Mouthpieces La Voz Mouthpieces.........anyone play/tried one?

[TomMapfumo]

As part of my exploration into cheap alternative mouthpiece recommendations I have bben curious about the Rico La Voz Alto and Tenor mouthpieces available at around the £25 mark ( stocked by www.rapid-reeds.com ) amongst others.

The Alto piece is 0.070" only and the Tenor is 0.075" only, both slightly bigger than the Yamaha 4C equivalents, and both described as having medium chambers. There is very little online apart from the usual Rico description, accompamying an advertisement, and one discussion of 6 posts on SOTW.

If anyone out there has played one I'd be keen to hear about it, or if anyone has said mouthpiece that they would be prepared to lend me, then I would be happy to offer a review, which may be of use to beginners. Feel free to PM me as appropriate. The Rico Royal (Graftonite) & Metalite mouthpieces have been frequently discussed on the Forum, but not the La Voz..

Kind regards
Tom

 

[Chris]

PM sent

 

[TomMapfumo]

I have the loan of a Tenor La Voz but still chasing an Alto mouthpiece...........

La Voz Tenor Mouthpiece Review:

The Tenor arrived by post this morning so these are my impressions of another budget tenor sax mouthpiece. (It is normally available for about £25)

Appearance - quite a chunky mouthpiece, made of plastic. It has a moderate rollover baffle and a medium sized chamber. The beak is not unlike a V16 HR piece, and steeper than the equivalent Rico Graftonite. The side rails are quite thick, which should reduce squeaking for beginners.

Ligature size - needs quite a large tenor Ligature - Selmer 2 Screw, Francois Louis Basic XL, Rovner Dark 2R. I used the first two which both acquitted themselves well. The Selmer had a slightly clear, slightly brighter sound; the Basic was more resonant and less bright, which I had a slight preference for, but not a major difference.

Sound - The La Voz is quite a quiet mouthpiece, only 0.075" tip opening. It is slightly larger than a Yamaha 4C and Selmer C*, and equivalent to the Yanagisawa 5 HR, which it reminded me of in many ways. It is smaller than all the Rico Royal Graftonite pieces which start at 0.085". Apart from being noticeably quieter it had a very mellow tone overall, quite warm sounding, not bright. and seemed very comfortable with ballads and smooth jazz, but not rock, funk and similar. Being a small tip it was a very comfortable blow, but could not be pushed unless hard reeds were used (3 and above).

Reeds - I tried all of the following:

Alexander NY 2
Alexander DC 2.5

Rico La Voz MS
Francois Louis Excellence 2.5
Rigotti Gold 2.5

Marca Jazz 2.5

I divided the sound into three categories:

1. Unfiled reeds - NY and La Voz. The sound was fairly mellow and straight, not very resonant and slioghtly one dimensional. Good enough but not very special

2. Filed reeds - FL and Rigotti. Had a little more life to them, and a slightly more complex sound, less mellow.

3. Filed reeds - DC's and Marca. These were my favourites sound wise. They were the liveliest reeds, with complexity , resonance and some brightness, which counterbalanced the mellow mouthpiece. The DC's are slighly darker than the Marca's but both were really responsive, especially fleshing out the smooth jazz/ballad pieces I tried, so that the sound was more distinct than anyof the others.

Overall I would want to add the La Voz mouthpiece to the usual beginner recommendations (Yamaha, Rico Graftonite, Runyon 22) which should cost around £25. The advantages are that it is a relatively easy blow, on the quieter side and great for the sort of music that beginning players seem particularly attracted to - ballads, smooth jazz, gentler pop etc. I would recommend that is sounds best with more jazz type reeds, rather than the thicker unfiled reeds - such as V16/La Voz/NY, which reduce the character of the sound produced.

 

[koumou]

Hi Tom, it seems that one will be better of(f) going for a Rico Graftonite where there's more choice.

 

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Tom, it seems that one will be better of(f) going for a Rico Graftonite where there's more choice.

Though the Graftonites may be a little too open for some beginners............................Otherwise, I would think you are right.

 

[johnboy]

i have the loan of a tenor la voz but still chasing an alto mouthpiece...........

La voz tenor mouthpiece review:

The tenor arrived by post this morning so these are my impressions of another budget tenor sax mouthpiece. (it is normally available for about £25)

appearance - quite a chunky mouthpiece, made of plastic. It has a moderate rollover baffle and a medium sized chamber. The beak is not unlike a v16 hr piece, and steeper than the equivalent rico graftonite. The side rails are quite thick, which should reduce squeaking for beginners.

Ligature size - needs quite a large tenor ligature - selmer 2 screw, francois louis basic xl, rovner dark 2r. I used the first two which both acquitted themselves well. The selmer had a slightly clear, slightly brighter sound; the basic was more resonant and less bright, which i had a slight preference for, but not a major difference.

Sound - the la voz is quite a quiet mouthpiece, only 0.075" tip opening. It is slightly larger than a yamaha 4c and selmer c*, and equivalent to the yanagisawa 5 hr, which it reminded me of in many ways. It is smaller than all the rico royal graftonite pieces which start at 0.085". Apart from being noticeably quieter it had a very mellow tone overall, quite warm sounding, not bright. And seemed very comfortable with ballads and smooth jazz, but not rock, funk and similar. Being a small tip it was a very comfortable blow, but could not be pushed unless hard reeds were used (3 and above).

Reeds - i tried all of the following:

Alexander ny 2
alexander dc 2.5

rico la voz ms
francois louis excellence 2.5
rigotti gold 2.5

marca jazz 2.5

i divided the sound into three categories:

1. Unfiled reeds - ny and la voz. The sound was fairly mellow and straight, not very resonant and slioghtly one dimensional. Good enough but not very special

2. Filed reeds - fl and rigotti. Had a little more life to them, and a slightly more complex sound, less mellow.

3. Filed reeds - dc's and marca. These were my favourites sound wise. They were the liveliest reeds, with complexity , resonance and some brightness, which counterbalanced the mellow mouthpiece. The dc's are slighly darker than the marca's but both were really responsive, especially fleshing out the smooth jazz/ballad pieces i tried, so that the sound was more distinct than anyof the others.

Overall i would want to add the la voz mouthpiece to the usual beginner recommendations (yamaha, rico graftonite, runyon 22) which should cost around £25. The advantages are that it is a relatively easy blow, on the quieter side and great for the sort of music that beginning players seem particularly attracted to - ballads, smooth jazz, gentler pop etc. I would recommend that is sounds best with more jazz type reeds, rather than the thicker unfiled reeds - such as v16/la voz/ny, which reduce the character of the sound produced.

now i know!