Tone or Sound O'Neill's Jazz method CD tone

[peter_fitton]

I imagine that there are a lot of people here who have used John O'Neill's excellent Jazz Method book/CD - especially if you got your sax from sax.co.uk, as they seem to include it with most of the saxes they sell/hire.

I'm currently working my way through the tenor version and I really like the tone that O'Neill uses throughout the CD. He has a very mellow/warm sound that would be an ideal sound for someone like me who has to practice at home (with neighbours very much in earshot!)

So can any of you recommend a mouthpiece that is capable of producing a tone roughly similar to O'Neill's? I realise, of course, that there's no guarantee that an inexperienced player like me what be able to produce the same sound even if I used the exact same mpc/sax set up as Mr O'Neill.

Previously I've been thinking of upgrading the mpc on my T James Classic tenor to something like a Selmer S80 or Jody Jazz HR. Would either of these be a good choice for this kind of sound? If not does anyone have any other recommendations?

Many thanks

Peter

 

[Bobby G]

I haven't heard the specific tone on the O'Neill CD, but I can get my Selmer to sound pretty darn mellow. It's a Soloist C* btw

Cheers, Bob

 

[griff136]

Hi Peter,

the best advice I can give you is to take your tenor and go to a really decnt music shop that has a good selection of mouthpieces.

Try as many as you can - different lays etc and reed cominations too.

narrow it down to a what you like and what you can afford.

Decent music shops like John Myalls in Croydon and Howarths in Central london will let you take the mouthpieces on approval for a week as long as you use a mouthpiece patch - and give your credit card details.

Good luck

 

[Rogerb]

Jonathan Myall Music
46 South End
CROYDON
CR0 1DP
UK
020 8662 8424


I thought you meant John MYATT Woodwind & Brass, Griff; they are in Hitchin... didn't realise there's another place with such a similar name !

57 Nightingale Road
HITCHIN
Hertfordshire
SG5 1RQ (U.K.)
Sales: 01462 420057

 

[Rogerb]

Sorry 'bout the double post!

 

[Bobby G]

Myatt's in Hitchin (my local) lets you take mouthpieces on 7-day approval; you have to pay upfront, then if you don't like the piece you get a refund minus a small handling charge of I think two squid.

Cheers, Bob

 

[Greywolf]

Peter you're in Oldham,

The best places up here are:

Johnny Roadhouse on Oxford Rd in Manchester. They have space to practise and they'll give you the time and help, with the added bonus sometimes of a chat with Johnny himself if he's in the shop.

Better still is Woodwind Exchange on Manningham Lane in Bradford. It's in the basement of a big music shop which used to be called Woods but is now called Williams.

You'll get a room, a box full of mouthpieces, cups of tea and any help you need. Stewart and Lynda are really nice and helpful.

 

[Rogerb]

That was what I was *trying* to say in my edited post Greywolf ... must've pressed t'wrong button 🙁

There's a list of 'local' sax dealers on Bill Lewington's site:
http://www.bill-lewington.com/Dealers/ukwyork.htm

 

[jambo]

Maybe we shoul do a complete thread devoted to good sax shops.

We could do a list of names including location

 

[pauloalto]

Good idea!

 

[peter_fitton]

Thanks everyone. Excellent advice and links as usual. Will probably make Johnny Roadhouse my first port of call, cheers Greywolf.

Will probably have to wait till next month now though as some emergency car repairs have just wiped out my mouthpiece upgrade budget for now 🙁 :cry:

Cheers

Peter

 

[jambo]

Have you read the Mouthpiece info on Sax.co.uk?

They normally give some pretty good reviews on teh kind of tones the different mp's give. For a warm tone id recommend a hard rubber moutpiece with a round chamber..... like a Yanagisawa