Posted by Archie on October 23, 1999 at 08:58:19:
In Reply to: Miraphone, yesterday and today posted by Jeff Chronister on October 20, 1999 at 23:55:29:
I have played two 186 4 valve CCs that were built in the late 60s and they were wonderful
horns. Kind of like the old CC mirafone 186 that Don Harry plays in the Eastman Brass. I love the sound of the old mirafones of the 60 and 70s. I had the opportunity to use William Roses (retired Houston Sym.) 186 CC from the late 70s for a month once with a brass quintet and it was such a wonderful horn. I believe that Mirafone is once again beginning to make horns that are closer to the quality that they were known for 20-30 years ago. As for as the 188 goes, I believe that it would work for anything that you wanted it to. It is a very versatile horn. It would not be overbearing for a quintet and would work fine in large ensembles. One of the things that I
always like about the 188 is that iy is easy to play and you can really shave the sound down and play very soft and not have to work extremely hard at it. But I believe that the only draw back is that some mirafones have bright sounds or a sound with little weight behind it. The key is to
play many and find one with a sound you like. BTW I play a Alexander CC and have never
owned a mirafone but have played many of them.
Archie