[Trombone-l] Bass Trumpets

[Matthew Stoecker]

I have never much cared for the Bach or Getzen basses, because to me they sound like a valve trombone, not a trumpet and octave lower. The horn that I think sounds the most 'trumpety' is the Holton bass trupet. I love the way these sound, but the two that I've had have had pretty terrible intonation defects on the D partial-as much as a quarter tone out of tune.
 
The Elkhart Conn 4B is my favorite-nice trumpety sound with decent intonation characteristics, and they blow a lot more open than the Holton.
 
I've got a pre-war H.N. White King bass trumpet which is the only one I've seen. It is a magnificent horn, right up there with the Conn.
 
Matt StoeckerQuinnTheEskimo Vintage Hornswww.quinntheeskimo.net



> Date: Mon, 9 Jun 2008 18:55:36 -0400> From: walttrombone at optonline.net> To: jscot at ucalgary.ca; trombone-l at samford.edu> Subject: Re: [Trombone-l] Bass Trumpets> > Hey, Jim!> > The older Bachs were indeed available in C or Bb, and you could also > get them in C with a set of Bb slides. I got to play on one of those > that Manhattan School rented for me to play when they did the Rite of > Spring. (Did you play trombone on that, with George Manahan, Jim?) > That was an amazing horn!> > I have an early Elkhart Bach that plays pretty well.> > I hear that the Selman is a copy of the Lidl, and plays about as well. > Be prepared to have a repair guy go over the horn to tweak the > mechanics that the factory didn't quite get right, but even with the > extra repair $$, it'll still be cheaper than any other rotary. The > Alex is pretty much the standard for rotary C bass, but quality as > well as availability can be spotty. C or Bb? I don't think it matters > much, as long as you put in the time and effort to be able to play it > in tune. If you're going to get serious about orchestral playing, > you'd probably want a Bach piston AND a rotary of some type. Fairly > serious $$ for the 11 pieces in the orchestral literature that call > for it.> > On Jun 9, 2008, at 6:29 PM, jscot at ucalgary.ca wrote:> > >> Gabe & listers -> >> > I would second the recommendation of the Mike Mulcahy CD - his > > playing is> > fantastic on both the Bass Trumpet and on the Euphonium. The CD is on> > Summit records however, and he plays on an Alexander bass trumpet in C> > with a Bach 15C mouthpiece.> >> > The old Mt. Vernon Bachs can be great - the Met has a pair of either > > Mt.> > Vernon or NY Bachs that if I remember correctly, can be tuned in C > > or B> > flat. I've tried newer Bachs, and some are quite good, while some are> > awful. I played one at Manny's in NYC several years ago, where the > > low B> > flat was more like a B natural, the middle one was OK, and the high > > one> > was really an A. Good luck trying to find fingerings that work on that> > horn!> >> > I still kick myself for not buying an old Conn in another NYC shop > > some> > years ago. It had a nice sound - slightly bright like you want from > > a horn> > that has to fit into a trpt. section. The scale was good, and the > > blow was> > fairly free - comfortable for a trombonist. They were asking $600, > > and at> > the time cash was tight and I couldn't see an immediate use for it.> >> > The Getzens are OK, not anything to write home about, but user > > friendly> > for the most part.> >> > I know that some people who play the instrument a lot like to use> > something like a Bach B flat for the Janacek - Sinfonnietta and for > > the> > Stravinsky - Rite of Spring, where the part is scored low, and a > > German C> > bass trpt. for the Wagner - Ring Cycle.> >> > My $.02 (CDN) = $.022 (US) these days.> >> > Jim Scott> > > > Walter Barrett> > "...French horns have about the same length of tubing as the human > intestinal tract, and both frequently offer similar products."> - Chris Waage> > Alto, tenor, bass trombones> Bass trumpet, euphonium, tuba> Yamaha Artist/Clinician> http://www.walterbarrett.com> > > _______________________________________________> Trombone-l mailing list> Trombone-l at samford.edu> http://maillists.samford.edu/mailman/listinfo/trombone-l