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I've owned several different Americana Eb tubas; some played well, some didn't, some had acceptable intonation, some sounded like an avant garde project. I've had this H.N. White 'medium' (about the size of a 621, the small is tiny) Eb for about a decade. It plays fantastic, clear, colorful sound, good valves, lots of guts, a good low valve register and acceptable false tones.

It also has that wide octave, sharp Eb and D in the staff and a very flat low D. Oddly enough it used to have a flat low Eb. I got ticked at it one day and tried pushing it up and it just snapped right up. I don't know how that happened, my pitch was fine and the other Eb I still have (small Conn) I have no problems with. It also has the standard flat 5th partial, the guy that sold it to me flipped that slide so I can push in for F and E.

Are these intonation issues fixable? The leadpipe is a little funky and there's a small dent in the bottom bow, not sure these are contributing to the issue. I get that lots of the giant size Eb's had weird proportions but this is just a tuba. I've played in a group maybe twice since 2014, I'd like to get on the sub list for my old brass band and this would be just fine there if only I could play it in tune. I'd rather spend a few hundred bucks getting this fixed than several thousand on a tuba, but throwing money into something that won't work isn't exactly an attractive proposition either.

How does that Eb in the staff manage if you play it 23 instead of open? Likewise, how is D as 13? (a familiar fingering to those of us who may have had squirrelly C tubas that required a 13 D in the staff... looking at you, Alexander 163.)

I get annoyed with alternate fingerings like that, but if it's in tune...

I wonder if on the low D you could cut the second valve and add a push-in trigger so that you could leave it out for the normal length for other pitches and press the trigger to push in to bring the D up to pitch. How many cents flat is the discrepancy?

tubas in general (not just old large USA made E-flats, or - same problems - oversize modern-era piston F tubas)

I'm willing to do 3 instead of 12, 13 instead of 4 (after all, 4 is actually a SUBSTITUTE for 13), I'll move the #1 slide up to 1-1/2 inches - perhaps 2", and MIGHT be willing to consider 12 instead of "no valves" for open 5th partial, but I'm getting more-and-more picky, and selling fine stuff and replacing it with superb stuff.

Moving the 3rd, 4th, or 5th slides are non-starters (for me). If there's a #2 slide trigger (on a 5 valve tuba) I really only want to be forced to use it for the very low 5-2-3-4 pitch.

Fixable? I don’t know but:

# Go along to the band and play with what you have, in practise being there and contributing is more important than being perfectly in tune.
# You might know that some notes aren’t perfectly in tune but they might also be tolerable to or unnoticed by the conductor and other players.
# Look at alternate fingerings.
# Check out different mouthpieces - borrow and trial what you can - sometimes a Tuba works better with a different mouthpiece.
# Tubas can be expensive, but just sometimes you get a lucky break.
# What you have sounds like as good an example as any of a reasonable three valve Eb Bass, enjoy it and enjoy it in a group setting.
# You also have a small Conn, use that in Band too.
# Check out who the Band members use to repair their instruments, it may be that repairs / improvements can be done for a figure that’s within your comfort zone to risk / loose.
# To an extent the real question is how well did / do models of your Tuba play when in perfect condition? Maybe the guy who does (vintage) Tuba Tuesday here might know.

http://www.hnwhite.com/Low%20Brass.htm

More valves, and maybe a better leadpipe.

More valves isn’t fixing anything, just giving more options to fix deficiencies.

I've noticed that a "For Sale" sign seems to fix a lot of intonation problems.