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I've got these in the pass around at the moment and have, via 2 gigs and a free Sunday, been able to give them a good test drive.
Before trying these, I usually alternated between 2 pieces - a guardala studio for noisy stuff (which ends up being most of my tenor gigs) and a Berg 110/2 for quieter things. I'd say the D'addarios slot between these two sound wise - more edge than the Berg, and not as direct as the Guardala. I prefer the sound of the D'Addarios to both of them, and I think it's versatile enough to cover pretty much every genre. It's got a thick, fat, bottom end, retains the richness up higher where other pieces I've tried tend to thin out for me, and it speaks very easily - articulation is great, even on the lower notes where I usually find it a bit harder.
First I played all of them very quickly between getting home from work and going to a rehearsal - liked all of them, couldn't hear much of a difference.
The next day I had a gig with my band playing on a local radio station to promote a festival. As they were so easy to play, I decided to do the gig on the D7. It sound good, played absolutely predictably.
Another gig the next day - playing on stage at the festival, 45 min set. Again, I took the D7 and was really pleased with how it sounded, and how easy it was to play. I'd actually just finished a 45 min set on alto and clarinet for a different band before doing the tenor gig - usually, wrestling with the Guardala for 45 minutes straight after another gig would leave my lips and cheeks feeling like I'd been punched by the incredible hulk, but I had zero fatigue with the D7. Could have kept going all day. The thing I really liked about playing it on this gig (part of an 8 piece, new orleans style brass band) was that when I was doing harmony/backing parts, it blended in really nicely, and when I took the tune or a solo, it had enough punch to cut through (we were mic'd up though).
Today, I've been whittling the pieces down a bit more - have pretty much discarded the 6 and 9 (nothing wrong with them, just seem to prefer the middle ones) and it's been a straight shootout between the 7 and 8. They both feel very similar, and sound similar when I'm listening to myself playing them, but I found the differences were easier to hear when I recorded them - the 7 definitely had more of an edge to the sound for me, and didn't seem to suffer from a lack of volume. The 7 is the one I keep coming back to, even though as mentioned usually I've been on a slightly bigger tip opening. I'm finding it quite addictive to play actually.
Below link is a quick blast through The Chicken on the D7 - apologies for the quality of playing, sax isn't my first instrument but I'm hopefully (slowly) getting better.
I'm using a 2.5 V16 reed and a Trevor James SR, recording was done on audacity with a blue yeti usb mic on the stereo setting in my spare room - nothing fancy. This mouthpiece is more than capable of playing in a more "understated" way, but it's just so, so easy and fun to play, it's just too tempting to let loose with some growl 🙂
mouthpiece trial - chicken.wav - Box
I'm definitely buying one of these, and I'm really interested in the brighter alto piece that David Roach mentioned. Thanks Aldevis for organising the pass around.
Before trying these, I usually alternated between 2 pieces - a guardala studio for noisy stuff (which ends up being most of my tenor gigs) and a Berg 110/2 for quieter things. I'd say the D'addarios slot between these two sound wise - more edge than the Berg, and not as direct as the Guardala. I prefer the sound of the D'Addarios to both of them, and I think it's versatile enough to cover pretty much every genre. It's got a thick, fat, bottom end, retains the richness up higher where other pieces I've tried tend to thin out for me, and it speaks very easily - articulation is great, even on the lower notes where I usually find it a bit harder.
First I played all of them very quickly between getting home from work and going to a rehearsal - liked all of them, couldn't hear much of a difference.
The next day I had a gig with my band playing on a local radio station to promote a festival. As they were so easy to play, I decided to do the gig on the D7. It sound good, played absolutely predictably.
Another gig the next day - playing on stage at the festival, 45 min set. Again, I took the D7 and was really pleased with how it sounded, and how easy it was to play. I'd actually just finished a 45 min set on alto and clarinet for a different band before doing the tenor gig - usually, wrestling with the Guardala for 45 minutes straight after another gig would leave my lips and cheeks feeling like I'd been punched by the incredible hulk, but I had zero fatigue with the D7. Could have kept going all day. The thing I really liked about playing it on this gig (part of an 8 piece, new orleans style brass band) was that when I was doing harmony/backing parts, it blended in really nicely, and when I took the tune or a solo, it had enough punch to cut through (we were mic'd up though).
Today, I've been whittling the pieces down a bit more - have pretty much discarded the 6 and 9 (nothing wrong with them, just seem to prefer the middle ones) and it's been a straight shootout between the 7 and 8. They both feel very similar, and sound similar when I'm listening to myself playing them, but I found the differences were easier to hear when I recorded them - the 7 definitely had more of an edge to the sound for me, and didn't seem to suffer from a lack of volume. The 7 is the one I keep coming back to, even though as mentioned usually I've been on a slightly bigger tip opening. I'm finding it quite addictive to play actually.
Below link is a quick blast through The Chicken on the D7 - apologies for the quality of playing, sax isn't my first instrument but I'm hopefully (slowly) getting better.
I'm using a 2.5 V16 reed and a Trevor James SR, recording was done on audacity with a blue yeti usb mic on the stereo setting in my spare room - nothing fancy. This mouthpiece is more than capable of playing in a more "understated" way, but it's just so, so easy and fun to play, it's just too tempting to let loose with some growl 🙂
mouthpiece trial - chicken.wav - Box
I'm definitely buying one of these, and I'm really interested in the brighter alto piece that David Roach mentioned. Thanks Aldevis for organising the pass around.
