Bass Trombone advice for teachers, part 2: mutes

Bass trombone mutes are tricky. You can get away with a tenor trombone mute that doesn't have a low D or a pedal G, but we need those notes too often on bass trombone for our mutes not to work. I have a little bit of a mute fetish, so I've tried or owned almost everything. Here's my list of mutes that work and don't work:

Straight Mutes
The Denis Wick metal straight is my go-to straight mute. It responds evenly for me throughout the entire range, without having to drill a hole in it. I think if a Wick straight doesn't respond for you in the double valve register, you need to practice to make your tone production better in the double valve register.

Jo-Ral straight mutes are OK, but I find it's useful to drill a 1/4" hole in the center of the bottom of the mute, and then have a small piece of gaffer's tape over the hole for when I don't need the extreme low register. If you can find an old one, they are better than the new ones.

I don't know what happened to Tom Crown mutes, but they just don't seem to work anymore. I have an old one with a hole drilled in the bottom that's really banged up and has corks that are disintegrating, and it works OK, but none of the new ones I try seem to play below about low Eb.

I have other straight mutes I like for certain things (TrumCor Lyric, Marcus Bonna, H&B Symphonic, Beversdorf), but if you're only going to have one my recommendation is Denis Wick.

Cup Mutes
Denis Wick, yes.
H&B Large Bass Trombone, yes. If yours seems stuffy, try removing the rubber ring from around the cup.

I suggest having both of these so that you have the classic H&B sound and the somewhat better response of the Wick.

Jo-Ral, no. For me it's just too heavy and the response is just not that good. And I hate the sound.

My favorite cup mute is a Peter Gane made in England, but it doesn't sound anything like the cup mutes anybody else around me plays.

Wah-wah (Harmon) Mutes
Wick, no. I've had a couple, and they always seems to fall out of the bell. The top gets dented from the fall, and then you can't get it to stick for even a few seconds.
Jo-Ral, yes. It usually stays in the bell and sounds good. And when it does fall out, the metal and cork are thick enough that it usually doesn't dent around that top.

Practice Mutes
For "therapy" practice, the Denis Wick practice mute is great, although you might need to drill one or two more holes in it. I made one myself with an old Wick straight, some sheet cork, and a hand drill.

The only one I can practice with for any other reason is the Bremner Shhh mute. Every other practice mute I've tried for bass trombone makes the upper register go flat.

Actually, that's not true. I also have a mute made by a guy named Mike McLean in England. He calls is a pianissimo mute, and it can either be used as a loud-ish practice mute or a soft straight mute. The response is terrific all over the instrument, and if you don't have the control to play very soft with a mute, you can use this one, play about mf, and have it sound pp. Every once in a while I see these for sale on eBay for about $40, which is a bargain. You can't tell from the website, but the bass trombone pianissimo mute really does exist. I'll bet his straight mute is also really good, but it won't sound like a metal mute.

Bucket Mutes
The old H&B Bucket sounds great but it's a huge pain. Don't bother.

The Jo-Ral Bucket is ridiculously heavy and doesn't sound that great to me. 

Spend a little bit of extra money and get a Peter Gane Bucket. Sounds great, easy to use.

Solotone Mutes
There are a couple of shows that call for solotone mute on bass trombone. This is a dumb idea, but what are you going to do? Well...you can use an H&B tenor solotone (cleartone) and build the corks way up with sheet cork - or even duct tape - or...you can special order a beautiful handmade wooden bass trombone solotone mute from Paul Lawrence in England. How do you do that? I don't know. I got mine in England at a trombone festival.