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Alright folks, got the horn today. It's quite the player! I've spent maybe a total of 30 minutes with it.

First, my reasoning for switching off the MRP:

1) I don't play all that much these days; I work two jobs and only rehearse with the band once a week. The MRP basically just sat not being used but once a week. It's not that I don't want to play, but I'm starting my career and I simply don't have the time.

2) I could never get physically comfortable holding it. It's heavy, I'm tall, leadpipe was a bit low for me, and I got tired of fighting with it, whether I used a stand, shelf liner, etc, I just didn't feel comfortable. I know that might sound weird, but this isn't the first time this has happened.

3) I didn't *need* such a big, purpose-built tuba. That MRP is geared towards the full orchestra I never play in. I felt like I was dominating the band I do play in and there's like 6 other guys in my section. That's fun when you're an immature college kid who just got their big horn, but as I've developed and matured since I left school, that "my tuba is bigger than yours" attitude went away. I wanted/needed something that fit my needs better.

For those curious: The list of CC's that I've owned in order:
Miraphone 1293
MW Thor
MRP-C
HB2P

Second, my reasoning for requesting ONLY the HB2P:

1) EVERY one that I've played has been a wonderful tuba.

2) They're just the right size. Not too big, not too small.

3) They're still "valuable" in the sense that I don't feel like I've lost money by taking this over the MRP- This was the right choice for me at this particular time.

THIS TUBA:

Was the one at Dillon's. It lived about 40 minutes away from me for a week or so, then moved to Tennessee, then moved BACK to Illinois. Things just sort of happened. I won't get into the nitty-gritty, but basically, I wanted to trade my MRP to avoid the hassle of having to sell, then ask the owner of the HB to potentially hold it while I did that, yadda yadda, too many moving parts, it all worked out for us in the end!

It is in SPECTACULAR condition. One or two bell dents, and some light surface scratching. That's it. Pretty unbelievable for a horn made in 1990. I really lucked out on this one.

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How does it play? REALLY well. I haven't spent much time with it, but, all the HB quirks that folks have complained about really aren't an issue. Low Bb, A, G, all of them are solid. Not earth-shattering like a Thor or MRP, but it's a smaller tuba. They sound and feel good. That's what matters.

Intonation is also quite good. The 5th partial isn't out of tune like the HB21 or (apparently) some HB2P's. Again, this is all initial "I like this tuba enough to bring it home" type stuff, but overall, solid pitch. Eb below the staff is in tune!

ONE thing that I might change is the leadpipe ANGLE. Height is great for me! Super surprised about that, but very happy. However: It's got this York-ish slant to it that I'm just not super used to, and it feels weird to me. That will probably go away as I play it, but it looks like there's room to bend it more around the bell should I decide to do that. (Don't hate me, just an initial thought!) It is VERY comfortable, well balanced, and overall well-thought out design-wise.

Another thing: Vented valves. Yes!!!

OH, and another: Those little rubber things on the slides that prevent the clank noise when pushing in. Thanks, whoever did that! (Matt over at Dillon's, maybe?)

It ALSO came with the original Swiss hard case, in spectacular shape, and with WORKING wheels! I probably won't use it much, but I never have hard cases with my tubas so this is a very welcome addition.

It's got a brand new Miraphone bag. Ugly as sin, but so darn comfortable. Maybe in the future I'll get something custom made for it, but right now I'm just thrilled it came with a bag; Nobody's going to know there's a Hirsbrunner in a Miraphone case except me.

If you couldn't tell, I'm very excited to own this tuba. I've always lusted over these and am thrilled to get to put it through it's paces. I'd love to get some sound clips if I can work up the courage; I'm pretty out of practice. I will record some stuff next week at rehearsal at the latest.

I'll likely update this tomorrow with more thoughts, and maybe some details about the day trip too.

Until then, cheers!

ALSO: Special thanks to Tim for hooking me up with this tuba; I wouldn't have checked FB in time if he hadn't sent me a PM. Thank you so much for helping a fellow tubist out!

David,
Congratulations on the new tuba! Very cool when these things work out. I look forward to hearing more about the adventures with your new Swiss Miss!
Maybe I missed it, but did Chris take your MRP, or will you be listing that one here?
Either way, enjoy that new one!
Tim

The MRP went to one of his students.

You’re going to earn the reputation of Bort!

All kidding aside, congrats on the new tuba!

Congratulations! It looks brand new!

Okay. I've spent a good two hours with the tuba today, and, just, wow.

First of all, it's got this lively character to the sound that is so pleasing to make. I don't know how to describe it, but I like it. It also sounds to me much bigger than it physically looks.

Pitch! Great. Truly. G at the bottom of the staff is about 8 cents high. That's it with the open series. Low Gb works better 5-2-3. First slide is out fairly far but everything is in tune. Easy.

Low register: Full. No Hirsbrunner weirdness to speak of. I'm using my AT1U and it's a great match for this tuba.

I'd forgotten how much fun playing C tuba is. I never picked up my MRP except for when I had to because it was such a bear for me to play. THIS tuba is well balanced and just so nice. I just love it.

Valves: Literally in like-new condition. I am also just not really a rotary guy. Pistons just feel better to me and I'm more used to them. Everything is much cleaner (probably also due to less tuba, i.e. 6/4-->4/4, but I like my pistons.)

The finger button pearls need to be replaced. They're going to fall out soon-ish. I'll deal with that when I feel like it. I'm thinking some custom green inlays, maybe. Or red. Thoughts? Not both. One or the other!

I think I've really hit a home run with acquiring this tuba. It seems to fit me very, very well. Time will tell, but I really hope this is my keeper.

Congratulations, sir! And I say this in only the most envious, avaricious manner. HAHAHA!!!

Congratulations.

I think that Orange marble inlays would be pretty, and different.

Also, definitely take it to a good repair guy and have the mp reciever positioned where you are most comfortable. Mine was wrong for me , i didnt know it, and it caused me severe pain for years. Had it adjusted last year and its amazing.

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Congrats! I’ve always liked the look of that model. I’ve only played one of the rotor ones with the composite valves. Still played pretty nice.


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Boy...that's nice !!!

If it weren't so darn purdy, I'd do this to it:

If the leadpipe goes uphill, wouldn't the spit flow back at you?

sweaty wrote: ↑Sun Jan 15, 2023 3:13 pm If the leadpipe goes uphill, wouldn't the spit flow back at you?

a tune-any-note tuning slide (not just a no-purpose hump)...

nice instruments, with a few pitches with tuning issues which cannot be addressed by moving the #1 slide

Much too pretty to mess with it!

Honestly, that's probably the best way to go about a 'tune on the fly' feature other than the Marzan way.

I'm not convinced this tuba needs it; I can play all the open series in-tune with no thought, which is wonderful.

As I mentioned, the typical HB quirks are minimal, or not there. I read somewhere that the HB's (all of them) respond noticeably to the air that you put in. If you're really lacking in the air department, I'd bet that you wouldn't like any HB's. (To be fair, I really only like the 2P, but that's a different story... I digress)

In playing the tuba today, if I'm being lazy, it SOUNDS like I'm lazy, whereas with the 5450 (sort of my benchmark for easy tuba to play), I could be really wimpy with my air, but I don't feel like it's as noticeable, if that makes any sense. Or, maybe I'm just crazy and don't know what I'm talking about

I mentioned that York-ish slant to this tuba, similar to the MW Ursus, or any 6/4 York-a-phone. I kinda dig it. I can actually see around the bell. With my Willson, that leadpipe has virtually no slant, and the left half of my face is basically invisible. My music stand has to be way off to my right in order to see clearly. Leadpipe adjustments are going to the back of my brain for a while.

Those of you that aren't crazy about HB 4/4 tubas- I totally see that. This one is the only one that I'd ever want to own. I've played exactly ONE HB-21 that was even close to as in-tune as the 3 or 4 2P's that I've played, including this one. Personally, I think that Adams was totally wrong in cloning the HB-21, when they had all the stuff to make THIS model.

I have seen that they've cloned the rotary HB-2, which is also interesting to me. It's strange that this model, continually regarded as the best of the 4/4 HB's, continues to only exist in HB form, whereas all the others live on with the Adams name.

Anyway, another ramble has come to a close. Until next time!

It would be a nice way to tune the flat-on-every-Hb-ever-made / super-commonly-played E-flat just below the staff, amongst other things...

(and yes, both the model 390 and 392 offer luxuriously in-tune OPEN BUGLE pitches - all the way up and down).

...but (again) yours is just too pretty to mess with.

If someone had a ratty one, I'd recommend that mod (which really can't be done to the subsequent model 392, whereas it's possible on a model 390) in a heartbeat.

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topic:
pretty tubas and mod's...

A while back, I picked up a PERFECT NEW CONDITION M-W 2155 for under $5K.
Further, as long as someone was willing to play D 1-3, D-flat 2-4, and low E 5-2-3 and low F with 4, the friggin' thing just (no explanation - a fluke) played in tune - all the way up-and-down - without moving anything. The only thing that would have made it more amazing would have been replacing the "foghorn" stock mouthpipe with more conservatively-sized one - as both times I've done that to those, they really sung...but (again) it was PERFECT...so I simply left it alone, and sold it to a foreign military band for more than double what I paid for it.

Update again, for those that get through my long rambles, plus some more photos:

Mouthpiece choice: Ironically, my MRP tuba didn't like the MRP mouthpiece. Of the three that are on hand, (AT1U, PT50, MRP 5.0) the HB likes the MRP the best. Is it the long-term mouthpiece for this tuba? I don't know. Right now, I like it.

Here are some photos of the super rad, built like a tank, original Swiss hard case:

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PLUS, a comparison photo of my (TWO!!) Swiss-made tubas. You don't see either of these too often!

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If you made it this far, congrats! You've gotten through another one of my posts. Again, I plan to record some stuff from rehearsal on Thursday evening. We've got some great music this cycle that I hope you enjoy. Until then, thanks for reading!

Those hybrid wood/molded cases are the same things that DEG included with Willson tubas (euphoniums as well?) in the past.

I bought a few of those cases from them after the DB collapse and DEG being caught having floor-planned a bunch of Willson stuff to wwbw.

bloke wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:33 pm Those hybrid wood/molded cases are the same things that DEG included with Willson tubas (euphoniums as well?) in the past.

I bought a few of those cases from them after the DB collapse and DEG being caught having floor-planned a bunch of Willson stuff to wwbw.

Good to know! I'm not sure what I'm actually going to do with it; I have a gig bag for this tuba but a hard case is nice to have should I need to travel with it, I guess. It fits this tuba perfectly. For now, it will live in my closet.

Sousaswag wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:44 pm

bloke wrote: ↑Tue Jan 17, 2023 12:33 pm Those hybrid wood/molded cases are the same things that DEG included with Willson tubas (euphoniums as well?) in the past.

I bought a few of those cases from them after the DB collapse and DEG being caught having floor-planned a bunch of Willson stuff to wwbw.

Good to know! I'm not sure what I'm actually going to do with it; I have a gig bag for this tuba but a hard case is nice to have should I need to travel with it, I guess. It fits this tuba perfectly. For now, it will live in my closet.

Store it in your attic or wherever you need to. You're going to need it sometime when "all the large instruments heading to _______ must be stowed in the _______".

It ALSO occurs to me that (maybe?) the REASON that instrument looks so VERY nice is because the previous owned USED that case and (maybe?) did NOT use a bag.

The leadpippe on my Kurath F was not only angled slightly uphill so that I had problems reading the bottom staff on a page of music, it was also short and wrapped very close to the bell (with my left eye being basically useless as with you and your Willson). And, when removed from the tuba I discovered that it was bent more than 90º so that the receiver was basically pointing back toward the tuba rather than pointing straight behind as it should (or even slightly outwards).

I made this to help me out and I am completely happy with it. The first six inches are also smaller, and this helped a number of issues that bugged me about the horn.

Now I can see with both eyes, I can more easily read the full sheet of music with the stand in a more normal position, and the horn plays better.

Win!





That hard case is a lifelong keeper. It is a very well-made case. My Kurath came with one and it is my favorite hard case by far. Mine has some large wheels on it that someone retrofitted, and unlike most cases such as this, they did an excellent job of anchoring the two axles in the case shell so that they are not floppy or prone to snapping loose. In the "box" area for the valve buttons, mine has a pull-out folder case. Very handy!

And it is funny how big/tall the Willson/Kurath is. Like you, my 345 is shorter. It's easy to forget how squat these American-style short-belled tubas can be…

I had one of those cases with my Willson 3050. I think I bought that one from Bloke. I wish I had purchased one for my Willson Eb. I believe they were made in South America. Wonderful cases. A shame they are NLA.


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