TromboneChat

Thoughts on getting a large euphonium mouthpiece to use on a bass bone? Recommendations?

It really depends on the mouthpiece and the player. In general, euph mpcs are on the small side. Some can work, others just won’t give a good bass trombone sound.

Some mpc makers (like Doug Elliott) make them in rims, cups and shanks/backbores so you can use the same rim on different cups, or the same size and shape on a different cup. It helps with transitions from horn to horn.

I have a Doug Elliott EUPH series 108 rim that I sometimes use with a J cup for bass bone. It's not great for really low stuff, but it sounds good for parts down to low Eb or so. I actually prefer my VB 1.25g for most bass playing, and a Schilke 60 for pedal G and down. I'm not a full time bass player.

I sometimes use 3G when I want to cheat for high notes. I know that it is not quite a euphonium mouthpiece, and some makers do list it as a “beginner” or “small” bass trombone mouthpiece, but I have seen some euphonium mouthpieces having similar inner rim diameter, like Schilke 52E2 or Yamaha 53D. For me it works, albeit with a bright and sometimes piercing tone, until around low Eb or so.

If you are doubling, or new to bass, or are sure your music would not go lower than low F (which I highly doubt) a euphonium mouthpiece might work for you. But if you are really into bass, a real bass mouthpiece (at least 2G, or larger) is likely to be better in the long run.

I've had better success going the other way. Bass trombone mouthpiece on a Euph. Especially the large bore ones like the Conn 19I. In fact, many of these horns are supplied with a 1 1/2 G mouthpiece.

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Why wouldn’t you get a bass trombone mouthpiece for a bass trombone?

Bach5G wrote: ↑Sat Nov 24, 2018 10:47 am Why wouldn’t you get a bass trombone mouthpiece for a bass trombone?

This ^^

2G or 1.5G would be good to start out...

Bach5G wrote: ↑Sat Nov 24, 2018 10:47 am Why wouldn’t you get a bass trombone mouthpiece for a bass trombone?

Well, for example if someone plays more euph than bass bone, they might want to minimize how much confusion they throw at their chops. Consolidate both instruments on a single mpc.

I got a EUPH DE mpc on the recommendation of Doug because of certain characteristics it shares with tenor and small bass sizes.

There's no harm in asking questions.

We are all different. What works for me might not work for you. Many year I made experiments to find a solotion mouthpiece rim to be used for tenor and bass, I even had George Strucel make me a tuba mouthe piece with a basstrombone rim. For me non of this worked good. If I played bass with a big tenor rim I hade to work hard on to get a good bass trombone sound, when I used the same rim on tenor I had to work on make a tenor sound with a to big rim. For me it is less work to use the right mpc and rim for each horn. But if I never tried this I wouldn´t know would I.

My experience is that none of my larger tenor trombone or euph moutpieces did any satisfactory job on any on my bass trombones.

Usually, intonation and sound concept did suffer on a range from bad to worse.

Please consider finding a mouthpiece which your bass trombone likes, and plays in-tune with, and practice the switch daily, you'll be probably fine after a couple of weeks. That did at least work very fine for me. Your mileage may vary ...

Use the right tool for the job.

Burgerbob wrote: ↑Sun Nov 25, 2018 9:10 am Use the right tool for the job.

You beat me to it. (I also remember Sam Burtis “sabutin” when I say it.)

Mr. Natural sez...

But the right tool for one person can be very much the wrong tool for another.

I'm kinda curious as to what the OP means by "large euphonium mouthpiece"...