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Re: Mini-review: Amati low-C bass clarinet

Author: clarnibass
Date: 2008-01-20 06:41

While checking an Amati bass clarinet recently I looked for other reviews and found this thread, so I thought I'll add mine too.

The model I checked was the 691 low Eb bass clarinet. I think it is approx. a couple of years old and wasn't played much at all. A friend of mine, a saxophonist, borrowed it to play for a while and see if he wants to play bass clarinet and buy a "good one".

It had the same problem with the alignment of the bell that Dave mentioned. Also the upper register mechanism is designed (and/or built) in a way that the alignement of the neck has to be very exact for it to work (it's possible to improve this a little).

When I got the clarinet the clarion was unplayable and many other notes only played with a very strong grip. I don't know for sure if the instrument came this way from factory or if it was caused later by the player but I'm guessing a combination of both. I won't be surprised if some of it happened while the instrument was in the case considering how soft the keys are.

Several keys were bent, including side levers and keys in the register mechanism which was a big part of the clarion not playing. One bent key was obviously from someone not being careful when assembling the two joints but it is built in a way that you need to be especially careful! It wasn't a big surprise it got bent considering how difficult it was the assemble the pieces - mostly because of slightly too thick tenon corks, and on the bottom one the tenon itself too wide. Also the middle tenon was slightly longer than the socket (but only very little.

The setup was pretty awful. Many pads weren't seating level and needed to be adjusted (and one replaced). Several tone holes had chips missing with one being especially bad. The adjustment of stack keys closing together, etc. was also terrible. The instrument had cork for all keys and linkages which is ok I guess but not as good as some other materials which made the adjustment much better and less squishy feel. Several keys had a lot of end play.

When disassembling keys some of them had gooey stuff left from (a bad) oil which caused friction. A couple of the rods were not the exact correct size and had a bit too much friction (they weren't bent, and neither were those keys). Also some flat springs (for example for the throat A key) digged into the wood (already after this short time with almsot no use) and created the usual bump - mainly because of poor setup of that spring.

After everything was more or less as good as it can be the clarinet played pretty good. I didn't check intonation thoroughly with a tuner but I didn't notice any major problems, it was very ok. The sound was pretty decent too, although not as good as pro instruments from Buffet and Selmer (though it was definitely a little different and fun to play). The response of all the registers was very good. It could possibly be even a tiny bit better with a slightly larger upper register hole. I pretty much agree with Dave's comments here.

The stock mouthpiece was very bad and almost any decent inexpensive student mouthpiece would be much better, but at the price of this instrument players already have or can probably afford a good mouthpiece anyway.

It's hard to say whether I recommend this instrument or not. Even for the price in the USA (and here it costs more) it's a little disapointing because of the soft and flimsy keys and the miserable setup (I guess it's possible that not all of them come like this). Considering all of this and the price, it's not exactly clear to me what is the market for this instrument.

Post Edited (2008-01-21 06:19)

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