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After seeing this sousaphone http://www.ebay.com/itm/Sterling-Concer ... 4ad7f2e787" target="_blank"
and this ad about the olds jr sousaphone http://www.ebay.com/itm/1963-Olds-20-so ... 540a192465" target="_blank"
i was wondering what effect does a 20 inch bell flare have on a sousaphone?

It really depends on what the rest of the sousaphone is like, and how big the throat is. And the player.

eupher61 wrote:It really depends on what the rest of the sousaphone is like, and how big the throat is. And the player.

well what if i put a 20 inch flare on a 14k?

bloke wrote:I know what effect a 6" bell has on a sousaphone.

KiltieTuba wrote:

bloke wrote:I know what effect a 6" bell has on a sousaphone.

Jose the tuba player wrote:...
i was wondering what effect does a 20 inch bell flare have on a sousaphone?

It will likely have less after-ring and sound more direct/punchy.

does that mean i can play louder without all the blat?

KiltieTuba wrote:No it will make it worse, you'll be all blatt

Would you care explaining for this noob?

KiltieTuba wrote:

Jose the tuba player wrote:

KiltieTuba wrote:No it will make it worse, you'll be all blatt

Would you care explaining for this noob?

Just as bloke said:

bloke wrote:I know what effect a 6" bell has on a sousaphone.

Not quite following .

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well all i wanted was to make the horn less top heavy and more compact while still having a good sound so im guessing this is a stretch.

I prefer sousaphones with a smaller bell size, (smaller than the usual 26", that is). My favorite is a Martin BBb with a 23" bell and I think that has a very good "throat to flange ratio". My Conn 40K has a 24" bell and that works nicely too. The smaller bells do indeed make a sousa sound more like a tuba and are of course lighter.

A lot depends on the overall design of the bell. I have a 30" Martin bell which has the same collar and throat as the smaller bells, hence it's all flange. Impressive visually but not very different sonically. But my 30" Buescher bell is truly proportional with a big collar and throat to match.

so a 20 inch bell flare would not be a good fit for a conn 14k?

bloke wrote:...so isn't a sousaphone with a 20" bell going to sound very much like a tuba (with the same overall taper) with a 20" bell...EXCEPT for the angle (in relation to the room and to the location of the player's ears) of the bell...??

Makes sense to me, adding "angle in relation to the audience." So a bell front tuba.

One possibly confusing factor is the effect of the bell flare on directionality. From what I read, a larger bell flare makes the sound less directional. I wouldn't have guessed that, but ... I've wondered why bell front tubas seem to commonly have extravagantly large bell flares, and it makes more sense to me if that actually makes their sound a little less directional. And it makes me appreciate the 26 inch bell on my sousaphone.