.

[Sousaswag]

Hi, all!

I thought I'd update this thread.

Still loving my MRP. Recently I've picked up a new mouthpiece for it that totally rocks. I went with a Sellmansberger Orchestra Grand cup with a Symphony shank and a #1 32.9mm rim. What a difference it makes in the below the staff response. I didn't have any major issues before, but it seems to me that it's much more free-blowing than the Pt-50 or MRP 5.0HD I'd been using was. I really, really like Joe's mouthpieces.

I'm thinking about adding a second valve trigger to this tuba. The 2-3 Eb below the staff is pretty high. I can lip it down, and if I'm not playing "at" the note, it's better, but overall it's consistently sharp. That's the ONE note on this tuba that I need to pull slides for. Everything else is really good, and as far as I'm aware that Eb being high is pretty common with the rotary PT tubas.

Any ideas are appreciated, but my initial thought on that is this: I don't want a big dumb lever like some Neptunes have. I don't like how it looks, if I'm being frank, and I'd rather have something akin to the Willson main slide triggers- where you just push a rotary paddle and it kicks the slide out. I don't know how feasible that is, but that's a future modification I'd like to make to this tuba.

As I play this tuba more with real people, that would come in handy. Actually, the NEXT modification I'd like done is a little bar on the first slide. It's a pretty big reach for that slide if I need to move it. That's the easy one.

Anyway, I'm still very glad I purchased this tuba. It's got this sound that I *really* love. And, it's not quite as large or fluffy as the 6/4 York tubas. As I've mentioned before, this is as big a tuba as I'll ever need. I like that it's not quite as large as the Eastmans/Nirschls, but larger than the Thor/Pt-6. It's a good compromise, I think.

If you're like me and thought you didn't like rotary tubas... Give one of these a try. You won't regret it

[bloke]

I'm thinking about adding a second valve trigger to this tuba. The 2-3 Eb below the staff is pretty high. I can lip it down, and if I'm not playing "at" the note, it's better, but overall it's consistently sharp. That's the ONE note on this tuba that I need to pull slides for.

You might consider (if 1-5 is currently too long/too flat for that E-flat - that is: "with the #5 slide in its normal position, and with the #1 slide pushed all the way in") having your #1 slide assembly dropped down lower on it's 90-degree elbows (which will offer a shorter #1 circuit without sacrificing #1 circuit tuning range) so that your sharp E-flat can be played lower with the 1-5 alternate (probably with #1 - after it's altered - pushed all the way in).