Mini Sousaphone 

I loved that concert E flat major minor diminished suspended augmented seventeen-and-a-quarterth scale.

The instrument was made for small Indian men like me. They're actually extremely common in India and can be found at music shops for ~$300. They've got some weird instruments down in India!

The most astute read the title.

The F scale sounded like harmonic minor.

it sounds like a middle schooler playing Trombone

Been enjoying your videos since discovering you. I am a 55 year old sax player from Arkansas U.S.A. Been playing for 44 yrs. but am just a hobbyist. I love your stuffy sense of humor as you hand out the assessments on these horns. You are the Simon Collwell of Brass instraments! Tough but fair. Keep up the good work and I look forward to watching your videos. Mark

You gotta love Trent's face of utter disgust at 5:40

So, here's my thoughts: -The air leaks could be that instrument in particular -It would fit me, being the 160-lb. 6-foot-tall person I am -I play the Marching Baritone already and have picked up a traditional sousaphone before, leading me to the conclusion that: I WANT IT.

The second you played that middle Bb, I made the exact same face you did at the exact same time. For real, though, I would love to have a real tenor sousaphone. It's such a silly, cool idea.

4:05 playing mini sousaphone

Only thing I could think to use it for is a prop for a theater production.

It's tuned in a minor key, lol

I would love this. I’m a baritone/euph player and i love the anatomy of a sousaphone

Hi Trent, I enjoyed your quality sounds and teaching methods! Thank you...

Yesterday I heard someone playing one of these instruments, and the intonation was horrible. However, Sai Musicals also sells euphoniums (euphonia?) for US $287 with free shipping, and I purchased one of these a couple months ago. The intonation isn't perfect, but it's only the 2nd valve that's slightly flat. It has those hexagonal valve buttons, and the valves are 'clanky' and they also need to be oiled every few days as they get stuck quickly. Sai Musicals says not to use valve oil, and I sent an email asking what should be done instead but I've received no answer. There is a water key ('spit valve') but I had to get the hole in the tubing drilled at a hardware store because this had been overlooked in the manufacturing process. Overall, I'm happy with the instrument, enjoy playing it, and I've been told it was a good value for the money, but it wouldn't be suitable for a professional player. I recall seeing a review of this sousaphone provided by a buyer who didn't understand this wasn't a bass (or more precisely contrabass) instrument and felt 'cheated'.

If you look at Civil War Brass Band Instruments you will find that Eb Altos, Bb Tenors, Bb Basses (Baritones) and Eb Basses built for Cavalry Units all use the helicon look. Much easier to carry one on a horse if you can leave your handsfree. The smaller of these horns all had the extra tubing. They also did not have water keys, but that is before someone invented them. I will say that the ones we play they all do a better scale then your horn did here. I play a Bb Helicon Tenor manufactured during the war, but I also have played an Over-The-Shoulder Infantry horn in parades.

LOL! I'm deaf to tuning and I can hear the out of rune higher register all too well

this horn would be called a sousaphonium because its in a tenor pitch like a euphonium

We use it in our band it sound good when you play an euphonium part with it

This looks like a french horn from an auto accident.Looks like it would be fun to play.A pad on the top tube to protect your top shoulder part would be good.Cool looking.

I just love your reaction to what should be the high Bb. That's an out-of-tune "face" if ever I saw one! :D

THANX FOR THE REVIEW!

Omg that Eb scale is PAINFUL!

I wish they had a tenor sousaphone that sounded good, I would totally buy one. :(

I've got one that looks similar to that but in white enamel. It gives good intonation and I used it this morning to lead the church congregation in song. The problem I do have is getting the condensation out. There's a drain tap on the lead pipe but no water comes out of this. The water seems to collect in the third tuning slide. Other that that its a nice instrument that gives a good powerful sound.

I never actually thought I'd hear a sound worse than me playing my trombone

5:39 That face though 😂

Thanks! i was thinking of buying one!

Happy new year people

I've actually seen a mellophone in this shape...really mini sousaphone.

I'm curious, is that piece of tubing for support hollow? and if so, has anyone ever tried to bridge air into it somehow - controlled by a thumb trigger or something like that? Sort of like the trigger extension on a bass trombone? I doubt it would be the right length to be in tune with 12TET, and the shape may not be right for a consistent tone but details, details...

I wonder if a couple of bits were added between the mouthpiece and the lead pipe, the intonation might be helped?

That Sousaphone is the MINI SIZE!? It's still huge! Wow!

Yes upload more!!!!

5:07 his face geeks me

the contras my school has are 60 pounds I had to switch to baritone because I almost broke my back practicing with the contra

India still produces saxophones and metal clarinets built to 19th century specifications as well. They are equally unplayable. Why do they do this? Nobody I've talked to seems to know, other than speculating that it's to sell cheap to tourists as souvenirs. I know that 's what $20 Mexican guitars are cobbled together for, they're intended to be hung on a wall and stared at, not played.

nice wrap-around marching baritone!

the baritone sousaphone lol?

The sousaphone you call "traditional" is not the original design as intended by Sousa. He disliked a bell-front bass and had an upright bell added to the helicon. That's the traditional design. What we see now is an abomination. Many sousaphones have four valves, in fact, Conn made during the 1970s or 80s, a four valve fiberglass 24K

I almost bought one of these. Thanks for posting this. Won’t be getting one of those

holly cow! lmao!, that high position, with your face!! *flops on floor dead from wheezing too hard*

@Trent Hamilton do other brands of “mini sousaphones” exist, or is this the closest so far? That would be such a fun gift for a college marching band young tuba fan!

so it’s basically a sousaphone for a euphonium player

I think I went to the SAI Musical website and I was instantly assailed by a blare at full volume that scared me to pieces and made me close the tab as soon as possible.

I'm a low brass player myself, but the tuba is my main instrument. I've played the sousaphone in my high school years. So, that mini sousaphone (or tenor sousaphone in that matter) is definitely tuneless. I wonder how it can be fixed so it can sound a lot better in quality. The instrument itself is interesting, I've never seen a mini version of a sousaphone before, and I never knew it existed until now.

So, Mr. Hamilton, which is worse: The Frumpet or this?

If it’s a octave higher then a really susa then it’s literally a more comfortable marching baritone

You've never played a 20 year old king Sousaphone have ya? Also, I don't know if they sell them separately from that particular instrument, but it seems that it's supposed to have bits like a regular Sousaphone.

5:49 I flinched at this scale and it’s tuning

Oh, wait a minute. I bought a valve trombone from those guys a few years ago. Same problems there; no spit valves, tuning slides did not move, the tuning was horrible, the valves were stiff and the whole thing was just awkward to hold... I'll have to agree. Avoid SAI.

Maybe due to the new design of the insurment the tuning is different for the notes meaning that it would have entirely different fingerings

hey Trent what if you put different saxophone mouthpiece and bassoon and one reeds on a mellophone, tenor cor, baritone, tuba, or trumpet

since its a cheap POS, what about hacking the valve slides to get the tuning straight? I have had some old horns that needed tuning slide chopped a bit to get to modern pitch.

I have two things two say 1 I love your RU-vid vids and two what's better a sousaphone or a French horn

Can you get any decent makes of these size sousaphones? I WANT ONE

If you want that mini sousaphone to sound like a real sousaphone just.put a big sousaphone mouthpiece on it ill try to make a video on how to put since the traditional tuba mouthpiece is bigger

Trent I corresponded with you on the trombone forum about a G bass trombone I'd bought. To close the loop on the story. I was packing it up to ship it to the party who had bought it I found a scrap of paper with the web site of an Indian export factor. Maybe hustler would be more accurate. An arranger of "Deals" between Indian manufacturers and off shore buyers (suckers). From some on line articles I read about Indian Brass Bands who play for wedding processions I think they were original market for horns such as these. In these traditional bands you have a core group of players to which hangers on are added. The status of the wedding is reflected in the size and visual appearance of the band so a semi-skilled player who can blat out a few notes from a pop song or Bollywood hit on a flashy "Sousaphone" of "KId sweeper" ads to the status of the sponsoring family. The quality of music the instrument can produce is not a design criteria. Glitz and low price are. DRB Seola Creek USA

Any Sousaphone I ever played required 2 tuning bits in order to tune up. You can also adjust them to fit your face.Have you tried that?

Hi! And what about the LECHNER tenor euphonium?

So it's just a weird looking euphonium?

I laughed at the Eb scale. Wow.

I am a current tuba & sousaphone player and I can say I want to own a mini sousaphone

I just noticed your Dennis Wick mutes. What do you think of them soundwise? I'm not a fan honestly. +trench Hamilton

If you want distance from the neck where the mouthpiece goes, then buy bits that regular sousaphones use. Easy fix

India, bad website, crappy product... figures. Keep it far away from people, pets, and check it for radioactivity, bugs, fecal matter and possible other nasty stuff inside - really. Your show is great, and you need to stay healthy :-)

Wow i just bout three of these garbage and couldn't find the use of them even for fun.. Can i use them as for sound like a Baritone?

4:05 - He did it again!

disculpa amigo adonde consigo una así me interesa mucho

The bell looks more like the expansion of the universe to me

You should get a Soprillo Sax! Top it all off! :D

can ANYONE provide a link to this instrument?!

Have you ever considered getting another sousaphone of better quality?

it is in the same key as the euphonium/baritone

If the Sousaphone is "technically" pitched in BBb, then why isn't it written a Major 2nd higher like the trumpet? Usually, if an instrument is in Bb, they play a 2nd lower then written? I know with the Baritone Horn and Euphonium, they play concert pitch in Bass and Tenor clef, but play like the trumpet in Treble clef. Why not with the Susaphone/Tuba?

What model baritone is that, please answer ASAP

1:49 Not entirely true, I have a Jupiter sousaphone with 4 valves that was used by a college marching band, and from what I've heard, those are pretty common. Maybe that's just an American thing, but I just wanted to point that out.

5:06 same face I made when I heard it AHHH SO FREAKING UNTUNIBLE

amigo adonde consigo una de esas en Bb

Sousaphones are pitched in the key of C not Bb, just as Trombones, Baritones, and most Tubas used in schools. Trumpets are pitched in Bb because when they play their C, it sounds a concert Bb, but with a Sousaphone, when you play a C it sounds a concert C

I see on eBay they now sell a Bb helicon like your Bb baritone sousaphone, same except the bell. The leadpipe has no braces and will adjust right and left. Obviously your 2nd valve slide is too long. Shame they aren't making these decent or I'd buy one. Thanks!

More early brass band videos!

is that thing tuned to like B flat minor or something?

Hey Trent! Have you used any other SAI instruments? I've seen them on ebay but everything I read online said they weren't any good. Any input? Love your videos btw!

Do you order your musical instruments online or is there a store near you?

Sousaphonium

Trent can you please put a link to the SAI Musical website?? I want to see how bad it is XD

give me the link to the website

We’re can u buy these

5:07 I made that exact same face!

it needs some bits to extend the lead pipe (or whatever that gross little thing has)

wow...

Where do you get all these uncommon instruments?

Where can I get one?

If the harmonic series is coming out crooked, it is likely the wrong mouthpiece.

why you can not buy it?

What is the website? I wanna see other garbage they have :D

Euphonium Sousaphone!!!

Can you play this instrument or speak about only?

How much do you want for it