Mouthpieces Jody Jazz alto mouthpiece

[Eastman52st]

Hi guys just purchased a Jody Jazz mouthpiece for Alto over new years. I love it hands down compared to my old selmer S-80. Went back to a 2.5 reed and have noticed my sound and tone is better, and I feel better I guess thats all that matters. Wanted to know if anyone else on here has a Jody Jazz or has had experience with one and what do they think ? Also I learned a tip that might be helpfull to someone in my own experience and that is practice on a harder reed like a 3 or 3.5 for 6 months and then go down to a 2.5 and you will produce sounds and harmonics you never new existed.

 

[Sunray]

Hey Hey mate ...

Yep! I have one [a 7] for Alto and another [An 8*] for my Tenor ...

Both are very nice indeed ...

I am reviewing my Tenor collection [🙂] as I now have a couple of Pete's PPT Metal Mouthpieces ...

 

[Young Col]

Which Jody Jazz do you use, Eastman? I have used a JJ Classic 5 for a couple of years now as my main alto mpc. I very rarely use the removeable baffle as it gives too much of an edge to the tone for my personal liking. I use it with La Voz medium or medium soft reeds.
YC

 

[saxmaster]

Which Jody Jazz do you use, Eastman? I have used a JJ Classic 5 for a couple of years now as my main alto mpc. I very rarely use the removeable baffle as it gives too much of an edge to the tone for my personal liking. I use it with La Voz medium or medium soft reeds.
YC

I've always been curious…
What does the removable baffle look like? (size, color, material…)

 

[Young Col]

Saxmaster
It's a piece of slightly wavy shaped chromed metal about an inch and half long and just under half an inch at it's widest point. Tapers slightly to a rounded curved end. The wider end is attached to a piece of plastic about half inch square. It slides into the mpc through the tip rails and fits in against the facing table side, held in place by the plastic piece. The intention is to narrow the chamber right through and to make a continuation for the airstream into the fixed baffle. To be honest it looks a bit cheap. As I said above, it gives a bit of an edge which might be OK for playing solo above a rhythm section or in rock band but to my mind doesn't blend well en ensemble.
YC

 

[altissimo]

the Jody Jazz HR* 6 is my favourite 'Meyer type' mouthpiece for alto - had one for about 5 years now - £65 from Howarths way back when, they're probably nearly twice that now, but still a good mouthpiece for the money. And i've tried a few...

I've never had a genuine Meyer to compare it to, but it's probably a bit brighter and more 'freeblowing' - which seems to be the tendency with most of the modern 'Meyer influenced' mouthpieces. My guess is that any improvements to the rollover baffle to make it blow easier also result in a bit more brightness - although from a distance of a few meters, any extra brightness is likely to be hardly noticeable - the sound we hear as players, close up to the instrument and with the reed vibrating in our mouth, isn't the same as what the audience hears.

I've not tried the other Jody Jazz mouthpieces, but if the quality is as good as the HR* then they're worth checking out.
The 'Classic' seems to be an improved Runyon Custom and that's a pretty good mouthpiece to start off with - all the Runyon's I've got are excellent. The spoiler is a bit of a fiddle, but makes things brighter and more aggressive, but as with a lot of high baffle/small chamber pieces, it makes the low end less easy to blow - but that could just be me... most people don't bother with the spoiler

the hard reed to soft reed transition is something I used to do - practise with a 4 for 20 minutes then put on a 3 and it was like taking the brakes off... it's not something I'd encourage, maybe it helped with building my embouchure, but practising for 4 hours with a loud drummer was what really got my chops into shape. Nowadays I use softer reeds and get more control...

 

[jonf]

There are only two things I can add to this. Firstly, the Jody Jazz sounds nice when YC blows it. Secondly, the removable baffle is basically the Runyon Spoiler device. I've had a few Runyon mouthpieces, which have all been fine, apart from the Spoiler. Which spoils the sound.

 

[Ivan]

... the Spoiler. Which spoils the sound.

You can't accuse Runyon of misleading advertising!

 

[zannad]

I still have the JJ Classic....nice and easy blowing with beefy low tones - the spoiler is ok if you need more noise but without is probably better.
There was a problem (I use "was" because I haven't played from sometime)...it was a bit stingy on dynamics - basically it wasn't delivering on pianissimo (a big "rough" or "grainy")...nothing too obvious of course but I'd noticed that others MPs where more "fluid" in very soft passages...
Another issue was the tip opening - I find the 6 a bit too narrow for my liking.
Overall, it's a fine mouthpiece....