Adams BBb sousaphone

[toobagrowl]

Has anyone played this new sousaphone? I stumbled on it last week while looking @ Taylor Music's website; just remembered to post it here. It looks to be a Conn 20k 'copy', at a lower price. Even has the offset short-action pistons.
If it plays as well as it looks, it could end up being a very competitive sousaphone

http://www.1800usaband.com/products/view/7460

[Three Valves]

$6,500 doesn’t sound competitive to me...

[SousaWarrior9]

Played one a couple months ago at a booth. It is essentially a 20K copy with a few small differences. There is a nice thick brace on the leadpipe, which I was happy to see, but the rest of the horn felt a bit dainty to me in terms of durability so I'm worried how it would hold up to years of use on the field. Also, was probably just a lack of oiling on this specific horn, but the valves felt very sluggish to me. It sounded good, though. Very Conn like. I'd put it in the same league as new (Eastlake Ohio made) Conns. Decent horn overall, but for the price, I think there are other comparable 20k copies for much less.

[toobagrowl]

$6,500 doesn’t sound competitive to me...

Decent horn overall, but for the price, I think there are other comparable 20k copies for much less.

Sousaphones cost more to make than comparable tubas. That said........

New (lacquered) Adams BBb sousa: $6,500.
New (lacquered) Conn 20k BBb sousa: $7,779.
New (lacquered) Yamaha 411 BBb sousa: $6,894.
New (lacquered) King 2350 BBb sousa: $6,692.
New (lacquered) Jupiter 1100 BBb sousa: $6,559.

That makes the Adams very competitive; especially if it is well-made like other Adams tubas/euphs are reportedly made.

The fiberglass and fiberbrass models are cheaper, while the silver plated versions are more pricey.
And the Adams, Yamaha 411, and Conn 20k are all large 5/4 sousas; while the King and Jupiter are standard 4/4 size

[Three Valves]

I stand corrected. If the Adams is a genuine, quality, European made instrument, $6.5k may be competitive and reasonable.

[pecktime]

Fun fact: a lot of ‘swiss made’ watches are made from japanese or chinese movements (the actual mechanism) and then put into a case in Switzerland by highly paid Swiss.

As long as the cost of the ‘putting the mechanism in the case in Switzerland’ is more than 50% they can be called ‘Swiss Made’.

[JCalkin]

We just bought a fleet of these to replace our aging 20Ks. Here's the skinny:

These are most decidedly *not* copies if the 20K. They don't actually have short-action valves. The pistons are full-throw and don't have the compressed ports. The stems are movable to either centered or offset configurations to suit the size of the player's hands.

I have found the sound to be really nice, and IMO the low register response is better than the Conn, though the Adams can get a bit more "barky" when pushed really hard, but I like that in these horns because they project like crazy.

The valve block is removable for cleaning, which is a REALLY nice feature.

I played the prototype at Midwest last year and was impressed, but I offered some suggestions as to ergonomics regarding the gooseneck angle and a weird "ring" the horn got on some notes. Both of these things were addressed in the production sousas. Miel Adams is a super nice guy and is always working toward improving, and is willing to take suggestions from folks.

They are as solidly built as anything else out there, and I'm not at all worried about durability. They do feel a bit lighter than the Conn, but again, I see this as a plus. Though we've only marched them for one season, they have held up well, and we've had no trouble with the valves.

Ours arrived from the factory with excellent MTS cases.

My one gripe is that there is no metal shoulder plate as on the Conn. You'll need a shoulder pad for comfort.

So, yeah. Great sousas. I'm really happy we took the gamble on this new model.

[SousaWarrior9]

We just bought a fleet of these to replace our aging 20Ks. Here's the skinny:

These are most decidedly *not* copies if the 20K. They don't actually have short-action valves. The pistons are full-throw and don't have the compressed ports. The stems are movable to either centered or offset configurations to suit the size of the player's hands.

I have found the sound to be really nice, and IMO the low register response is better than the Conn, though the Adams can get a bit more "barky" when pushed really hard, but I like that in these horns because they project like crazy.

The valve block is removable for cleaning, which is a REALLY nice feature.

I played the prototype at Midwest last year and was impressed, but I offered some suggestions as to ergonomics regarding the gooseneck angle and a weird "ring" the horn got on some notes. Both of these things were addressed in the production sousas. Miel Adams is a super nice guy and is always working toward improving, and is willing to take suggestions from folks.

They are as solidly built as anything else out there, and I'm not at all worried about durability. They do feel a bit lighter than the Conn, but again, I see this as a plus. Though we've only marched them for one season, they have held up well, and we've had no trouble with the valves.

Ours arrived from the factory with excellent MTS cases.

My one gripe is that there is no metal shoulder plate as on the Conn. You'll need a shoulder pad for comfort.

So, yeah. Great sousas. I'm really happy we took the gamble on this new model.

Good to hear some evidence that they are holding up after some use. My thoughts were from a brief one time test, so it's good to hear a more in depth analysis.

[toobagrowl]

I stand corrected. If the Adams is a genuine, quality, European made instrument, $6.5k may be competitive and reasonable.

New (lacquered) Conn 20k BBb sousa: $7,779.
New (lacquered) Yamaha 411 BBb sousa: $6,894.
New (lacquered) King 2350 BBb sousa: $6,692.
New (lacquered) Jupiter 1100 BBb sousa: $6,559.

Two of these are made in China, and none are made in Europe.

bloke

How do you know for sure

[JCalkin]

I (personally) haven't seen the metal plate on the upper (third) branch of (new) Conn sousaphones for years.
I'm thinking (??) that they decided that there was too much risk of people being injured (such as cut) on those - particularly as society has become so epically litigious, and (besides the difficultly of fitting them to the instruments and then polishing around them, as almost no one orders the satin silver finish anymore, as I NEVER run into an ORIGINAL-FINISH Elkhart era 20K with a "bright"-buffed silver plated finish) these were (I'm guessing) the reasons why that feature was eliminated.

Conn 20K sousaphones, for quite a while now, are made of considerably thinner sheet metal than they were back in the Elkhart era or even during the brief Texas era, and even the current-era 20K slide tubing is thinner wall - thus NON-compatible with Elkhart-era slide tubing (though the same .734" bore). Those school-owned 20K's (new generation), with which I'm dealing, dent more severely (for the same level of abuse) but (well...) are also (being thin-wall) easier for me to un-dent. That having been said, a few of them (after having been smashed in and repaired year-after-year) are beginning to open up at the seams and to spider-crack.

I suspected as much but I haven't been around new Conn sousies. My personal horn is a 1960 20K (with factory satin lacquer... super cool!), and the horns my college just replaced were quite a bit older even then that, though they had been rebuilt at least once.

[Steve Marcus]

Sousaphones cost more to make than comparable tubas. That said........

New (lacquered) Adams BBb sousa: $6,500.
New (lacquered) Conn 20k BBb sousa: $7,779.
New (lacquered) Yamaha 411 BBb sousa: $6,894.
New (lacquered) King 2350 BBb sousa: $6,692.
New (lacquered) Jupiter 1100 BBb sousa: $6,559.

New (lacquered) Wessex SP23 BBb sousa: $3,230.
https://wessex-tubas.com/collections/so ... phone-sp23