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A beast of an instrument. Few of these exist in the world and they mostly exist in either museums or private collections. They can easily weigh hundreds of pounds and would not be very easy to transport. They are usually in the key of 32-foot C (C 1 or CCC) or 36-foot B-flat (B-flat 0 or BBB-flat) note A and produce a powerful sound that requires a strong set of lungs. Some forms of subcontrabass tubas require two players (one for the valves, the other for blowing into the mouthpiece). Some forms have functional valves, while others don't. note B Note A: Adolphe Sax made a 52-foot E-flat (E-flat 0 or EEE-flat) and exhibited it in 1851 in London, and in 1867 in Paris. Note B: Some subcontrabass tubas may look like they have valves, but these are only done as an artistic choice rather than being usable.
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