Mouthpieces Jody Jazz DV Alto mouthpiece

[Rogerb]

Here's a chance for Linky to move his 'review' from the reeds thread 😀

I have decided that mine is a 'keeper'... after a few days of trying to find a suitable reed I am now very pleased with it.... too soon to be more 'ecstatic'.
I certainly looks the part, beautifully finished and presented in a velvet bag(I didn't get the wooden box, but am not bothered!)

As I said elsewhere...
" I'm not sufficiently qualified to say more than it's 'easy to blow'(now I've found a suitable reed and got my chops around the smaller 'beak'), it's LOUD, and I suppose it's bright, although I don't have enough 'data' to compare with.
I really like its clarity of sound and the 'full-bodied' character.... can't think of a better description. "

Thanks to Ken for sending me some harder reeds to try... ended-up liking the #2 Javas best, so far, but expect to move-on to something a bit harder eventually.

 

[Bobby G]

Hi Roger, what does the "DV" signify? Presumably as this is a 'jazz' mpc (I know, we've been through the 'is it a jazz mouthpiece' bit before with someone else 😉 ) it's bright as well as loud, maybe like a metal piece for someone who doesn't like metal pieces? Similar in concept to the Vandoren Jumbo Java I have on my tenor, perhaps?

What happened to your Lamberson mouthpiece, Roger, or is that on your tenor?

Cheers, Bob

 

[Linky Lee]

I spent a day at sax.co.uk trying out various different mouthpieces.
Mainly the Jody Jazz DV, Otto Link Super Tone Master, Mayer and Otto Link Ebonites, all with various different reeds.

With regard to the Jody Jazz:

It is rather expensive, but comes in a really nice wooden case.
The mouthpiece I played obviously very well made and a lot of thought had gone into it and it's construction.

The mouthpiece was so free blowing it didn't feel like there was a reed on it! And this is without exaggeration! It certainly made it easier to tongue fast passages!
A downside of this is that you get no resistance from the mouthpiece which some may regard as good but I prefer to have something to blow against and get some feedback from. I found that playing loud (which you could do so easily) felt very strange as it didn't seem like you needed to put much effort into it.

At this point it was a winner for me as I thought I'd be able to get used to this feel, and it would aid tonguing, double tonguing etc. and just help my mouth keep up with my fingers that little bit easier.

In terms of tone, this is where it failed for me. It's tone was incredibly flexible. It could play smooth and raucous and at all volumes, quiet as easily as loud. The entire range of the saxophone was really easy to get, the low and high notes being a breeze just like the rest of the sax. You felt if you knew what to do you could get another octave out of it for the same effort as before.

Unfortunately it's overall sound was clean, crisp and bright.
As I have a Hanson SA-8-24K-F, my sax is very bright and incredibly pure already. The mouthpiece was complete overkill for my instrument.

If you have a vintage saxophone, or one which isn't quite so bright naturally this mouthpiece would be incredibly good fun, and would be an asset to anyones set-up.

weather it warrants the price tag is another thing coming.

As you probably know, I went for the Otto Link, and can't say that I really regret it either. Though after writing this review I am quite liking the idea of one for my Martin. Though it's not really necessary as the Otto Link works lovely on that as well.

(I even took the liberty of changing the spelling mistakes! Cheers Roger!)

 

[Rogerb]

DV stands for Da Vinci, Bob... if you look at Jody's website he alludes to the use of the "Golden Ratio" 1.618..... referred to in The Da Vinci Code novel, and which has been used in designs, of various sorts, for centuries (it's based on the mathematical Fibonacci series... don't ask me to explain more at this time of night!).
(BTW I was born 16 yrs earlier!)

I still have the Lamberson 6M (0.077), a super mpc, but the DV is just a bit more 'edgy', which is what I wanted.
The Lambo will be up for sale soon, I'm sure!
(I don't have a tenor, only an alto)

[Well *most* of the spelling mistakes, Linky (Weather = whether!)
Do you find the SA-8 'bright'? I have a 5 and have played an 8... couldn't hear much difference, but I'd have said quite the opposite.... but what do I know about saxophones? 😀]

 

[Linky Lee]

I find it incredibly bright! One of the brightest and purest bare tones from a saxophone I've found.

I think it's to do with the gold plating.

Though with the Otto Link it dirties up. But if you put an S80 or something similar on it it's very crisp.

 

[Bobby G]

Not scientific myself, but I was under the impression that the thinner, lighter hirns were brighter and the heavier ones were fatter in tone. I am willing to be corrected.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Rogerb]

Bob Green wrote:
Not scientific myself, but I was under the impression that the thinner, lighter hirns were brighter and the heavier ones were fatter in tone. I am willing to be corrected.

Cheers, Bob

That's what I thought, Bob, although I don't play a hirn myself 😉
My teacher's Buffet is certainly lighter & brighter.

Thanks, Ken 🙂

 

[spike]

Looks like an interesting mouthpiece, luxurious price tag, just had a look at the pics, that baffle looks quite high and it looks as though it drops off the step vertically into the chamber, am I seeing this correctly?

Just for the record what opening did you get Roger?

Must say it'll probably get the Giorgio Monticatini design prize for mouthpieces this year.

 

[Bobby G]

The hirn is of course a Swedish C-melody sax produced for only about 3 years in the 1920's. Very heavy and unwieldy with a terrible sound and poor intonation, as well as the worst action and key placement ever seen on a saxophone. Made by Volvo, who went on to apply their hirn-making expertise to their range of fine motor cars.

 

[spike]

It's also the German word for brain which just goes to show - lighter hirns are brighter - doesn't it?

 

[Rogerb]

spike wrote:
Looks like an interesting mouthpiece, luxurious price tag, just had a look at the pics, that baffle looks quite high and it looks as though it drops off the step vertically into the chamber, am I seeing this correctly?

Just for the record what opening did you get Roger?

Must say it'll probably get the Giorgio Monticatini design prize for mouthpieces this year.

Got a quite good price from a shop in Berlin...(but still a lot!).... #6 tip(0.078") which seems about right for me.

And, yes, there is a very pronounced step in the baffle.

I have a theory that the 'cutaway' window(is that what it's called?) was arrived at 'accidentally', as the only way they could get in there to machine it that way.... then JJ decided to make it a 'feature' 😀

[Do we now need *another* thread, on the history and relative brightness of hirns? 😀 ]
.

 

[Linky Lee]

It could possibly be that a thicker and heavier saxophone is naturally brighter but more rich in sound.

I base this on comparing two egg shakers.

1 has low quantities of beads inside. The other has larger quantities.

Because there are more beads inside there are more atoms with greater kinetic energy, this means there are more collisions between particles meaning there is more energy given off as sound and heat etc. but also there is a higher frequency.

more energy transfered = greater volume
higher frequency = higher pitch, which could relate to brightness when considering that there is the same amount of saxophone just denser material (more atoms)

The surface of the bell will play a large part in the sound produced for the listener, whereas the resonance of the saxophone will be the larger part in the sound the player hears.

A thinner lighter saxophone will resonate easier meaning it will seem brighter to the player, though as it isn't very dense around the bell and is only a lacquer the sound for the listener will be thin and muddier meaning a darker not quite so crisp articulate sound for the audience.

A heavy, well plated saxophone will be harder to make resonate as much as the other saxophone meaning it will sound slightly less as bright to the player. But the audience will receive a bright, rich powerful projected and articulate sound.

The sound doesn't only come out from the bell. Sound is produced from every millimeter of the saxophone and lots of that is to do with air running across the surface of the saxophone. A plating should give a brighter sound than a lacquer here as well.

This biggest effect on tone though is your throat, then embouchure, then mouthpiece, reed, crook, body, bell, finish.

But if the whole saxophone is gold plated that will effect the crook, body and bell meaning it will probably have as great an affect as a reed or mouthpiece does.

The most noticeable way of hearing these differences would be the reverberations.
Play a staccato note on a heavily plated instrument and it will probably stop pretty instantly but with clear obvious reverberence.
On a thick lacquered saxophone, the note will probably stop slightly less as quickly and the reverberations will be muddier and quieter.

This as all just ideas and very subtle differences anyway.

 

[Rogerb]

I started a long post about this(The gist was that you need to compare 'like with like'), but realised it's nothing to do with the DV, and should be in a separate thread!

 

[spike]

from a shop in Berlin

would that be Mike Duchstein's by any chance ? I kind've bet it was - I was going to recommend them to you a while ago but I thought - Naaa! - sometimes i say what I think, and sometimes I only think. regards - spike

 

[Rogerb]

spike wrote:

from a shop in Berlin

would that be Mike Duchstein's by any chance ? I kind've bet it was - I was going to recommend them to you a while ago but I thought - Naaa! - sometimes i say what I think, and sometimes I only think. regards - spike

Jawohl!
Recommended by gary on SOTW forum.

My teacher was as complimentary as he can bring himself to be about anything 😉 after he played it 🙂

I occasionally sound like a sax player on it.

Still looking for a buyer for the Lamberson 6M