Gig bags are pretty much a practical necessity for normal to large size tubas -- unless you have a very expensive lightweight, not overly bulky, and wheeled case; or unless you're willing to also cart around some sort of hand truck. But even then, they're really good only when you have total control of the instrument and are just putting it into and getting it out of your car.
Eons ago when I had my Yamaha 321-S Eb tuba, I used the factory case for it since it wasn't overly bulky and could be carried without too much effort. With the Wessex (19" bell), this isn't feasible -- and a good hard case for it would likely cost more than the instrument. My Mack Brass euphonium came with one of those (now classically Chinese?) "semi-hard" cases which is wonderfully protective, but just a bit bulky to tolerate in situations where risk is low. So I use a Protec -- and am VERY careful. For my Wessex tuba, I use a Gard -- and am very careful. The case the Wessex originally came with is one of the semi-hard ones, but seems to occupy about twice the volume as the tuba itself.
For the bass trombone, I just don't have a problem. The stock Schiller (Jin Bao?) case -- again, one of those semi-hard cases -- is well proportioned, well-fitted, and extremely protective -- as well as being light and having a good back strap arrangement. But of course, I have only about $700 into that horn -- even though it's now my primary (almost sole) instrument.
I wonder if somewhere there isn't a median ground between the bulky "older" Chinese cases (like my ones from Mack and Wessex), and a "gig" bag. In the trombone (at least bass trombone) community, these cases like the Schiller (and there are others available as well) have a significant following because they're relatively inexpensive (from somewhere around $80 to somewhere under $150), very protective, light, easy to use, and surprisingly robust. I don't know what Wessex is providing nowadays, but it seems to me that just taking something like the Mack case and reducing the thickness of the foam (maybe by 30% or so) would yield a very viable product. Not fancy, attractive, and chic like leather; but just really effective.
I guess what I'm thinking of is a kind of cost-reduced Marcus Bonna euphonium case (say, also without the fiberglass shell). I don't see the need for anything near a $1,000 cost (list price) to achieve a similar level of protection. But this does raise the question of what sort of gig bag Steven Mead was using. If it was a Marcus Bonna, that raises questions about that case. Looking at pictures of it (e.g., on the Horn Guys site), it does appear to me that it actually offers LESS protection than my Mack Brass case!
Last edited by ghmerrill; 05-17-2018 at 08:32 AM.
Gary Merrill
Wessex EEb Bass tuba (DW 3XL or 2XL)
Mack Brass Compensating Euph (DE N106, Euph J, J9 euph)
Amati Oval Euph (DE 104, Euph J, J6 euph)
1924 Buescher 3-valve Eb tuba (with std US receiver), Kelly 25
Schiller American Heritage 7B clone bass trombone (DE LB K/K10/112/14 Lexan, Brass Ark MV50R)
1947 Olds "Standard" trombone (Olds #3)