Marching brass 1980s and early 1990s, DEG Music Products commissioned Willson Brass of Switzerland to design a Euphonium bugle, and their design used a medium shank mouthpiece that is not regularly seen in the United States. The contrabass bugle, or "contra", is the bugle equivalent of a marching tuba and its variants (the sousaphone and helicon). This bugle was designed in the 1960s. The original design for a contrabass called for an instrument in CC (the equivalent tubing length of a CC tuba), carried in front of the marcher like the higher voices. This was quickly replaced with a shoulder carried variant
Hans Felix Husadel alto slide trombone. Tenor and baritone Tuba were modified so their bells faced forward, with the mechanics of the instruments adjusted to allow better handling while on the march. The traditional rotary valves on bass trumpets were also replaced with pump valves. The openings of the higher pitched brass instruments were narrowed to achieve greater sharpness and clarity of sound. The effect was to give Husadel's Luftwaffe bands a unique timbre with strong and varied middle voices. Husadel’s bands chose silver-plated instruments, giving them a modern look compared to the standard army and navy band instrument brass finishes. Husadel's Luftwaffe