What's the difference.....

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TheHatTuba
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What's the difference.....

Post by TheHatTuba »

..... between a large bore tenor bone and a single rotor bass bone?
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by bobn »

Large bore tenor= .547 bore and usually 8.5 inch bell
Bass trombone= .562 bore and at least 9 inch bell (most often 9.5 inch or larger)
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by Bob Kolada »

When it was made. :D Aside from that, big tenors usually have a .547 slide, .562ish valve, and an 8.5ish'' bell. Basses usually are .562, .594, and 9.5''. There's a lot of variation though and a big tenor with a bass mouthpiece can do a decent bass impersonation.
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Lingon
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by Lingon »

TheHatTuba wrote:..... between a large bore tenor bone and a single rotor bass bone?
The valve, and the so called bass is larger. The single rotor bass trbn is actually a large tenor. A real bass trombone is usually in F.
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by TheHatTuba »

Lingon wrote:
TheHatTuba wrote:..... between a large bore tenor bone and a single rotor bass bone?
The valve, and the so called bass is larger. The single rotor bass trbn is actually a large tenor. A real bass trombone is usually in F.
I believe in f it is contrabass.... Bob or someone who knows what theyre talking about wanna clarify?
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by bobn »

I believe that John's definition is accurate historically. However, the modern definition of a bass trombone is pitched in Bb, like a tenor trombone, but with a larger bore, a larger bell, a larger mouthpiece, and at least one valve.

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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by b.williams »

bobn wrote:Large bore tenor= .547 bore and usually 8.5 inch bell
Bass trombone= .562 bore and at least 9 inch bell (most often 9.5 inch or larger)
On paper there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the two. But there is (usually) a huge difference in sound.
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by TheHatTuba »

b.williams wrote:
bobn wrote:Large bore tenor= .547 bore and usually 8.5 inch bell
Bass trombone= .562 bore and at least 9 inch bell (most often 9.5 inch or larger)
On paper there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the two. But there is (usually) a huge difference in sound.
PERCENTAGE wise, it'd be like a .687" bore vs a .669" bore (for the tuba people, like myself :D )
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Re: What's the difference.....

Post by Lingon »

b.williams wrote:
bobn wrote:Large bore tenor= .547 bore and usually 8.5 inch bell
Bass trombone= .562 bore and at least 9 inch bell (most often 9.5 inch or larger)
On paper there doesn't seem to be much of a difference between the two. But there is (usually) a huge difference in sound.
Practically there is difference but I think the player is able to make it much larger or smaller.

I would say that very much depends on the person behind the horn. If you put in a bass trbn moutpiece in a large bore tenor and a tenor trbn MPC in a bass trombone there is not a huge difference between the instruments. Actually the tenor could be made to sound more bassy than the bass and vice versa. Then there is the favourite things amongst trombone players now, lead pipes and the question about single or dual bore hand slides. Dual bore making them slightly more more conical with the second tube on the hand slide larger that the first.

The trend for some time has been that bigger is better resulting in a race to get the largest possible cannon resulting in some bass trombones sound like a slide tuba and some tenors like a slide euphonium. Now I think that the trend had somewhat begun to switch back to let a trombone sound like a trombone and a tuba like a tuba.

An old King symphonic bass trombone, Bb/F, from the first part of the 20th century had a bore of 0.508 in. A slightly more modern version had a dual bore slide 0.536/0.547. Nowadays normally the bore is 0.562 or even larger, with German type instruments a bit more conical with 0.547/0.562 and more conical bell pieces. An older english G-bass is 0.483 with a newer one at 0.522.

Smaller bells usually projects more like a laser beam and larger bells workes like wollyfiers and spreading the sound more to the trombone/tuba section than the small part of the audience that is in the direction of the bass trombonist. The same of course for the smaller trombones.

So there really is some variation.
John Lingesjo
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