sousaphones

[OldsRecording]

I would like to play a Martin Mammoth someday, as well as (yeah, right -- dream on) the original Pepper souzy, just to get the experience.

I've actually played an original Conn 4v raincatcher. Godawful heavy but damn nice to play on.

[iiipopes]

I agree absolutely with Marty. Without going into all the physics, the lower the note, the more it dissipates and the less it projects. As a matter of fact, when I marched in high school, our band director would not let us play anything too low for that very reason. Some marching charts that tried to grovel too much he'd actually have us write it up the octave so it would project and support the band.

[TubaSteve]

I agree that you need the standard note played alongside the pedal to really bring out the cord. Many of the times that I play with my partners, I will often play the note up an octave, the guy on my right is in the basement, and the other plays as written. It really makes a nice sound to split them, but if we all tried to play in down, it just doesn't seem to fill the room up like it does when we are playing different octaves.

Steve

[andrew the tuba player]

yeah, i try it in rehearsal to make sure that it comes out. usually i dont go below g. If it doesnt then ill keep it where it is.

[Tabor]

I purchased an old (early thirties) Conn 32k last year. (the lightweight model) Maybe it is just what happens to a horn that is played often and taken care of for 75 years, but it really plays. The intonation isn't like a 186, but it is better than many tubas, and the sound is very cool. Plus, it payed for itself in outdoor gigs quickly. They come up for sale every once in a while. Try one if you get a chance.

[pierso20]

so in high school I played on the BIG *** sousaphone....from who know's when..

It was the HEAVIEST I have ever held. If Willson made sousaphones (if they do, I'd enjoy being corrected) then this would be like one...

I was 5'3" as a freshmen and the three 6' players made me carry the heavyiest one...since hazing wasn't permitted..

Anyway, this horn was known as the Naked Lady Tuba....

Apparently there was a "naked lady" inscribed on it as a logo...anybody ever hear of such a thing? Because there is definetely a naked lady on it....

[andrew the tuba player]

Yeah, on the back of the bell on the Cnns theres an engraveing of a lady and shes said to be 'naked'. so, conns are known as naked lady tubas. it was probly a Cnn 20K. thats the biggest sousa. I'm about 6'2 or 3 ish, so size isnt really a considertion. And, it does matter a lot how there taken care of. the 20K that I love was put away after the other tubist quit (which actually sparked my attenion to the tuba...i was a perccussionist and switched two years ago.) so, they put it up in the band room for a year. When i learned that of its existance i pulled it out. the bell was the same as the satin silver body and the valves were frozen. so, pulled it apart and oiled and bathed it (n reverse order lol) then i polished for hours and hours and now it's my favorite horn.....I think our fiberglass souzy is just past its good days.

[iiipopes]

I purchased an old (early thirties) Conn 32k last year. (the lightweight model) Maybe it is just what happens to a horn that is played often and taken care of for 75 years, but it really plays. The intonation isn't like a 186, but it is better than many tubas, and the sound is very cool. Plus, it payed for itself in outdoor gigs quickly. They come up for sale every once in a while. Try one if you get a chance.

I absolutely agree. The response on many souzys is nothing short of phenominal. I must confess that if I do end up playing a lot of souzy gigs, a Wenger souzy chair might be the order of the day!

[andrew the tuba player]

I'd have to agree. My 20K has comperable responce to my stock 186 5uc. It's not my horn either. It's better than any other tuba i've played. Even the brand new demo BBbs. Although the mirafone is more 'manuverable'. the 20K is big, but, not as bad as most big horns. like with the 6/4 Conn 20J that i borrowed...It sounds great, but sometimes the faster passages get lost in the tubeing if you know what i mean. the souzy isnt to bad with this though. and the mirafone doesnt do it at all. It maybe because of the forward bell (?). but, yeah i love the resonce that it provides. It's ny far the best BBb i've ever played/

[Donn]

Mine played a lot better after some attention to the "bits" (the small joints between the mouthpiece and leadpipe), which were apparently leaking. It's a very easy and cheap thing to fix - I used some lanolin I had laying around, but slide grease would probably do.

[andrew the tuba player]

yeah, when i first started i used two bits because i held the horn on my shoulder wrong. It would play way flat. Then, i learned how to hold it and took one of them off. It's played in tune ever since

[LoyalTubist]

In the 1920s, which (IMHO) was the greatest decade of all for tuba players, all the great tubists played humungus sousaphones (Min Leibrook, Isham Jones, John Kuhn, Bill Bell, etc.) Most of those guys could play circles around the best players of 2007. I think about the only place where a sousaphone doesn't belong is in a symphony orchestra playing serious music from the Romantic period--BUT I'VE SEEN IT!!!

[Steve Inman]

OK -- I got my start on a big, brass, sousaphone of some sort or another. But other than that one for my 7th grade year, and the white, plastic ones we played in HS marching band, I don't know one from the other.

SO: TNFJ Assignment -- would one of you sousy "experts" please post a LIST of the various brands and models of commonly (or uncommonly) available sousaphones, along with any significant characterists that each model has? Feel free to include helicons as well. I'd love to see a "general information FAQ-type" post!

Example:

Druid-a-phone Model #123 built from 670 AD to 700AD, 5" bell, available only in wood

Bag-pipe-o-phone Model 1, built in Scottland around 1350AD, plaid finish

etc.

This is probably worthy of a new thread, to make it easier to find when searching archives. Pick an easy-to-find title: Catalog of Sousaphones, Sousaphone Hall of Fame, List of well-known Sousaphone models ... etc.


Thanks!

[sloan]

at my high school freshman year we played Conn fiberglass sousas in concert band.

I played a plastic King from 7th through 12th grades, except for the concert season of my final year in high school. During those four months, I played a Miraphone my band director borrowed from Rice University. It sure was more fun than the plastic King.

But I also went to solo contest every year with that King, and made it work. The experience did not fill me with the desire to play sousaphone exclusively, however.

Rick "who prefers something smaller than a 20K" Denney

Ah...you spoiled youngsters. I played a sousaphone (sorry, I've repressed the model # - but my shoulder will tell you that it was NOT fiberglass and it was not small) all through high school. They lived (permanently) on Wenger Sousaphone Chairs. They only went into the cases when we travelled. Football season...concert season...summer band camp...same horns, same chairs. With 5 minutes practice, you could slide in and out of the chair without moving the sousaphone. And (and this will make current-day band directors jealous) no one EVER touched those horns even though the band/choir room was in continuous use during the school day. And, stranger still...I can't remember a single serious dent (except after trips to away games where a lowered bell was the best way through the crowd).

[tubatom91]

at my high school freshman year we played Conn fiberglass sousas in concert band.

I played a plastic King from 7th through 12th grades, except for the concert season of my final year in high school. During those four months, I played a Miraphone my band director borrowed from Rice University. It sure was more fun than the plastic King.

But I also went to solo contest every year with that King, and made it work. The experience did not fill me with the desire to play sousaphone exclusively, however.

Rick "who prefers something smaller than a 20K" Denney

Ah...you spoiled youngsters. I played a sousaphone (sorry, I've repressed the model # - but my shoulder will tell you that it was NOT fiberglass and it was not small) all through high school. They lived (permanently) on Wenger Sousaphone Chairs. They only went into the cases when we travelled. Football season...concert season...summer band camp...same horns, same chairs. With 5 minutes practice, you could slide in and out of the chair without moving the sousaphone. And (and this will make current-day band directors jealous) no one EVER touched those horns even though the band/choir room was in continuous use during the school day. And, stranger still...I can't remember a single serious dent (except after trips to away games where a lowered bell was the best way through the crowd).

We didn't have chairs. I love playing silver sousaphones but fiberglass is what we had to play on. they were 50 years old and had more than a few air leaks soooo I wouldn't consider myself spoiled but yes they were a bit lighter.

[iiipopes]

In high school I had a 1st generation King fiberglass souzy, where the emphasis was on durability and dent resistance rather than light weight. In retrospect, I would have rather marched with a 1250 or a 14k.

[tubatom91]

Well our school just started using brand new 4 valve Dynastys. I love em. Especially when the whole section sounds great. We play on LOUD mouthpieces as well.

nice I need new souszys for my section we have 7 silver yamahas and 20+ fiberglass (2 kings, 16 22Ks and 2 36Ks) 2 of the silvers are broken and 12 of the fibers are in or going into the shop. I say sell them all and buy some new horns...

[andrew the tuba player]

spioled?? come on, i never used any chair. they always told me that i had to stand with a sousaphone. i remember when i first started we marched for loke 3 hours and my shoulder was killing me. so, instead of sitting they gave me the old fiberglass. i decided i hated it enough that i just took
the pain and now it doesnt hurt

[iiipopes]

Back then I took the horn, (and to quote an old comedy line) and, I LIKED IT like that. Now, I'm wondering, with the price of a chiropractor, that the chair may actually be worth it.

[andrew the tuba player]

I like standing because it opens your airways alot more. I was thinking about getting straps for my mirafone, but i learned how to just hold it. I usually stand when im practiceing any instrument.