Packer Sousas

[Kctuba]

Now that these have been around the block a bit, what are your thoughts on these for school use??? How do they hold up? Ease of parts?

[bloke]

As far as parts are concerned, King and Conn currently-made models are the easiest parts to get, and always have been.
My issue with those – being someone who repairs way more sousaphones than I probably would choose to - is that those instruments branches have been manufactured of remarkably thin sheet metal for decades now, and - thus - they end up getting dented much more severely than any other make… oh yeah and they’re pretty darn expensive.
The next easiest parts to get are Yamaha, but if a part is not in California, it’s going to take months to get it. Yamaha sousaphones are large and expensive. I’m just not a fan of them, but everyone likes what they like, and a huge percentage of band directors seem to robotically choose Yamaha for everything.
If Jupiter were priced around the same as Jinbao (Laabs,etc), I would probably consider them to be a good value. They have a complete parts list, but it’s rare that I can order a part and that it’s in stock. What often happens is that I order eight parts for a Jupiter instrument, two of them come, and - over the next several months (since I went ahead and fabricated the missing parts and forgot to cancel the orders for the ones that were not in the United States) - the other Jupiter parts are sent to me in tiny little boxes one at a time. That having been said, I’ve ranted at them about these issues, and they’ve returned my rants with very polite responses, and they are - seemingly - very nice people. Nice DOES matter.
The most commonly needed parts for JP are offered by Allied supply in Wisconsin, and that parts list is slowly increasing. These sousaphones are so very similar to King, their broken braces and probably even slide crooks are going to be a match. I believe that Conn 20K necks may be very similar to JP, and that Yamaha tuning bits may be very similar to JP - if that helps anyone.
The strengths of JP are these:
- The branches are not super-thick like those of the 1950s and 60s King sousaphones, but are thicker than currently-made Conn-Selmer branches - and weighing these instruments on a scale tells the story. JP valve sections are just about the equivalent quality to European - with very well-made and very well fitted stainless steel pistons, nickel silver inside outside tubing, and even nickel silver male and female bell connectors (which are more bend-resistant than brass). The included JP cases are complete knock offs of the MTS case which Conn-Selmer orders - enhanced with butterfly latches.
Valve guides are not metal reinforced, but that’s something that is slated to be addressed, and all of the larger JP brass include an extra set of guides, as well as these being in stock at Allied.

One thing that I have griped to the owners of JP about is the fact that the outer branch protective ribs are made of “pot metal“. This prevents them from getting little dents in them, but also defines that they - once removed, when some student at some school really does something stupid that requires an epic repair - cannot be reinstalled. However, they do come off, and can certainly be replaced with brass ones made in the United States, as with many other American parts which fit JP sousaphones.
The lacquer finish has shown to hold up as well as any other make, and the silver plating contains antimony, which hardens it considerably. One can read about plating with silver-antimony alloys (increasing hardness) via a search engine.
As far as JP pricing is concerned, it totally depends on which dealer is contacted. Some dealers mark these up thousands above cost, whereas others mark them up hundreds above cost.
I think they play fine. The most derogatory remarks that I’ve heard have come from music stores’ reps (who sell other brands).
I am a JP dealer, so you can take what I said above with a grain of salt, but I’ve tried to be as a matter of fact as I could, describing the parts situation - as well as their quality.

[Billy M.]

Having known Bloke for years (and having done business with him), his disclaimer about taking his info with a grain of salt can be taken with a grain of salt. He's a straight shooter and I consider his word to be valuable.

[LeMark]

I played one in DC a couple of years ago, and I thought it was great. Very much like the King Sousa, which is by far my favorite