The melody of “Amazing Grace” takes on an unusual texture as a duet between a standard double bass and an octobass. According to No Treble, double bassist Jonathan Camps carries the song’s recognizable tune, while Nicola Moneta provides the low accompaniment on his giant instrument. Standing beside the nearly four-metre-tall octobass, the ordinary double bass looks surprisingly modest. The pairing sets the higher register of the double bass against the octobass’s deep resonance.
Camps said the performance was recorded with Moneta at the Festival Mardi Graves in Saint-Jean-de-Védas on February 10, 2018. The event’s official brochure confirms a weekend gathering on February 10 and 11 dedicated to low-register instruments, including the double bass, tuba and octobass. Camps, a member of the Barcelona Symphony and Catalonia National Orchestra according to the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya, shared a video of their session. The footage shows the two musicians performing the traditional hymn side by side.
Moneta’s instrument was built by luthier Pierre Bohr in 1994 and stands approximately 3.87 metres tall. It has three large strings tuned to C, G and D, with Bohr listing its lowest fundamental frequency at roughly 16 Hz. That fundamental falls just below the commonly cited lower limit of human hearing, well below the range of most conventional orchestral instruments, though how much of the lowest frequencies can be heard depends heavily on playback equipment and the listening environment.
Playing an instrument of that size requires a mechanical system. Because the octobass’s neck is far too long for a player to finger directly, Bohr’s reconstruction uses key-like levers and steel cables to press mechanical fingers onto the strings while the performer draws a heavy bow across them. The concept dates to the 19th century. An earlier prototype was built in 1834, and French luthier Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume developed the design in 1849. Vuillaume later presented three examples at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London. To experience the full subterranean depth of the colossal instrument, explore another performance featuring Nicola Moneta and his octobass.
John Newton wrote the lyrics to “Amazing Grace” in 1772, and they first appeared in print in 1779. The melody most listeners recognize today, known as “New Britain,” was paired with Newton’s text in American hymn collections during the 1830s. Its measured, unhurried phrasing lets Camps carry the lead while Moneta fills out the lower register.
Online commenters took particular notice of the octobass being used musically rather than as an oddity. As one YouTube viewer commented, “When a double bass sounds high.” Another viewer remarked, “Octobass actually being used musically? And it sounds good too?” Camps published the video on YouTube in March 2018. By September 2026, it had accumulated more than 1.5 million views and around 24,000 likes.