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This is my buddy, a bass bone player at school and his new contrabass bone. Its a miraphone. The other trombone is a tenor Bach 42 for a comparison. I'll try to get a better pic to see a better comparison, this one doesn't do it justice. It is HUGE!

Check this site out...

http://www.trombone-society.org.uk/contra.htm

it's obviously lower, and it uses a contrabass trombone mouthpiece.

tubafreaks7 wrote:Or, even better: trombone is to baritone as contrabass trombone is to tuba?

Correct -- tenor and contrabass trombones are both straight-bore (i.e., "trumpet family") instruments.

phoenix wrote:... it uses a contrabass trombone mouthpiece.

... which has an "American standard" tuba shank, so yes, you can also use a regular tuba mouthpiece in it (what I'd like to try is the CB bone 'piece in a tuba ).

tubafreaks7 wrote:Lower than a tuba?

Same fundamental pitch as a BBb tuba ...

my point was, tubafreak, that one does not use a tuba mouthpiece on a contrabass trombone. there are contrabass trombone mouthpieces specifically designed for contrabass trombones. i had no idea it had the same fundamental as a tuba. so just take a chill pill dude.

Actually Contrabass trombones come in either BBb or F above that, although BBb is more common. And considering how low a bass trombone can play with a good sound, a contra should be pretty insane.

hey,
I played one during grad school that belonged to Doc Marcellus, it was an Alexander pitched in F with 2 triggers. The 1st was just like a regular trombone (sounded a C) and the 2nd was a flat whole step (so both down gave you a Bb). So it functioned like the 4th and 5th valves of an F tuba, which made my life very easy. Doc also had it modified to take a tuba mouthpiece, I used a Dallenbach mouthpiece (which is kinda like a 7b). There is usually a paddle on the slide so that you could reach all of the positions, but it was long gone when I got to it. I'm a pretty tall guy with long arms and I could only reach 5th position (and even that was a stretch, not pun intended). It was really fun to play, but it would edge out pretty quickly. I played it in the choir, in the Wind Ensemble (Varese, integrales) and in a few smaller reading sessions for composition classes (those wacky composers LOVED the contrabass) and I play on about half of the Eastman trombone choir newest CD:
http://www.rochester.edu/Eastman/trombone/
there is a link on the page to email Doc for a copy (I'm not sure how else to get it, but I'm sure there is another way).
I'd love to buy one of my own, but it's awful hard to justify it to myself because there is really no way that I would ever pay it off (cost vs. $ from gigs) but if a good deal came my way, I might just plurge. So far the best I've played has been the Thein, but wow $$$$$.
Cool,
Bill

Here are some new pics of the contrabass trombone with the rest of the trombone family. From left to right:
Miraphone Contrabass, Bach 50 bass, Bach 42 tenor, King 3B tenor, Yamaha Alto.

<img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a310/ ... C00655.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">

Here is the owner of the contrabass and all the other horns (except the Alto) bass trombonist Joey Wilburn, holding the contra and the Yamaha Alto.

<img src="http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a310/ ... C00657.jpg" alt="Image hosted by Photobucket.com">