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What's your impression?

I almost didn't fit inside it. I tried playing it despite the fact that the valves were up almost at my chest level. Kinda stuffy and terrible high range (to me, of course)

I had a set of them at a school at which I taught. I found I could not play them in tune. They looked really nice, but I didn't care for them at all.

TubaRay wrote:I had a set of them at a school at which I taught. I found I could not play them in tune. They looked really nice, but I didn't care for them at all.

Looks ain't everything ...

The one that my school tried was the hardest to play horn I have ever tried. I had an easier time getting divorced from my first wife than I did playing that thing.

My private teacher (who is also a high school band director) had two sousaphones lying on the floor when I walked in one day, one jupiter and one yamaha. long story short I picked the new sousaphones for somone elses school

Sad, but true: the local NCAAI university, the same one who sponsors the community band I play in, recently purchased a dozen new Jupiter souzys to replace a dozen venerable King silver souzys. I did not play it. The reason I did not play it is that when I tried to pick one up, the metal was so thin it almost dented under my grip.

Let's see, if you look really closely, you will see the configuration of the Jupiter is the same as the King in almost all details: placement and configuration of the leadpipe and main tuning slide, bore, wrap, etc.

Coincidence with Jupiter being the "king" of the Roman pantheon? I think NOT!

my old high school band director bought the 4 valve sousaphone.....he regretted buying it

uh, you all might not want to count all your chickens yet....Jupiter is coming out with new lines of brass instruments last I checked....

I have reason to believe that the recent King sousaphones are actually Jupiter sousaphones. In 2003, I overhauled 8 American-made King sousaphones for a college in Georgia. They also had 2 new King sousas, about 6 months old. They said that they had sent the valve sections back under warranty because of lacquer wear issues, and asked me if I would clean and reassemble the two virtually-new King sousas. My first thought was, "Since when did King sousas have a removable valve section??!" I agreed to service them, and they handed me two cases with the bodies, and two boxes with valvesets. The boxes were marked, "Jupiter USA, Austin, TX".

I reassembled the sousaphones, marked "King", and for all the world they looked like King sousas, although they did not quite play like Kings initially. From all measurements that I have taken, it seems that the valve ports do not line up on the Taiwanese King low brass instruments. It is as if they added the plastic guide on top without thinking about the fact that there is now not enough room to have a good felt on top and keep the alignment. It is an easy fix to measure, drill and tap threads into a hole on the side of the piston, use American metal valve guides (they last better on a sousaphone), then the top valve guide is unnecessary. There is an added lip on the bottom of the Asian King valve stems, which I shave-down at the lathe to where the cork has a flat area to rest upon. I align the valve using a cork washer and tightly-woven felt, just like what H.N. White King sousaphones used to have, and suddenly, the instrument plays much more like a King. They can be made to play well, but they are not the H.N. White instrument of 40+ years ago. If you buy Jupiter or King sousaphones, just plan to have them worked on prior to being really playable, just as a string player buys an instrument and has it shop-adjusted. At this point, if you want to play a sousaphone right out-of-the-box, buy a Yamaha. Even the Conn 20K's, the only real U.S.-made sousaphone still in existence, may have some minor valve issues when new and needs to be thoroughly serviced before you take it out to play.

When buying any sousaphone, particularly new, you need to examine the bell bow joint. With the bell removed, feel the inside of the joint where the largest body branch and the bow that receives the bell meet. If the joint is open on the top side, the bell is likely to be tipped forward and slightly down, will feel awkward and unbalanced, and should not be tolerated. This condition can also mess with the intonation. Unless the seller is willing to repair that problem or lower the price so you can pay to get it fixed, "Just say no".