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My sousaphone transport options: 1) wrestle with the cumbersome SKB case or 2) schlep around an uncased horn

Musician's Friend has a (limited time) add'l 20% off a discounted Protect bag, so for $178 shipped, even if it's only modest protection, the backpack feature will make it worthwhile to me.
Mine hasn't arrived yet, so this is a non-trialed non-endorsement, but if you're wanting a sousaphone bag, consider searching "protec deluxe sousaphone" at Musician's Friend.
(web coupon code didn't work, but the 877# salesguy took my phone order incl. discount)

I use one. It came with one of my sousas, otherwie I probably wouldn't have purchased it. Now that I have one, if it ever wears out, I will buy a replacement.

Compete with me to eventually find a really low-priced older King fiberglass with good valves and in good condition. Keep an old quilt in the car, take the instrument apart each time - as it's so much easier with fiberglass, donut it on top of the old quilt, get to your destinations, easily assemble the lighter weight fiberglass instrument, and carry it into the venue on your shoulder. Get over the "huge/heavy sousaphones and brass sousaphones are better" narrative, and enjoy life. I actually recently saw one that would have fit the bill perfectly for me for only a little bit over $800, but being a thermonuclear bottom feeder, that still wasn't enough to motivate me.

These are not really "protection" and are barely even "gig bags". HOWEVER — They offer the user a hands-free way to carry the horn to the stage from the car, which can be a blessing. It is a silly thing to use a bag to carry on your body an instrument designed specifically to be carried on your body, or so it would seem… until you have to negotiate more than a few doorways, heavy winds, rain, etc. Then it will, in your eyes, be a fantastic purchase. Give it time; it will justify itself to you soon enough. I do not own tubas without both a very good hard case as well as a very good gig bag. These are important parts of the budget when I buy *any* tuba, regardless of cost.

After spending time and lots of $$$$$ on a tuba I do not understand the thought process that justifies being. cheap-a$$ to store or transport it.

I also would not waste my time owning any sousaphone other than a King or Conn fiberglass model. Of all the Olds and other sousaphones I have played, I like the older King brass horns the most' However, both of the much lighter Conn and King fiberglass sousaphones are always more than good enough for paying sousaphone gigs.

Reality time: If you think that (when playing a fiberglass sousaphone) anyone other than you will hear negative aspects to "your sound" that are not due to "operator error" you are mistaken. To everyone other than a tuba player these fiberglass horns "sound like a tuba" which is all that matters, period.

Yes, brass is better, but not by all that much in any substantive manner to those who pay you and those who pay them to pay you.

Regarding the expense of the gig bag, to paraphrase bloke…

Bassoonists, cellists, and violinists transport $80,000 - $100,000 instruments in $2,500 cars while tuba players drive $100,000 F-150s but will try to haggle down the price of a $2,500 instrument to $2,000. I would add that we frequently will foolishly skip getting a case or gig bag…

Also, the price is very good for a gig bag. I have also done as Joe suggested above and transported a horn wrapped in thick quilts. If the drivers around here were better I might do this more often. But as things stand, due to phone use while driving, I have started taking my horns to work in their hard cases. I need a hard case for myself, too. Man, the local drivers have deteriorated since the pandemic. Anyway…

GET THE BAG! THAT PRICE IS PENNIES COMPARED TO THE VALUE OF YOUR INSTRUMENT. Even if the horn cost under $500 it is worthy of a usable gig bag. Even hillbilly fiddlers see the sense of carrying their violins in gunny sacks if they cannot get a good hard case!

If you need validation to get this bag, then say I told you to get it. If you get into trouble with the Mrs. then blame me! She can holler at me all she wants; your horn needs a home. HAHAHA!!!

Good luck!

Wade

I am not going to wade into the brass vs fiberglass debate. My Sousas are brass but they are both 1950s and predate fiberglass horns.

Really the bag is a nice convenience for carrying/storage rather than protection. It fits better into the backseat of my car. I can wear it backpack style, instead of across my chest. I have better arm mobility. I don't bang the bell into door frames or crouch in elevators. I have a pocket where I can keep my mouthpiece, valve oil, neck bits, sunglasses. Both hands are free for carrying stand, bag, water bottle etc. I can store my Sousa in a closet between rehearsals/gigs and don't have to worry about it falling over.

I don't think this topic is worth arguing or defending any particular strategy, but the sousaphone itself can be carried on one's shoulder, and it seems to me that the wider-than-human bag on the back requires about an equal amount of care (passing through doorways) vs. the bell sticking up above one's head or hanging down (if rotated) behind one's legs.

fiberglass...??
The sensation of the instrument vibrating against one's body is gone, but - when I hear myself in recordings playing fiberglass - it really sounds the same as brass, and I know that everyone loves their own sousaphone, but - as much as I used to be convinced that Conn was "it", I've discovered that the smaller bore of King and the smaller body of King define the instrument as being more like a big tuba than some monstrous whatever, and I also really like the King intonation, which is remarkably good for a 3-valve instrument, and some of the tuning defies logic - in regards to how good it is. I don't like the recently made King instruments, because - like Jupiter - they don't seem to be made of fiberglass anymore and weigh just as much if not more than brass sousaphones. Another thing I like about fiberglass is the relatively carefree dent resistance of fiberglass - in typical situations where often there probably are a whole bunch of people not paying much attention to where they're going (read: alcohol and weed).

I would encourage everyone to do as they please, and it's always fun to spend a couple hundred bucks on some accessories to go with an instrument. In this case, if it's fun to spend money on a bag, by all means spend money on a bag.

I'm pretty particular about protecting my instruments - except sousaphones. I don't use one much at all, but they stay in my workshop unprotected, and if I do use one, it goes in the bed of my truck. Shrug>

I agree that fiberglass horns sound pretty good, to everyone else. But I have a much harder time hearing myself when I play my 22K vs playing my 38K.

The bag is a good idea. It does offer some protection but it's main functions are to keep everything together and to ease transportation.

The newer (not that new) version of the ProTec is much better designed than the old one. Many of us remember the goofy backpack straps designed for Andre the Giant that the original version had. There was pretty much no way to keep the horn from banging you in the back of the knees. Again, the newer versions are much more user friendly.

That's a good price. Thanks for sharing.

Kirley wrote: ↑Fri Sep 13, 2024 5:17 pm I agree that fiberglass horns sound pretty good, to everyone else. But I have a much harder time hearing myself when I play my 22K vs playing my 38K.

agreed...There's less PHYSICAL vibration of the instrument (the type of vibration which explains why we can easily hear ourselves hum...or tap ourselves on our own heads - even when we do it so softly that it's nearly inaudible to others).

I have a Protec sousa bag. A little Olds sousa lives in it. It’s not too bad. I don’t want to store a big sousa case. This bag holds the horn (slightly too big…), lets me transport it in that rare occasion, and it all stores up on a shelf. The padding is good enough for my purposes. I view all bags as registering in various levels of suck and prefer hard cases.

My protec bag protects my custom paint job! Thanks Tim Jackson!

I'm glad to admit that - if I came across a really good used sousaphone padded zipper bag for a really low price, and didn't have to pay shipping - that I would probably snap it up, but - just as just a reminder - I'm a "bottom feeder", as far as buying things for myself is concerned.

This is not any sort of an insult, but merely an observation - and it's a generalization and doesn't pertain to everyone, obviously:

Amateurs are more prone to accessorizing than professionals.

bloke wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 1:56 pm Amateurs are more prone to accessorizing than professionals.

100% agree. I didn't mind spending money on my hobbies. Actually I should say the money and time spent on musical pursuits had brought me great joy and had helped keep me sane through since difficult times. The calculus of spending money on professional tools is completely different. I get it...

I will admit to having bought an accessory in the last week:

If no one knows it by now, I'm particularly fond of the German made (Konig und Meyer) km101 music stands, because they fold up to about a foot long by about two inches wide, and fold out to a nice rectangular desk shape with a couple of arms strategically located which can extend out the width to support four pages. Additionally, they are capable of being raised up to a fairly impressive height.

I thought I lost mine, but Mrs bloke knew where it was all the time and handed it to me. In the meantime, I saw one online for sale used that would cost me less than buying one new from the (wholesale only) jobber that I have used for decades. I didn't exactly "need" it, but I went ahead and bought it so I could have a 101 music stand in two cars instead of having only one of them in one car. This way, I never have to remember to bring a stand when I'm told to bring a stand.

Yeah, this is a little bit of a luxury and an unnecessary duplicate accessory, but it takes some pressure off of me to remember something that is not something that I normally have to remember, and - well hell - it's not like I spent $200 on something. I spent $20 bucks , and - besides shipping being included - it even included the little carrying bag (which has to be purchased separately - even by us dealers).
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I do keep an emergency mouthpiece in the glove box of each car (in case I do something really dumb and forget to pack my preferred mouthpiece in whatever tuba's case), but - even though I play my own line of mouthpieces, and have exact duplicates of each one, obviously - my emergency spares are inexpensive knockoffs of mouthpieces that "will play a tuba in an emergency".

MiBrassFS wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 3:55 am I have a Protec sousa bag. A little Olds sousa lives in it. It’s not too bad. I don’t want to store a big sousa case. This bag holds the horn (slightly too big…), lets me transport it in that rare occasion, and it all stores up on a shelf. The padding is good enough for my purposes. I view all bags as registering in various levels of suck and prefer hard cases.

Same: Olds O97 jr sousaphone, which fits loosely but securely in the Protec that arrived today, with room for additional closed cell that I'll eventually get around to affixing inside the case.
Yes, gig bag = dent bag (sad memories of my Miraphone 1291 and Altieri top loader), but the 4 kids are out of the house, I dig the backpack capability, and am overall impressed with the bag's features and quality for the price. Merely moving the SKB-encased horn down the hall to check the soft case fit reminded me why my lower back wanted the switch. I think the hard case is headed out the door instead of up to the attic.

It it ain’t going under a bus, I don’t need a hard case.

I hate sousaphone hard cases, and I'm annoyed when schools tear up their sousaphones and want me to pick up the sousaphones with the hard cases and the bells and everything, when only the bodies are damaged.

Today, a really nice assistant band director brought me two torn up sousaphones and only brought me the bodies of the instruments. Bravo.

If taxpayers only new how much money of theirs is wasted by young scholars who are in too much of a hurry to loosen sousaphone neck tension screws. Some of these schools nearly waste the price of buying another brand new sousaphone - due to these idiotic bad behaviors - every year.

I seriously thought of buying one for my Selmer Signet since I'm using it now. But I've had car work done (expensive) and bills and such. So I've just been disassembling the Signet and put the bell first, then body around it carefully in the trunk of my car. Been doing that for years. Can only justify a sousa gig bag if gigs continue and expenses are down....

tokuno wrote: ↑Sat Sep 14, 2024 5:35 pmSame: Olds O97 jr sousaphone, which fits loosely but securely in the Protec that arrived today, with room for additional closed cell that I'll eventually get around to affixing inside the case.

That’s a good idea. If I ever start using mine regularly and not just letting it sit on a shelf I should probably do that, too.

I've been very happy with my Protec Sousaphone gig bag. It comfortably fits my 1919 Conn 38k and the front pouch very easily stores extra gig hardware (iPad, microphone, mic cable, bits, necks, and mouthpieces). It feels surprisingly comfortable on the back and sits high enough to not interfere with walking. It has enough handles to easily get in and out of my car. The bell cover in the case does a good job preventing scratches.

My only two incredibly minor nuisances have been 1) the case+instrument is wider than most doorways, so you do have to turn a bit to clear it (but that's a sousaphone issue really) and 2) the straps have A LOT of excess strap material, so it is easy to step on the tail of the strap when you go to pick it up (but it hasn't been a significant issue so far).

No, it's not a Cronkite bag, but it does afford more protection than nothing and makes getting around with a sousaphone significantly easier. In my mind, it's absolutely worth the relatively low cost.