jupiter sousaphone?

[TCtubaKingConn00]

like i said before i played around on ours and it was crap. i may not be the best player but i am purty good and the guy that played it is purty good if he wouldn't sound like he was playing a contra bass Franch horn and no matter who played it even the director (who played it b4 we got it and said it was fine) it was crap.

about buying another CONN 20K there is a place near us like 15min drive away that specilizes in fixing instruments mostly conn tubas and they sell their's @ bout $2500

[Arkietuba]

like i said before i played around on ours and it was crap. i may not be the best player but i am purty good and the guy that played it is purty good if he wouldn't sound like he was playing a contra bass Franch horn and no matter who played it even the director (who played it b4 we got it and said it was fine) it was crap.

I'm not saying your particular Jupiter your school has isn't "crap" but I have a purty good ear and I'm a performance major and I love the Jupiters our school has. Our tuba professor, who knows a thang or two about tuba, swears by them. Our band directors, who know a thang or two, love them too.

I'm by no means saying that the Jupiters are better than any other horn out there, but I think that a lot of people out there (I'm including myself in that seeing as how I had this mindset for a long time) just have a bias against anything that's not a Conn 20K. I repeatedly try to convince our director to buy 20K's and tried to convince our tuba professor but our school got 18 new Jupiter sousaphones...I played one and my mind quickly changed. The biggest thing I have noticed with these Jupiters as opposed to other sousaphones is that they are VERY free blowing. There is little to no resistance and I feel like I can do whatever I want on that horn and I can't say that with the Conns, Kings or Yamahas we had before.

I'm not saying Jupiter > Conn but I am saying that Jupiter isn't as bad as people are making them out to be. I used to think that they were awful but playing these horns for a semester has changed my mind completely. You can tell a huge difference in how our section sounds from last season to this season. We are much better in terms of intonation and sound.

Maybe we just got the best of the best of their horns?

[DevilDog-2013]

We don't have Jupiter sousas, but we use the convertable Jupiter tubas. They play ok, but we had TONS of problems with the valves and slides. Also have HORRIBLE "drainage"(lets just go with that word) problems. We have to spin them at least once per hour of rehearsal to get rid of the condensation stuck in the tubing (not the slides).
I would not go with a Jupiter tuba. Not to bash the company, maybe it's like this for ALL convertable tubas. But this is just our experience with them. However, they do sound better than our sousas.

[SousaSaver]

We don't have Jupiter sousas, but we use the convertable Jupiter tubas. They play ok, but we had TONS of problems with the valves and slides. Also have HORRIBLE "drainage"(lets just go with that word) problems. We have to spin them at least once per hour of rehearsal to get rid of the condensation stuck in the tubing (not the slides).
I would not go with a Jupiter tuba. Not to bash the company, maybe it's like this for ALL convertable tubas. But this is just our experience with them. However, they do sound better than our sousas.

What Sousaphones does your school have? How could they sound worse than 3/4 size over the shoulder Jupiter Tubas?

About the drainage... If the drainage is in one of the main wraps of the horn, because you have to spin it around, recommend to your band director to have a water key installed. A cheap fix that will save you a headache in the future.

Sam Pilafian plays a Jupiter CC Tuba for what it's worth. A Jupiter 584 CC.

[iiipopes]

Sam Pilafian plays a Jupiter CC Tuba for what it's worth. A Jupiter 584 CC.

That's only because Sam Pilafian has been hired by Jupiter as a consultant, so they give him the horns to play. Now, hopefully, with his input, they will start to improve quality over time.

[Arkietuba]

Andrew Hitz of the Boston Brass plays on that type of Jupiter CC as well. He sounds great and I know The Dirty Dozen Brass Band play on Jupiter horns. Also, Pat Sheridan plays on a Jupiter horn...

Not a bad group of performers for any instrument manufacturer...

[iiipopes]

Again, from the Jupiter website:

"AUSTIN, TEXAS – October 12, 2006 – The Boston Brass has signed on as Artist and Educational Ambassadors for Jupiter Band Instruments. The announcement was made at a surprise appearance by the Boston Brass at the Jupiter annual sales meeting."

And, of course, Pat Sheridan is also a design consultant along with Pilafian.

Don't confuse those who are paid to play, and can get a good tone out of a mushroom can connected with a hose to a garbage can, with those who choose an instrument to play based on the relative merits of any particular instrument.

[bigbob]

Again, from the Jupiter website:

"AUSTIN, TEXAS – October 12, 2006 – The Boston Brass has signed on as Artist and Educational Ambassadors for Jupiter Band Instruments. The announcement was made at a surprise appearance by the Boston Brass at the Jupiter annual sales meeting."

And, of course, Pat Sheridan is also a design consultant along with Pilafian.

Don't confuse those who are paid to play, and can get a good tone out of a mushroom can connected with a hose to a garbage can, with those who choose an instrument to play based on the relative merits of any particular instrument.

GoodMorning IIIPOPES now I have an empty mushroom can and a garden hose ahhhh is the garbage can plastic or metal??Blink blink would a larger can make it into a MCGC BAT?? (Mushroom can and garbage can)<S>I'm ready for a change haha................BB

[LCTuba89]

I played a Jupiter sousaphone in high school. It was a silver FiberBrass model. It was okay sounding, but to me the partials never felt secure. We had 4 of them and the only reason we played them is because they looked shiny. One football game though, I chose to use the school's oldest instrument, a 1955 Conn 20K. Even with it all beat up looking and tattered, it sounded 1000x better than the Jupiter. All the notes felt secure and the tone was thick and full of bass. I regretted not playing it more during my high school years, which is why I asked them recently if I could borrow it since the kids use the Jupiters. I currently have it and I'm going to clean it up and have my local repair tech try to remove as many dents as possible. I'll use it in jazz band in the meantime as it has the look and sound for dixieland bass lines. The Jupiters are okay at best, but they hold no candle to an old King or Conn sousaphone.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pBL9 ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pBL9 ... sp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2pBL9 ... sp=sharing

[andrew the tuba player]

I'd also have to say that after playing both the Jupiter and the 20k that the Jupiter was no where near the 20k. In high school I played a 1948 lady face 20k that was (and still is) a magnificent instrument and was completely overhauled in the early 2000s. I played that horn in the marching band and also very small settings such as a small church with a piano and never had an issue blending with either setting. The tuning was pretty well on point and you could go from a nice round mellow sound good for small groups to a big round sound with no issues and I never once had an issue with over playing or bell ring. (I actually had quite a few people from the church suggest that I keep playing the 20k over the Miraphone 186 i had because they liked the big warm sound rather than the brighter sound of the CC tuba. This was a church of 50 on a good day mind you).

The year after i graduated the director bought a matching pair of Jupiter silver sousaphones as she now had 2 players instead of just me and the old conn was shelved do to being much heavier and "not shiny" (I've been trying to explain the difference in satin and bright silver to students for years). I went to do a sectional with the players and pulled out the 20k and compared them side by side. The Jupiters felt very light weight and thin compared to the 20k and both sounded small and very bright. I also could not get comfortable playing them with any bit configuration but that's probably because i was used to the lower lead pipe on the Conn. I recently played one of them in the alumni band with the current class. I still felt the same way even after not playing the 20k for almost 6 years. I also had issues with the valves and slides which led to me manually pulling the valves back up on a few songs when i didn't have time to oil them for a bit though this could be from lack of proper maintenance and playing in the cold as this horn had been shelved since they now only have one player and the other turned out to be the better of the two

These are just my observations with them side by side. But i also feel that this comparison is a little off do to the difference in the horns themselves. I think that it's to be expected that a new Jupiter would sound lighter and ring more that a '40s 20k as the metals are different and the physical size is much different as well. Also I "grew up" on big conns (20j, 25j and the 20k) so it may also be that I'm more used to playing it so it sounds better in my hands. From the stands the Jupiter sounds good. But my vote will always go to the 20k because that's the horn i know the best.

I also have a comparison in durability. Our school likes to do "hall way pep-rallies" where the band, cheer leaders, and football team run through the halls and play while the students stand next to the rooms. there's one metal framed door way that is very low and (as everyone is stampeding behind) extremely hard to miss with the bells. Every sousa player smacks the heck out of it the first time. When i did it with the conn...nothing. not even a scratch. When the Jupiter got smacked it folded the top of the bell over. Not a glamorous or proud story but a comparison of high school shinanigans no less.