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Re: Characteristics of pro bass clarinets

Author: Chris P
Date: 2023-02-12 00:33

I never really wanted a Buffet bass as I like Selmer clarinets, although I've never been happy with the keywork on Selmer basses even though I like the weightier tone of them. I only decided to go for the Buffet over a Selmer as back in 1999 I borrowed a Prestige bass and the keywork on that new model sold it for me as it was much simpler and better balanced than the Selmer bass of the same time.

I had the chance to directly compare my Buffet bass right next to a Selmer and found I'm much more settled with the Buffet. Maybe I've just got more accustomed to it, plus I use Pomarico 3 crystal and a Vandoren A1 crystal mouthpieces which really make a nice full sound compared to the much smaller sounding Vandoren B46 and Selmer C** mouthpieces I have.

Selmer have made various changes to their basses over time (not always for the best) and it's a case of having to know what you're going to get before you get it. I don't know the various model numbers of their basses and tend to lump them in with the serial number prefix or model names of their soprano counterparts (eg. CT era, Q series, Series 9 era, C series, etc.) when they do have specific model numbers like 23, 25.

Their older low C basses from the '50s through to the early '80s don't have the low D, Db and C thumb keys linked up to the rest of the mechanism so you have to hold the low Eb key down in order to get those notes which isn't always practical and they don't have a LH low D touch.

Then in the '80s they linked the thumb keys up, but they changed the layout of the RH pinky keys, placing the low Eb key next to the RH F/C touch and where you'd normally expect the low Eb key to be (next to the RH E/B touch), that was now the low Db key. This layout was the same on their basset horns and basset clarinets and was based on Buffet basset horns from the late 1800s/early 1900s. By this time, they have a LH low D touch. I had a Selmer bass from this era (a D series) back in the late '80s and was never happy with it and sold it on in the early '90s.

In the '90s they released a new model which has a flat black plastic plate set into the back of the body for the right thumbrest, front low D key (RH pinky) and the adjustable fingerplates. The front/RH low D key touch on these basses is very short, so it will feel ridiculously heavy even with the spring tension backed right off as this key is split into three different sections.

The Privilege low C bass has much better keywork than the previous Selmer basses with better leverages on the RH pinky keys (especially the RH low D touch) and is almost on par with Buffet basses, plus it has the fully linked up articulated C#/G# mechanism. This is their current model, so you've got to compare it directly with the Uebel as well as the Buffet if all three are available at the same shop. Try to do a blind test if you can so you're not influenced by the name.

If I was to buy a brand new low C bass now, I'd gravitate towards the Buffet Prestige or maybe the Tosca - probably one of the convertible models with the option to leave it as a low D model for big band doubling as it makes for a shorter instrument (and add the low C barrel for pit band work), or an Uebel Emperior.

Former oboe finisher
Howarth of London
1998 - 2010
The opinions I express are my own.

Post Edited (2023-02-12 23:47)

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