Sousaphone Appreciation Thread

[humBell]

Don't think so...

I described it to the elder statesman tuba player i play with who also repairs instruments and he called it a giraffe.

Portions on either side of the bell collar (which by the way is on the bell) are elongated a good 5-6" so the bell feels like an added foot higher over your head than a normal sousa. I hoped the door knob would provide scale, but it only does that in an intellectual sense...

[Kirley]

Don't think so...

I described it to the elder statesman tuba player i play with who also repairs instruments and he called it a giraffe.

Portions on either side of the bell collar (which by the way is on the bell) are elongated a good 5-6" so the bell feels like an added foot higher over your head than a normal sousa. I hoped the door knob would provide scale, but it only does that in an intellectual sense...

Ah! Yes, that makes sense. Sorry I didn't relate it to its surroundings. I was only looking at its proportions.
Very interesting! Do you know what the make is?

Height is my least favorite part of sousaphones. Constantly having to duck under things is very distracting. One of the reasons I really prefer playing my helicon. But I can see this being cool if you know you'll be out in the open. Or if you happen to be vertically challenged.

Thanks for sharing!

[humBell]

I know what the bell says:

Peter Edwards, Boston, MA.

Who apparently was a maker for Vega before branching out on his own.

[humBell]

A Holton and a Conn? (I am not so good at id-ing, so i need the practice...)

The one on the right is a 30 inch bell Martin Mammoth (with a Conn neck and bit)

The neck was in fact my reason for guessing Conn... Thanks!

[pittbassdaddy]

The one from the left (now on right) is a King - additional photo for scale

[humBell]

The one from the left (now on right) is a King - additional photo for scale

(whatever reason, photo is not coming through for me...though i think i see my error from first...
i associate a main tuning slide underneath the first valve slide, and just 'cause it is well hidden doesn't mean it isn't there...

[humBell]

Place holder for a more meaningful post...

As this thread doesn't seem to have caught on. and seeing how in the US they have this season called Halloween, which judging by supermarket isles, started... in Late August?

Anyway, i will celebrate said season by exhuming this thread featuring bolts on the side of its uppermost appendage.

[bloke]

It's nice to be able to wear an instrument that's big and heavy so I don't have to hold it and play it while standing up.

Some people here know that I used to own a helicon that I built that played as well as just about any C tuba. (It was even in a Hallmark movie .)

Sousaphones are louder than helicons, and I believe sousaphones are more cool to laymen than helicons. I suspect helicons are only cool to tuba players.

[gocsick]

Sousaphones are louder than helicons, and I believe sousaphones are more cool to laymen than helicons. I suspect helicons are only cool to tuba players.

And Civil War reenactors.

[bloke]

Sousaphones are louder than helicons, and I believe sousaphones are more cool to laymen than helicons. I suspect helicons are only cool to tuba players.

And Civil War reenactors.

Nope, but OTS are.

.......
(I don't know if he reenacts anymore, but I have a wealthy friend who's only interested in collecting Confederate arms (not interested in the cheap/common Yankee stuff). He started out with swords and moved on to cannons... all Confederate... and hell yes, he's fired them a lot - including with cannonballs in them.
I have a funny story to go with that as well, but I'm not sure I should tell it on the public forum.

[tofu]

.

[bloke]

Helicons point upwards at a 45° angle and more of the sound is lost outdoors - where shoulder-mounted instruments are typically played.

Helicons with smaller bells sound very punchy, and - if their bells are short - the sound is right in the player's ears.

With recording basses and sousaphones, we typically aren't aware of how loud they actually are, because we're behind the bell.

[MikeS]

Sousaphones are louder than helicons, and I believe sousaphones are more cool to laymen than helicons. I suspect helicons are only cool to tuba players.

And Civil War reenactors.

And Balkan brass bands.

[humBell]

(i forget if there was a similar
helicon thread early on concurrent with this in inception.)

I meant to also say i was out playin' my first sousa earlier tonight. It was fun.

[humBell]

In repose (also known as a trunk) after a long awaited outing.

The yellow strapped eb also got a little exercise.



Wait a sec... this also made an appearance on the old site under a name the tuba thread... ah yes!



That was a short... decade.

[prodigal]

I've played a few sousaphones in my days, but a helicon would be immensely cooler. Hello, rotary valves!

[the elephant]

I appreciate sousaphones when they are played by others.

[humBell]

I've played a few sousaphones in my days, but a helicon would be immensely cooler. Hello, rotary valves!

Sousaphones can have rotary valves. Nothin's stopping them.

(and i am curious to see if next tuba tuesday features one, or if something more interesting comes along in the meantime (or this thread just isn't noticed, which is totally fine)

That said, my impression was by virtue of the wrap and shoulder resting. sousaphones are helicons (the bell is... kinda funny looking) just as they both are tubas by virtue of, well, the playing. This kinda makes for problems with certain comparisons.

Anyway... i still like sousaphones.