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I am interested in getting an F or Eb helicon or sousaphone. What are the good ones, or maybe more importantly, what are the bad ones?
3 valves is fine, and a half-wrap would probably be best.
Should I just figure out a way to carry my small King Eb (my Neotech harness is terrible and I can't get a single strap to work!)?

Thanks!

I am not aware of neither high-end or even acceptable piston helicons being made today.

When Søren visited me 19 months ago I tried a Cerveny F helicon with 4 rotors. It was very good, but not good enough to defend the space it would occupy in my not very large home, so I didn’t buy it. It was considerably brighter than my Eb Conn’s 26K and 28K. I wouldn’t be afraid about the Amati 4XX variant. Same instrument, only with less nickel silver. Even the push rods and the sockets of ball&socket transmission are out of brass. Less durability, but same acoustic design. My Yahoo based galleries has some Cerveny bass helicon entries. You will have to enter the galleries via the main page:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... PhotosIII/

or via the Index:

http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... %20format/

Five post-WWII Cerveny F helicons with 4 rotors. The throat-to-flare ratios vary:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 5/pic/list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 0/pic/list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 5/pic/list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 9/pic/list

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 6/pic/list

Post-WWI Cerveny Eb helicon 4RV:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 4/pic/list

bloke used to have a 4 rotors Weltklang, which he augmented with a 5th valve. My Yahoo based galleries happen to have a short video, where bloke displays the tonality of Eb to the person buying that helicon. The Weltklang bass helicon entries in my galleries:

Weltklang F helicon 4RV:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 8/pic/list

Weltklang Eb helicon 5RV - the fifth valve added by Joe Sellmansberger of Memphis - TN:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/YorkMaste ... 7/pic/list

Joe playing a short demo on the above helicon:
http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/Yo ... con%205RV/

Klaus

Bob Kolada wrote:I am interested in getting an F or Eb helicon or sousaphone.

I had an opportunity to play an Eb King sousaphone, small wrap 3V, last weekend. I liked it a lot. It wasn't a good situation to evaluate a tuba, and I don't have any really good Eb tubas to compare with, but that said, I think it's the best Eb tuba I've played - sweet tone in the mid range, nice false tones.

It was set up for someone not much more than 2/3 my height; I assume I could straighten that out, but at some point a person could be too big to comfortably play one of these things. The same goes for corresponding helicon models of course.

It can be even worse with the European types. If you look at a typical rotary valve design with the action to the right of the valves, the right hand position can get even more cramped. And the leadpipe on Cerveny et al. is `bitless', so it suits a somewhat limited range of player dimensions.

I've been told that the Conn and Reynolds Eb sousaphones are both play quite nicely and have reasonable scales.
I am not an E-flat player, therefore my information is second hand, but it came from somebody I trust about such things.

The Conn Eb sousaphones seem to be more common then the Reynolds ones. I think I have actually seen Conn Eb helicons as well.

All the best,

Christian