The wide scaled bass clarinet by Kruspe is the result of efforts to provide military bands with a deep woodwind instrument whose sound was to correspond to that of the tuba in metal wind instruments with valves.
The experiments originated mainly in Berlin and led to various new instruments in the double-bass register, such as the bathiphone and the bass clarinet that followed it.
The sound of the bathiphone was compared to that of the bassoon, contrabassoon, ophicleide, bass horn, and bowed double bass; its richness and softness were particularly emphasized.