Saxophones Dark mouthpiece suggestions

[shamba504424]

Thank you davidk

 

[brianr]

Am thinking of getting the Hanson LX tenor and am looking for suggestions from Hanson owners or indeed anyone that can suggest a nice dark mouthpiece to compliment it,I have never used a metal mp only hard rubber up to now

Were you not taking lessons from Dean?

what is his take on this ?

with much respect to the posters, some of the suggestions in this thread for a dark mouthpiece are not great !!!!!

 

[turf3]

If you want to imitate Ben Webster, I'd start with a Link (or Link copy) of wider tip opening than you're comfortable with, and do a TON of airstream and breathing work. If you don't already have significant tenor or bari chops, that Link probably ends up being what a more experienced player would consider "medium open" but for you it'll be "real open".

You'll need to work like the dickens to avoid bad habits like biting if you start out with that setup.

Personally, I'd start tenor with a moderate opening beginner's mouthpiece and develop the chops. You may find that although you love the Ben Webster sound, it's not your sound. On tenor I love Coltrane but I don't sound the least bit like him.

 

[Phil]

Depending on your budget Id suggest one of my pieces. However, it would come with a clear warning that it is not going to make you sound like Ben Webster. There are many dark mouthpieces on the market. They can be helpful in having the right tool. However when someone wants to sound like Webster...its kind of the same as saying they want to play like Trane. The investment is thousands of hours, luck and many a' prayer.

 

[brianr]

Spurred on by this thread, I am about to list some tenor mouthpieces in the yard sale.

have a look !!!!

 

[shamba504424]

I did take two lessons with Dean and he is a great teacher but had to stop because of circumstances,I do like the Ben Webster soft tone but not trying to sound like him in particular, was just answering the question about type of tone and I do realise that I have a lot of work to do to get remotely near him but having a bit of a nice mouthpiece might put me on the right road,thanks for all your suggestions

 

[Colin the Bear]

Don't get dazzled by recordings. A great player in a great studio with an expert sound engineer can produce sounds not possible in the music room.
Live gigs are beginning to happen again. Get out and listen what a real live instrument sounds like. 😉

 

[Wade Cornell]

Another aspect of a mellower sound (more fundamentals and less high harmonics) is to use a lip well over your bottom teeth. This is the way most sax players learned to play in the 1950s and 60s (that was me). The lip further out has less profile on the reed so lets it vibrate with higher harmonics. As already mentioned subtone is also a classic way to tame a boisterous mouthpiece. Subtone isn't just for the bottom of the horn. It's possible to subtone in the second octave. I use this technique sometimes with big baffle mouthpieces (Theo Wanne Shiva) as it gives projection without too many nasty shrill highs.

 

[squeak]

Anyway, I think it is great someone just says they want to sound like Ben Webster - go for it!

 

[Pete Effamy]

A great player in a great studio with an expert sound engineer can produce sounds not possible in the music room.

Correction. A good (enough) player in a great studio with an expert sound engineer can produce sounds not possible in their own music room. Capturing the sound of the great players and doing them justice is a very hard task and is quite rare.

 

[Tomtresco]

Am thinking of getting the Hanson LX tenor and am looking for suggestions from Hanson owners or indeed anyone that can suggest a nice dark mouthpiece to compliment it,I have never used a metal mp only hard rubber up to now

I have just bought the Jody Jazz Custom dark MP. I adore it

 

[squeak]

I have just bought the Jody Jazz Custom dark MP. I adore it

Congratulations! That was the hard part. All that is left is that Ben Webster sound.

 

[shamba504424]

Was considering trying that one Tomtresco

 

[Mostlytenor]

You might also consider a Vandoren V16 large chamber. I moved onto one of these from a Selmer S80. The Vandoren is like a Link only more consistent. It makes a fat vintage sort of sound and my high register stays mellow even with the 2nd smallest tip opening.

 

[Jazz Is All]

Large rounded sidewall chamber, no baffle or only slight rollover at tip. However it's the reed that makes the difference. If you play the above with a Bari plastic reed H, it's not going to be dark. Dark reeds are Vandoren Trad, V12, V16, Alexander Superial, La Voz. With some of those reeds I can play my Metallite M9 and it sounds mellow and on the dark side of the force. It's all about chops....you know, embouchure, air support, mouth shape, tongue position, air direction and force, etc etc. A SS Berg can sound dark played by someone who knows how to play it that way. For me my favorite dark piece is my Brilhart HR Personaline, but again the setup is the key ingredient.

 

[shamba504424]

I use Legere synthetic reeds,the american cut 2.5,how do you think they would respond using the Vandoren?

 

[ellinas]

Otto link NY STM. NY not the standard STMs

 

[Mostlytenor]

I have been using Legere Signatures for the Selmer S80 and the Vandoren v16 and I find it satisfactory on both. Then again I have been using the Signatures exclusively for years, only changing strength. Otherwise i would find it all to complicated.
When my Signature wears out I'll try their new American cut.

 

[Ves]

I've spent a considerable amount of time searching for the "dark" "smooth" actually "muffled" sound. Maybe it's my ears but I hate the highs... anything remotely buzzy. I've bought various mouthpieces just to try them and then just resold them on Ebay. I'm also an Engineer so I approached it from the aspect of looking at major differences. For example a high baffle, small chamber, metal mouthpiece is one extreme and a low baffle large chamber hard rubber is the other. There's tons of stuff in between, but I was looking for the big affects.

Metal is out. Just too metallic, buzzy! If anyone says they have found a metal mouthpiece that gives them a dark, non buzzy, tone, I'd be surprised.

I though the Jody Jazz HR Custom #5 Dark was going to be the answer. It wasn't. I sold it. Granted it was pretty good, but very free flowing (#5, .085 gap) and louder than I care for, and still allowed the highs to come through.

Also, the reed makes a huge difference. In general, a thinner reed adds more highs and buzz and a thicker one just makes it harder to blow. I gave up on cane some time ago, just too variable and required changing like underwear. I'm guessing if I go to a thicker reed the sound will be even darker, but I'm not willing to go there; trad-offs. Just because I can play it doesn't mean I want to.

So far the magic combination seems to be a Yamaha Custom 5CM Hard Rubber (Not to be confused with the Yamaha 5C, 6C, etc. which are ebonite/plastic) with a Leger 2.25 American or French cut. In addition to hard rubber, the 5CM has a larger chamber than your typical "I got it with my sax" mouthpiece. The minute I put it on my sax it was an obvious difference in tone; deeper, darker. The hard rubber and the large chamber is similar to the Jody, but Jody has a shorter facing length. The #5CM (.071 gap?) with the longer facing makes it easy to blow and promotes a lose embouchure; I don't need a ton of air volume and every breath last longer without it feeling overly restrictive.

How Leger came up with 2.25 exactly I'm not sure, but it does seem to be some kind of sweet spot.

And the 5CM is like $60-90 (lot cheaper than a Jody!), so if you don't like it, you're not going to loose a lot of money. The Leger reeds are expensive but they last a long time. I've tried other synthetic reeds and they do not respond as well across the entire range.

***Your ear mileage may vary...To qualify this, I'm a hobby player and don't need to overpower a band. But I think staying with hard rubber, large chamber, low baffle (no high baffle) and long facing, gets you the tone, while adding increasing gap and maybe reed thickness, will get you more volume if you need it. The price you pay is more breaths. Trying a 6 or 7CM won't set you back like some of these $300+ mouthpieces.

 

[turf3]

...

Metal is out. Just too metallic, buzzy! If anyone says they have found a metal mouthpiece that gives them a dark, non buzzy, tone, I'd be surprised.

...Goldbeck. Just Sayin'.