My college switched to the version of these without the slide kickout from Yamaha sousaphones. I would say these played better *but* they had some serious ergonomic issues and they had constant reliability issues that were different than the issues we had with the Yamahas. The biggest ergonomic issue was there was simply no way to get the sousaphone into a balanced position without having to crane your neck into an uncomfortable position to reach the mouthpiece. Reliability issue was solder joints constantly failing, especially the lead pipe into the valve assembly. Just not enough bracing.
My college switched to the version of these without the slide kickout from Yamaha sousaphones. I would say these played better *but* they had some serious ergonomic issues and they had constant reliability issues that were different than the issues we had with the Yamahas. The biggest ergonomic issue was there was simply no way to get the sousaphone into a balanced position without having to crane your neck into an uncomfortable position to reach the mouthpiece. Reliability issue was solder joints constantly failing, especially the lead pipe into the valve assembly. Just not enough bracing.
Love to see more sousaphones sounding/feeling like a regular concert tuba! I've only found this with old Sousa's and Jupiter sousas!
The sousaphone of my dreams! What is the name of your mouthpiece?
Very cool sousaphone. Now the question is, do I dare visit the website to see the price...