Bass Trumpet

[Mv2541]

I just purchased what Kanstul said is the first bass trumpet Zig ever made and I am wondering if anyone has some experience with mouthpieces for these things? I'm assuming I will probably have to go pretty small to make the right sort of sound on it (aka not valve trombone). Maybe something out there was/is made to synergize with the 3V piston horns?
Also if anyone knows any great chamber or solo rep feel free to message me and chat.

[bbocaner]

The piston bass trumpets seem to like something in the 12c neighborhood to sound trumpet-like. Some of the rotary instruments you can get away with a little bigger depending on exactly the design as there is a lot of variation there. There is practically zero solo literature specifically for the bass trumpet, but you can take a lot of the Bb trumpet literature an octave down very successfully. There is a small body of literature for trumpet ensemble that uses a bass trumpet on the bottom.

[CalgaryTbone]

My experience with bass trumpet is fairly limited. I found that when I played it for a Korngold opera here a couple of years ago, that a "C" cup mouthpiece worked best. I started with a 6.5al cup, since some of the part was low, but the horn seemed to come alive with the shallower cup. Our 1st trumpet player noticed the change immediately, and gave a big thumbs-up for the change. I play the same rim on everything, except for the rare times I pick up a bass trombone (in the Bach 4 range). I know some people will tell me that's too large, but it worked for me. I've loaned my instrument out to a couple of players here to play the "Rite of Spring", and they used similar equipment. I initially thought that a slightly deeper cup would help with the lower passages, but not really. The choice of rim size, I would leave to the player's preference/comfort level, but smaller is probably better if you can manage it.

Jim Scott

[Vegasbound]

Sound concept is the key, remember it's a bass trumpet, not as someone send said a curled up valve trombone, if you go deep then you lose articulation a and it becomes 'woofy'.

This is where when your working and using multiple instruments Doug's system I found gives me what I needed

[Mv2541]

All good insight... many thanks already.
I suppose I'll try it with the 7C I'm using now and maybe see if I can go smaller. I have a Jiggs 1A and maybe I'll look into something in the 12-15 range.

[paulyg]

If you can find any of the smaller Bach "A" cup pieces, those may work well. I use a 15A on my alto and it plays much bigger than you'd think, while still retaining the right sound.

[TuckerWoerner]

I use a Bach 14D.

[s11141827]

There's a Flugabone

[JohnL]

There's a Flugabone

Different beast entirely.

Kanstul 1088 Bass Trumpet
7" (17.8 cm) Bell
.485" (12.3 mm) bore

Kanstul 955 Flugelbone
8.5" (21.6 cm) bell
.500" (12.7 mm) bore

[mbarbier]

I find 12-15c range is nice for piston bass trumpet and getting more of a trumpet sound. I played a Kanstul one for a few weeks a long time ago and it seemed to work well on a 12c.

On Meinl-weston rotary I recently got I've been finding smaller than that was better (Warburton with a close to normal Tim, but quite shallow cup), on Lidl I had before it that wasn't the case. Kinda seems like each type takes some experimentation to find the right sound.

In terms of solo repertoire- there's not a ton. I've written and commissioned a few but they're reallllllly far down the rabbit hole. There is quite a nice solo by Giacinto Scelsi that's an awesome challenge (he's also got a lovely trumpet solo). Agreed with others on existing trumpet repertoire. I just heard a Leopold Mozart trumpet concerto on the radio the other day that I've been messing with on it. It seems to be a nice one. the Telemann Heroic Music is really enjoyable too.

[Doug Elliott]

Shallow cups definitely work better. With my stuff you can keep your normal rim size by using my ST or MT series, which have smaller cup volumes. I can make larger rim sizes for those series. I just made a 106 rim for the MT series, and I try to keep 101, 102, 103, and 104 in stock.