If you could buy new, my recommendations would run Buffet (pro) instead of the current Selmer.
In the pro end, I would purchase a used Selmer (after first making sure that it was crack free). In the student end of things, I would opt for either a Yamaha (based upon reputation) or a Vito. In any event, you are going to get a horn that is a lot more rugged (particularly for the big keys on the lower joint) and impervious to weather. Yamaha also makes student basses, but I have never been able to play one of these. The old Bundy horns (Selmer's student brand) were notoriously hard to keep in tune, not something that I have found with the Vito brand (Leblanc's student brand). On these, you automatically will get the register key on body setup. Other than things Chinois, there are the various "student" level basses. Poorly made, poorly aligned, and very likely a repairman's nightmare. I have fiddled around with these and would not buy one on a bet.
There is the "Chinese" bass clarinet being imported under a variety of brand names (Kessler is one). Once you drop below the level of the "professional" (meaning wooden, Paris built) instruments, your choices are much less varied. If you want to step down from "good" to "good enough": A good enough instrument, but I haven't seen any on the secondary market.) If you can find a used one for a reasonable price, I'd buy it. But, for anything approaching regular clarinet facility, Leblancs are a no go. If you are looking at playing "oomph-pa" parts (concert band stuff) in the lower register, one will work just fine as long as the fork Eb mechanism is maintained. Other than for that (and the horrid fork Eb mechanism that some of their horns had on the lower joint, and some minor ergonomic issues with the key work), Leblanc horns are just fine. Some will disagree, but they usually are those who only have access to a Leblanc instrument and are making the best of it. (The easiest way to determine if you are looking at one of these older Leblancs is to look for a second bridge key with a long rod running up the right side of the upper joint when viewed from the rear.)Ī Leblanc instrument will play well enough except for when making jumps from the lower register to B, C, C# and D in the staff - this interval does not articulate as smoothly as notes on the rest of the instrument.
Up until the last few years, all Leblanc horns, whatever the price range, used the "register key on body" setup without a linkage to the lower joint. (This usually means two hollow posts with thumbscrews that bear on the peg rod.) The combination of poor installation with careless handling and bashing the peg rod into chairs and such makes this a bad thing.)īy no stretch of the imagination is a used Leblanc pro horn the equivalent. (I would also avoid any bass clarinet that has a peg support physically attached to the wood of the lower joint. But, you won't find one (except the Chinese abomination) at a cheap price point unless it has been flayed to within an inch of its life.) If you can get a good one cheap, this advice goes out the window. You are paying a lot of extra money for very limited utility. (Although I own a couple of them, I do not recommend extended range bass clarinets to casual users. In any event, most of them have passed from the realm (they were popular horns in the 1950's), so the chances of you running into one are way down these days.) (I would not buy a Kohler, as I have found the key work on them to have been "worn out" with no room for adjustment. This approach would give you a horn comparable with your rather unique soprano clarinet. Used and good and still affordable usually means an older Selmer horn, to low Eb rather than C, and the price of an overhaul on top of the purchase price.
Keep that in mind when you are looking, and don't let a good price convince you to buy an instrument that may be cracked or otherwise damaged. (Few individuals buy them for themselves, and those horns are almost always guarded treasures.) Schools and colleges are notorious for beating the crap out of harmony instruments. Used bass clarinets of whatever price point almost always have spent some institutional time. Five decades of bass clarinet time should equate to a little knowledge on the topic.
Plus, I have a full box (one of those copying paper ones) of bass clarinet "stuff" like mouthpieces, extra pegs, ligatures, swabs and the like.
I started with AFM and professional music back in the 1960's. I own a number of basses, and play them as a professional musician. I've been playing bass clarinet since I started instrumental music in the late 1950's. In the way of qualifications, I offer the following: