TromboneChat

..as the title says: does some of the members of this fine forum have experience with above contra, and would like to compile a review of the instrument for us?

I haven't found any review googeling around, but suspect there must be sold some of the instruments during the last year ??

I played it for a minute at Midwest. I don't play contra and only had a bass trombone mouthpiece with me so I can't speak to how it plays. But, the build quality seems poor. After playing the new Wessex bass trombone the contra felt like a piece of junk.

That's the new contra with rotors? I heard it was OK. Not great.

Since a contrabass trombone is rare, and most people don't know how to play one I don't know what to think of the information in this thread so far. First I think it needs to be played with a contrabass mouthpiece to make it just. We don't expect a bass to perform like a bass with a tenor mouthpiece so I don't think it is fair without the contra mouthpiece. If someone could find a review from a pro it could be helpful for this thread.

It would be very interesting to read a review written by someone who has prior experience from playing a contra.
I'm hesitating if I should buy or not. It is certainly not an instrument I need. It could be something to use in a trombone ensemble but otherwise it will probably only be used at home

I think it is a shame Thomann does not sell them. They sell other brands that are Cineese, both tenors, altos and sopranos but no Chineese contras. If they had one I would probably buy and try since it would be possible to send it back, because that's in their policy.

/Tom

I played the one they had at the Midwest Clinic in Dec. and thought overall it was a pretty good horn for the value! The slide on the demo model had MUCH to be desired, but considering the amount of handling it got, especially from "younger" hands, sort of understandable.
Not that I'm any kind of expert on contra, far from it, but I have a Rath at my disposal and while naturally the Wessex is not in the same league, I thought it's a solid horn and worth the $3K that they are selling at.

Since most of us will never make a dime playing contra, a fun, playable horn for $3K would be a worthwhile investment.
And no, I'm not associated with them other than promoting a viable product.

Eric