Anyone ever played a ContraBass before? Do you own one or know someone who does? What was it like? What was the good, the bad? Could you use it in "real life"?
They also mention a sax called the "Tubax" which is a smaller bore contrabass (therefore you get quicker response and a tighter sound. Not ideal for all situations, but for jazz and such, it looks very useful... guess what, the same company that makes this also makes a B-FLAT model... that an octive lower than a BASS sax!!! (oh yes, and the e-flat one is used with a run-of-the-mill bari sax mouthpiece)
From saxtek:
Even the Bb subcontrabass Tubax uses a baritone mouthpiece. It works because of the smaller bore. The Tubax is surprisingly easy to play. You can really rip, even on the lowest notes. For the first time we have a contrabass instrument with a big modern sound, much more projection than a contrabassoon, and a more musical sound than the Sarrusophone, and virtually any saxophone player can play it immediately.
Contrabass is awesome.
I was standing next to the Contrabass (not Tubax but Eppelsheim) on stage and looked really silly with the bass.
You must get enormous response problems, btw, he doubled my Bass voice and came always to late
Instrument was new to him though...
Anyone ever played a ContraBass before? Do you own one or know someone who does? What was it like? What was the good, the bad? Could you use it in "real life"?
I have (and play) an Eb contrabass sarrusophone. Not exactly a sax, but the same range (and pretty much the same fingerings) as a contrabass sax. I've used it (a) to play contrabassoon parts in wind ensemble pieces (has more presence than a standard contrabassoon), (b) to play bari parts down an octave in jazz big band; and (c) to play the bottom end of the San Jose Saxophone Xmas (often joined by one or more contrabass saxes and/or tubaxes). It is a lot of fun, and much less expensive than any contra sax you'll ever find (I paid US$3K for mine).
I've also honked on Eb and Bb tubaxes, and Benedikt Eppelsheim's low A contrabass sax: these are all works of genius, and surprisingly easy to play. The tubax in particular has a timbre well suited to cutting through a jazz big band (you can destroy the bass bone player), while the contrabass sax would make a great solo instrument. Much easier to play than the Orsi contra I tried.
Anything from Eppelsheim is bound to be amazing. But i still do not see the practicality of a contrabass. Why spend $20,000+ on something that huge? I've never had any reason to use one. I'll just stick to playing other people"s instead.
I just picked up Anthony Braxton's GTM 2000 record and there's some great Contrabass action on it.
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