Posted by doubler on February 24, 2000 at 18:19:13:
In Reply to: dumb bass t-bone question posted by Tom Caudron on February 24, 2000 at 17:50:13:
Ask something easy, why don't you, like which is the best tuba! This is one of those subjective things, but as one who has played a lot of Bass Bone the last few years, let me take a crack at it.
Historically, a Bass T-Bone was any trombone keyed in G or F (no triggers). During the big band era, horns that we currently refer to as symphonic tenors would have been considered bass trombones, but seldom got into the pedal notes. More recently, the bass bone is a 'larger bore' Bb including at least an F (pullable to E) trigger, and more and more commonly a second trigger, in either G#, D or E. I believe you will find that most manufacturers will begin calling a trombone a Bass trombone when BOTH slide tubes are larger than .547, the most common measurement being .562. In recent years it has been common for symphonic tenors to have the top slide be .547 and the bottom slide .562, giving it a more conical bore and easing the blend between higher brass and tuba.
Bell size for modern bass bone is customarily at least 9 inches, and in the last 3-5 years (after a brief flirtation with enormous bells of greater than 10 inches) almost all bass bone bells are 9 to 10 inches.