Miraphone 565 Bb Rotary Kaiser Baritone

Item Details

Here is a beautiful instrument from Miraphone in Waldkraiberg, Germany. Miraphone serves a large part of the popular oval baritone market in Europe, and those are very good instruments.  It's a competitive market, and both Miraphone and B&S put their best efforts towards making the perfect oval baritone.

Miraphone calls this variation a Kaiser baritone.  This instrument overlaps the oval baritone market a bit, but it is made in the traditional tuba shape with straight sides.  In fact, this instrument is often called for by name in German bands.  It is also known as a tenor tuba due to its shape and tone quality, so it is an excellent orchestral instrument as well.

The standard model 56A features an upright bell, 4 rotary valves, and a 12.2" bell flare. The bore is .579"/.638".  Unlike compensating model piston euphoniums, this is a non compensating instrument, but with the five rotor setup shown here, you can play the full chromatic scale down to the pedal tone using the same fingering patterns as any German tuba.  You'll find the Miraphone has a great sound and is a lot of fun to play. The tone of this instrument tends to be lighter and brighter than a piston euphonium, and tone is malleable and easy to flare.  The low range can have some quirks like a rotary F or CC tuba, but all are manageable with practice.  This model works well for tuba players as the ergonomic layout of the instrument is similar to a rotary bass tuba.  Any orchestral players looking for a tenor tuba should check it out as well. The stock 56 takes a small shank trombone mouthpiece, but an optional large shank receiver is available at no extra charge.  We order these in gold brass with five valves, lacquer finish, large shank receiver, with hard case.  Call for a quote on other options.

If you look carefully at the photos, you can see that the instrument's main bugle is all one piece from the tuning slide to the bell.  The bottom bow and top bow don't have a joint between them, so the entire loop is properly tapered from beginning to end.  It's quite an engineering feat, and is impressive to see.  Also, the flowing hand bent tubes on the back side are artful.

Included:  Gold brass body, lacquer finish, five rotary valves, Miraphone hard case and mouthpiece. Strap rings are included to enable polka band gigs.