The bass clarinet is a type of clarinet, and is a woodwindsingle-reed instrument. The earliest record of the bass clarinet is called a 'bass tube' invented in Paris in 1772 by G. Lott. It usually has a B-flat pitch. It plays one octave lower in pitch than the normal clarinet. This means that when a bass clarinet makes a note, the note that actually sounds is an octave and a whole tone lower.[1] There are some bass clarinets that have an A or C pitch as well as E flat, but these are not common.
References
↑"Clarinet", The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments 3 volumes, ed. Stanley Sadie. London: Macmillan, 1984.
