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RE: Contra

Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2000-04-06 22:29

Willie wrote:
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This ones not the Bundy look-a-like, but wood (reddish) with the long bell. By less depth in tone than the LeBlanc, do you mean volume or does it sound like a gassious hippo?

Willie -

The Selmer Eb contra has a perfectly fine tone, a little thicker than the bass clarinet but quite responsive. The action is light enough that you can play practically anything on it. However, you have to work pretty hard to make it into the equivalent of a tuba, supporting a clarinet choir. To do that, you need what my ears tell me is a "broader" tone, which is easier to get on a Leblanc, particularly the BBb.

The Leblanc Eb (which I have played only a couple of times) has a larger bore and a louder tone, but less flexibility. A poorly played Selmer can sound thin. A poorly played Leblanc can sound wooly. The Leblanc requires more air, and the key action is heavier, making fast passages more difficult. If you get the coiled "paperclip" model with an extension to written low C, the bottom notes tend to become vague in pitch, with more sound of the reed slapping against the mouthpiece than tone.

The Leblanc BBb (the one I own) has a sound that is like the Leblanc Eb, only more so. I would buy a new one only in the straight format (going down to written Eb), since they come only with the "new" small mouthpiece. If you can find an old one with the large mouthpiece, then it makes sense to get it with the extension to low C. However, you have to stand to play the straight BBb model.

The way to tell a large BBb mouthpiece from a small one is that a baritone sax reed fits on the small one and a Vandoren contrabass reed or a bass sax reed fits the large one.

Best regards.

Ken Shaw

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