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I have always thought, ever since I laid eyes on one, that nothing can beat the sheer beauty of a classic Miraphone 186.

B&S JBL F:


Miraphone 188:


Alexander 163:

I've always thought that the 19-in bell Nirschl (de facto 5/4) C tuba with a 4 + 1 configuration is particularly handsome, but I can't find any really nice professional photographs of one with the bell facing up, and my limitations on photo editing on my phone keep me from posting one here. I might do it later when I'm on my laptop and edit this post, unless someone else would like to.

As far as playing them is concerned, they don't all play the same - with some of them sounding a bit fluffy and some of them blowing a bit tight - though the intonation characteristics with some of them are quite good. I've also encountered some of them that don't quite offer tuning up to A=440...
...but the topic is appearance.

DonO. wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2023 6:13 am I have always thought, ever since I laid eyes on one, that nothing can beat the sheer beauty of a classic Miraphone 186.

For whatever reason, the 186 CC is the better looking instrument, with the proportions of wrap to stack. Anyway, after watching tubas go by for a few years now, I'm more attracted to the 188 CC. Just bigger, fatter, more substantial. Of course I've never played any of these, just how they look.

Below from left to right 184, 186, 188, 190. All CC I understand (from Dave Mason's site).

I like both of the horns I have in terms of functional design. The slide layouts are such that everything can be accessed for tuning easily, provided one put an extension on the second valve slide.

My only gripe with rotary horns is that some of them don’t provide the best layout for slide access. On my 188, that really didn’t matter since I only needed to manipulate the first valve slide.

I wouldn't classify those rotary King tubas as "ugly", but - to me - they are reminiscent of what one might expect to see inside an old steam locomotive (and certainly those whereby the rotor sets were mounted crooked). The one pictured isn't all beat up - and the rotor assembly is straight, so it deserves bonus points... but a couple of demerits for the patch but the tuba itself (nor its original fabricators) couldn't help that.

points of order:
I judge the appearance of the Miraphone 98 (and I own one) as "goofy", and I believe that the reasons few were sold were

[1] goofy-looking (tuba players buy pictures. Stores don't stock 'em, people hype new models, and other people order 'em - PARTICULARLY if they are [the topic] art-like, in their appearance...People continued to buy HD motorcycles - during their built-like-crap period - because of their LOOKS.)
[2] pricing (at that time, around the time the model was introduced: $13,000 - when money was worth at least twice what it is worth, today)
[3] the American B-flat (currently, probably, approaching 1/3 of its eventual bloom) craze had not hit (ie. "poor timing")

bone-a-phone wrote:I'm more attracted to the 188 CC. Just bigger, fatter, more substantial. Of course I've never played any of these, just how they look.

Of all of the Miraphone tuba models, the 88 and 86C are the most similar, sonically.
There are a few 86's that sound just about like 88's.
However, there are no 88's (that I've encountered) that sound like the typical 86.

analogy:
A few really resonant King 2B trombones might sound nearly as fat and resonant as a typical 3B, but not very many 2B's would be like that...

...but I've wandered off the appearance/art topic...

I like old steam locomotives, so what can I say. FWIW, I like the wrap of the older Conns, but the few played never rang my bell.

hrender wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2023 11:29 am I like old steam locomotives, so what can I say. FWIW, I like the wrap of the older Conns, but the few played never rang my bell.

I do too, but I was referring to what one might see inside of one of them.

Now that you mention it, I don't remember hearing from Art for a while.

I don't know if Art Hovey ever joined this place....(??)

bloke wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2023 2:40 pm I don't know if Art Hovey ever joined this place....(??)

I don’t think so either

I chatted with him recently. I don't think he's as active online in general as he used to be.

It's a little bit of a side step, but I really like this helicon I spotted on the web one day. It just looks more refined than a sousaphone.

Sent from my SM-S367VL using Tapatalk

The 188 is compact and can look at home in many settings.

arpthark wrote:B&S JBL F:


Miraphone 188:


Alexander 163:

In terms of visual aesthetics, it’s the Alex 163 for me. The vertical main slide is the deciding element compared to the 188.

Rick “for whatever that’s worth” Denney

Miraphone 188:

I think this picture of the 188 shows why they wrap the 5th valve tubing the way that annoys bloke: it looks sleek and mostly hidden, but you can still reach the slide if you need to.

Also, has the wreath gotten narrower in the 40 years since mine was made?

I think the horizontal slide of the 188 makes a nice counterpart to the horizontal mouthpipe while simultaneously emphasizing the satisfying width of the instrument.

1920s 6/4 top action rotary valve Martin BBb has some nice conical things going for it:





Let's do a thread on ugly tubas next. (Recording bell Besson BBb wins by default, but who would win 2nd place?)