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I'm talking about really down in the cellar stuff where you stay below the staff and never come up. Mostly I find these parts in trombone choir jazz/rock/pop stuff.

If I'm playing bass bone, my equipment is always the same. Kanstul 1585T with a Marcinkawitz Rickenbach model (wow, why is everything I play SO HARD to spell?). Sarah (my trombone) just works great with that, and will do anything I ask, so it doesn't really feel like I should have to change anything. I mean, I'd love a contrabass trombone, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. And if it's a trombone group, I'd want to match the timbre as best as possible, which means playing a trombone.

For me, The Instrument is dictated by the group.
The Bethlehem Moravian Trombone Choir is a consort,
with Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Bass, and Contrabass trombones,
Valved instruments are not allowed. [F triggers don't count]

Band is Tuba, always, so far.

I use the same approach as Tuba Guy, although I haven't really played the bass bone in a couple of years. When I was playing bass bone regularly, as my secondary instrument, I always used a Getzen Dave Taylor model bass bone with a Schilke 59. It just helped me to switch from one to the other, since I only had to adjust to the same mouthpiece every time. Also, I'm not a fan of the whole "'I'll use what basically amounts to a tuba mouthpiece on the bass trombone" approach, so that influenced my choice as well.

why isn't cimbasso on this list?

Ideally I would pick a contrabass cimbasso, as I don’t think playing fast low register parts would be the most fun on a slide contra.


What works pretty well is a contra mp in a good bass trombone. I played a 2A in my 1062 for a while and while I sold it before I could use it in a band, orchestra, or quintet setting it worked really really well. I sold it to get a 2C as the 2A was just a bit too deep. But the core sound was awesome, intonation was the same, and the low register was absolutely insane.

I wrote on the trombone site that I thought it wasn’t a bad idea at all for a bass trombonist to have one in the case for contra/cimbasso/tuba parts and they were less than kind in their reaction.



Al, have you tried a very small mouthpiece in your 184? My old Eb with the 2A was a lot of fun!

ztuba wrote:why isn't cimbasso on this list?

I didn't even think about a cimbasso. In the contex I usually encounter these tuba range parts(jazz,rock, pop) a cimbasso would be the last thing to enter my mind. Maybe there are parts out there somewhere in the classical orchestra/band/wind ensemble rep that would require consideration of different equipment, but I haven't encountered them. I have never used a setup bigger than my Besson bass trombone with a 60 in these emsembles. However, I have encountered numerous jazz/rock/pop charts for the bottom line of a trombone choir that I cannot play well enough on my 60 to suit me. I have a TT and a Bach 30E with a cut down shank for those parts, mostly for facility, not tone. The 60 is darker than either of the larger mp's, but I can be much more agile in the pedal register on the larger mp. Some people call it cheating. I call it doing what is necessary to cover the part. If I had a contra I would probably use it.

King 5B Bach 1G (Actually my son's setup----I'd play it on a small Eb with a Wick 4)

I may have a lead on a very nice, super cheap Courtois independent rotar bass trombone. If I do snag it, almost assuredly I will be doing the G-quasi-contra thing to it (longer gooseneck, more tubing between the bell and main tuning slide, and probably my .562/78 Getzen slide though I have no idea if it'll fit onto the Courtois receiver) although I'll probably stay with the stock bell for now. I'd then sell my 1062 and get a small bass or a tweener (5B/F or the like) as I rarely have any need for a full-on bass though I do need a bigger horn with one trigger.

On my Shires bass trombone, I use a Doug Elliott TU132 rim with a Terry Warburton 1GD custom cup-shank.

If they are trombone parts I use my bass bone as much as possible, Jupiter 740 with a Schilke 59 with a bored out back bore that I bough off of here a year or two ago. Works well for me, but I've also used my 983 a couple of times.

I use a Thein independent rotor bass trombone in gold brass, with what they call the "M.C. light" mouthpiece. Originally developed for the bass trombonist in the Hamburg Symphony (whose initials are M.C.), this is a very thin-walled mouthpiece that will work well both on bass- and contrabass trombones. It happens to work well on F tubas with small receivers, also. If there were a Schilke 62 or 63, that would be a comparable size to this. When playing bass trombone with this mouthpiece, I start being at a disadvantage when the part goes above the F above the staff, but can 'own' the part if it is below the staff.