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EPPELSHEIM Contrabass / tubax owners

23K views 24 replies 17 participants last post by  Paul Cohen 
#1 ·
I shall like understanding how the users of these fine horns make to finance this purchase ? Despite the fact there's a lot of involvement for producing such a horn, this nearly the price of a car... I want to know how could you justify a contrabass sax of 20000 dollars to your wife (and to your bank) ??

Thanks for your comments.


Max.
 
#2 ·
it is going to be a very select group answering your question..... so I hope you don't mind if I chip in anyway.

I am not the owner of Eppelsheim Tubax, but I will be one if I ever have the money to spare.

Fortunately, I don't plan to borrow money to buy a Tubax (so don't need to talk to the bank manager for that) and my wife isn't worried of what I do with my saxophone's money because she knows that I would only spend it if we had enough.

Some folks I know have 30 or more saxophones, that doesn't sound any more rational or expensive than having less horns , including a Tubax.
 
#3 ·
I don't really have to justify buying a Tubax. My wife loves my horns. If I want a particular saxophone, and I have the money, I buy it. If I don't have the money, I don't.

If I spend $20,000 on a car, in ten years it's worth $500. If I spend $20,000 on one of Benedikt Eppelsheim's horns, in ten years it's worth $25,000.

I have never lost money on a saxophone.
 
#4 ·
If I spend $20,000 on a car, in ten years it's worth $500. If I spend $20,000 on one of Benedikt Eppelsheim's horns, in ten years it's worth $25,000.
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That's so true, all my large saxes have gone up in value quite a bit. I always buy used cars and save quite a bit of money. I bought a four year old Cadillac for about ten grand in 2003, it still runs great! And I used the extra money I would have had to spend on a newer one and bought a couple nice saxophones that I'll have for the rest of my life, hopefully! :hello2:
 
#5 ·
Let me ask a slightly different question. I have been a long time bari player in and around santa fe and have been thinking about bass and lower for a long time. I know that not much is published for lower than bari, but I was wondering if there is more occasion to use one once word gets out that you have one?

Second question is the difference in sound between Tubax and CB. tubax uses bari mouthpiece so does it sound thinner (or less open, or less booming, or much different) than the CB or it this less of an issue in the lower register? Anyone have experience?

I see that sax.co.uk has the tubax for $20-25k depending on exchange rate. anyone know what the Eppelsheim CB is going for or who might be distributing them?

thx
 
#10 ·
Let me ask a slightly different question. I have been a long time bari player in and around santa fe and have been thinking about bass and lower for a long time. I know that not much is published for lower than bari, but I was wondering if there is more occasion to use one once word gets out that you have one?

thx
I use tenor parts and transpose bari or tuba parts to Bb. I only use "real" bass sax mouthpieces. Santa Fe is such a beautiful area, I used to drive through there every other week.
 
#6 ·
I've been over to Jay Easton's (www.jayeaston.com) house and listened closely to both the contrabass and his Bb tubax. I even was allowed to play them. Yes, there is a little difference, but not very noticable at those extreme low notes. The tubax could be, I guess, classified a little "less booming" than the tubax (I don't like applying the handle of "thinner" to the tubax - it certainly doesn't sound "thinner" to me). The contrabass does sound a little darker, I guess. Randy (Saxtek) might have a different opinion, as he has both horns also, I believe.

And the other thing is, the odds of hearing a contrabass and a tubax during the same performance are probably near zero, at this stage of their development. So I don't think that is a big concern.

As far as occasions to use a contrabass or tubax, I would imagine you'd have to write out the parts if you were playing in a band. I play in a big band, and have transcribed some bari parts for bass sax, which is OK for some songs; not for others - it depends on the part written out for bari. I would think using a contrabass or tubax in a big band setting wouldn't work out very well, other than for an occasional solo or a novelty piece. Maybe in place of a string bass or tuba in a polka band, or something like that. I would think most opportunities for a contrabass or tubax would be in sax "-tets" or sax choirs, etc.

Just my opinions, though. I hope Randy weighs in on this.
 
#7 ·
I can speak only about the bass sax from experience, not the tubax or contra.
I purchased mine (the one in my avatar) from Randy. I use it mostly as the bass instrument in Dixieland bands. I bought it for that purpose, having lost the ability to play tuba because of a condition known as focal dystonia. Thankfully, focal dystonia does not affect the sax embouchure at all.
The bass sax works great in Dixie bands. Great examples can be found on YouTube in the Dixieland Crackerjacks, a Dutch band featuring Bert Brandsma on bass sax. Also, Lino Patruno, the great Italian jazzman, uses bass sax quite a bit in his bands. Lino plays banjo and guitar. Search his Dream a Little Dream, which uses bass sax.
There is work available for this use. You have to learn basslines and chords to use it effectively.
I usually play the bass sax with a bari mouthpiece. This is a common usage and does not thin out the sound.
 
#9 ·
Finding work on contrabass sax can be difficult. You have to create your own. I'm a commercial saxophone player, which means I play as many styles of music as possible, and almost all of it is on soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxes.

Bass and contrabass are my "hobby" but I have played over a dozen jobs on bass sax with local symphony (pops) orchestras. I get a few jobs on bass with dixieland bands. I've also played a handful of bass sax jobs with bands trying to recreate 1920s music, not necessarily jazz.

A few local bandleaders have asked me to play contrabass on one or two tunes for something different. I'm lucky that I work with Mike Lewis, who is one of the country's best arrangers, and he has written for the contrabass.

As for the sound of the Eppelsheim horns, the new ccontrabass is the best ever made, with great intonation, full range (low A to high F# plus altissimo) and extremely fast action that rivals a baritone sax. the tone is beautiful in all registers.

The Tubax has a more "centered" tone, (brighter). That's not necessarily a bad thing. The vintage contrabasses had such a sspread tone that it was hard to determine what note was being played. The Tubax in the case also fits into the back seat of most 4 door cars.
 
#11 ·
I can see somebody spending that chunk'o dough in a contra or a tubax. I'd like to understand how come some people are willing to snap off a grand for a refaced old MPC and then they have troubles coughin up 400 miserable bucks for a top notch pristine nice american horn. [/rant]
 
#14 ·
I have a contra bass ordered and expect to have it within couple of months.

I tried one out before ordering it and decided it was such a good horn it's worth the money. I will be suing it i my work, composing music for TV and film. But even if it didn't pay for itself in my work, it would be worth more to me as a horn to play and enjoy than many of the overpriced collectable vintage saxophones and mouthpieces selling for ridiculous prices.
 
#17 ·
I've had one of Benedikt's Contra's since Nov 2007, for a long time I just played it at home for the pleasure of the sound. Recently I have been playing it with the National Saxophone Choir (of GB) and it really comes into it's own in that setting. I love my Bass, but it rarely gets off it's stand nowadays!

Mine was the only one on the UK, sounds like it will soon have a friend :)

It's also worth every penny I paid for it, though I'm glad that was before the £ fell through the floor against the Euro!
 
#15 ·
Thanks for all the response. Besides big band, I play small groups, orchestra, and wind ensemble too. Have had to play bassoon, contrabass clarinet, contrabassoon parts on the bari many times over the years in both band and symphony. I figure there could be more of those parts to play with one of these beasts. Since they are both in Eb, reading the bass clef straight off is easy (bassoon, tuba, string bass) and the CBclarinet parts go directly.

Thanks for the discussion of the sound. It is pretty hard to tell how things really sound from youtube videos. Maybe I should figure out how to stop off at the shop on my way back from foreign travel I have scheduled in a couple months.

I had also thought about how one would transport a CB. Clearly the tubax would be easier and likely fit in my truck. I could only imagine having to shell out 25k for a horn then an additional sum for a vehicle to transport it!
 
#18 ·
In the summer of 2008 I was lucky enough to visit Herr Eppelsheim's shop in Munich and tried both the Contrabass sax and his Eb Tubax. Both were marvelously designed instruments that played very much in tune and had quick actions. I fell in love with the Tubax because of its sound and the fact that I could start the lowest notes very softly if necessary. The Contra took a lot of air for me, but had greater volume. Given these impressions were gained using the reeds provided by Benedikt, I wished I could afford to bring a Tubax home. The killer is the VAT tax on top of the price. Herr Eppelsheim was a gracious host who explained the manufacturing process to us (My cousin Götz took me there).
 
#19 ·
I think about buying any instrument in terms of playing time. How much time will get on the horn. True, some like the F mezzo sax rarely get played but wasn't that expensive. So when I purchased my big horns over a period of five years (Eppelsheim bass, Leblanc contra alto and contrabass clarinets, and a Selmer Privilege low C clarinets) I put them in the category of cheaper than a lake home or a boat category. I knew what I really wanted to be doing, so a I purchased the instruments that allowed me to do that. I'll never be a pro like Randy or Pete (in this thread), but I do find great joy in being able to play exotic instruments.

However, I quickly discovered that having a huge bass sax was a real transportation nightmare. I suppose a drummer or pianists with traveling kit would laugh at me. But at 55, schlepping multiple instruments including a humongous bass sax, music stands, and all the accoutrement's kinda turned me away from purchasing the contrabass sax. Even my last car purchase was based on needing something big enough for this kind of load. And for an instrument I gig with no more than twice a year, it's something to consider.
 
#23 ·
Well, I open my convertible, put the Tubax in its SOFT case in the rear and close the roof. It's too big for my boot. There is a hard case offered for it, but that alone is some 28 lbs, I understand. The soft case is humongous still, but safe enough for transporting my sweet little tubaxl.
 
#25 ·
This past week I used my Eb Tubax with four different saxophone ensembles, and my Contrabass with a 5th saxophone ensemble in another region, all in concerts and presentations at the end of the semester here in New York/New Jersey. It does get complicated with the logistics, but the minivan handles all with some room to spare (reeds and music).
Paul Cohen
 
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