Classical Mouthpiece Shootout!

[@joblack1838]

Thanks for doing some classical saxophone videos

[@tylera86]

As the occasional classical player, the selmer concept impression is spot on. It’s a bit less effort to switch between classical and commercial. The Claude Delangle catches my ear the most though. So many colors!

[@Joseph-tm5vv]

I love the classical videos. This video in particular is extremely helpful. Very comprehensive. I remember doing mouthpiece research many years ago and it was such a hassle. Now there is a guide with a REAL classical player doing the reviews. Great video.

[@GrotrianSeiler]

I will never tire of Jim’s videos, regardless of what he thinks. They’re just so polished. Great stuff

[@rebeccaarmitage60]

I have been waiting for this. It would be good to have more classical oriented content

[@SaxSon]

Exceptional video as always, and it's amazing to see more classical sax videos, and who better than our local RNCM professor, Rob Buckland! It's great to see him in this video after meeting him for the first time at the RNCM Sax Day back in September 2022! Fantastic vid, thanks guys ☺️ P.S. I'm on a Selmer S90 and I absolutely love how pure and sweet it can sound!

[@heaneymusic]

Wonderful comparison and great to hear Rob Buckland! One note on the S90: an equivalent tip to the S90 C* is actually an S90 190. The 180 is somewhat more closed, which perhaps explains Rob’s observations of the mouthpiece feeling more focused and clinical. Also, in the USA, the S90 190 is among the most played mouthpieces in college/university studios. In Japan, the smaller S90 tips are also very popular. More classical content! 👍

[@studiomontreux1995]

@@sparkshot289 it's the best saxophonist player

[@bobmatt5175]

The S90 series is the go to for professional playing. There are few professionals who still use a C star and none which are at the top of field, as far as I know

[@sparkshot289]

@@bobmatt5175 John Harle and Simon Haram entered the chat.

[@hail_sagan2830]

@@sparkshot289 Great, that’s two players. Now go down the list of Delangle, David, Michat, Wirth, Hirano, Sugawa, McAllister, Sullivan, Creviston…

[@sparkshot289]

@@hail_sagan2830 The point I was making is that it is absolutely possible for players to reach the top of the field playing S80s. In fact, Harle is perhaps the most important saxophone player the UK has ever had. The S90 isn't just some magic pill that is going to make you a professional. You could go down the list and find the likes of Eugene Rousseau, Rob Buckland (I know right?), Gerard McChrystal, Barry Cockcroft, Amy Dickson, Jess Gillam (she switched to a Meyer for more projection), Marcel Mule, Rudy Wiedeoft, Otis Murphy. Things get ridiculous if we have to start listing names to prove our point. The S90 is a good mouthpiece, but not the right tool for everyone and certainly not the benchmark. Nothing is, because everyone's bar is different. Let's just enjoy the music these guys play

[@richardmelkonian1345]

Wonderful conversation....thank you Jim and Rob. I went through most of these options about a month ago in your shop and walked away with the TM2 . This after playing my trusty Selmer Larry Teal (circa 1970) for the past 50 years! It was a great relief not to struggle so much with the lowest tones and the altissimo (may have been down to the refacing, which had given the LT the perfect 2 1/2 octaves (nearly!)).

[@lukeserrano62]

Excellent discussion. Great playing. Thanks!

[@michaeleubanks9020]

I really appreciate that you mentioned the TM1 reminded you of a Rousseau. I got a TM1 when it first came out and I couldn’t help but it made me think of the Rousseau NC4 I had 12 years ago.

[@xaviermarican4557]

I started with a Rousseau mouthpiece on the baritone saxophone and absolutely adore the sound of it to this day, but when I picked up the alto and got myself another Rousseau mouthpiece I found the sound to be full of static and hard to work with. Interesting that I’m not alone in this!

[@j.r.1210]

Good video. I've personally tried seven of the mouthpieces in this test. Currently, I'm playing the Backun Vocalise TM2. This piece is both easy to play and quite vibrant.

[@shanebentley5630]

The Rousseau pieces here, when are they from? My understanding is they were long made by Selmer, but now are made by Jody Jazz. I'm a fan of the (Selmer made) Rousseau pieces for myself, but recently found the tables on them were not (or no longer) flat. After I gave them a leveling and minor rail adjustments they played so much more consistently when It came to getting a good reed with them and of course much more effortless to play.

[@johnnysalinas]

Excellent video! Really enjoyed Rob’s playing and insight. I am currently playing Backun TM2 but I also keep going back and forth to my Selmer C*.

[@DocBree13]

I love my Selmer C*

[@spidertitan7236]

I just got a c* for my bari 😊

[@Ludovic07g]

I was hoping for the Yanagisawa AC...

[@jenejames3963]

I really like the S90 and D'addario Reserve sounds... open, clean, and vibrant sound.

[@AndrewSteffl]

First, amazing video as always! Your productions are really top notch! Minor quibble: through the play testing, you identified 3 mouthpieces you both thought really stood out, but you only identify them in passing. You really need some brief concluding remarks to highlight the mouthpieces that stood up above the rest. Yes, this will be a subjective decision, but a lot of us really *like* your subjective take on things--even if I don't always 100% share your personal aesthetics, you are so wonderfully open about them in these videos that I can calibrate my opinion based on yours. It would be double plus amazing to see this kind of in-depth review (i.e. similar play and then a discussion of player impressions) with a dozen or so modern jazz style mouthpieces.

[@ZiSlepovitch]

Great video, thank you! I have been a very happy player with my Selmer Claude Delangle mouthpiece- almost since the day it came out. Backun TM2 sounds like the closest thing to CD, if only with the high frequency spectrum slightly shaved off, more down the Vandoren AL5 / Selmer Concept alley- which, I imagine, would be a choice for many. Anyway, we and our setups are all different, and I have yet to try Backun TM2 to form my own informed opinion. At this point, based on this video and the one with Timothy McAllister demonstrating the TM2, is also quite clear that, with the Claude Delangle mouthpiece, I probably don't *need* TM2 in my arsenal. I wish they created a tenor edition of either TM2 or Claude Delangle though... On soprano, Concept works really fine.

[@michaeleubanks9020]

Last part of your comment really resonated with me. The soprano concept mouthpiece is just amazing.

[@zebrobson2639]

I personally have never had much success with the s80 or s90 Selmers at all, but absolutely adore the Soloist on my tenor, played a G facing and now an F. I have had more people surprised at the projection and tone from it than I'd have ever expected; most thinking I'm blowing through something far more open.

[@graydemunter5850]

Claude Delangle is the best IMHO. I play that also

[@jackdolphy8965]

The float of his left elbow with the AP3 must’ve helped 😹😹😹

[@DynamixWarePro]

Great comparison except you left out Chedeville RC mouthpieces which were designed as classical mouthpieces and it might have been good to have included them, especially since you included Rousseau mouthpieces both made by Jody Espina. I have a slight overbite due to my bottom jaw being slightly shorter so on alto saxophone, I have found wider tip mouthpieces too hard to play on. I can play on wider tip soprano mouthpieces, but on alto sax, it has to be narrower, which I don't mind as I prefer playing classical and traditional music on alto sax and more classical, jazz, pop on soprano. With the Vandoren Optimum, the 4 has a different feel than the 3 or 5 due to its medium-short facing compared to the medium-long of the 3 and 5. I have tried all sorts of mouthpieces and I have found many classical style alto sax mouthpieces are a bit too narrow for me. I prefer about a 1.65mm tip. Any narrower and even with a harder reed, I find the tip opening restrictive but around 1.65mm tip is the sweet spot for me. I have played a S80 C** and while it is easy enough to play, I don't like the tone I get as I prefer a rounder sound. I had a Concept but I found it a bit hard to play for some reason. I have a Concept for my soprano sax and find it easy to play and paired with a Legere European Cut clarinet reeds, its often my go to mouthpiece on soprano when I am not playing my Selmer Super Session E mouthpiece. I also had a modern Selmer Soloist and I like the sound I get on it, but I have noticed the low notes tend to be more resistant than the S80. I currently play on a Selmer Claude Delangle and like the extra projection and more colour in the sound I can get with it over the Soloist and S80 but it does feel more resistant and I can get fatigued quicker when playing on it as I can feel the weight of the metal bore on my lip. I have a JodyJazz HR* C*, not a commonly used tip for that mouthpiece. It is easy to play with a brighter sound and good projection, I just need to find a reed that suits it. I have a Chedeville RC 4, which I like as its dark but even without stuffiness and doesn't have much resistance. It can project well for a classical mouthpiece but finding ligatures for it was a bit tricky due to its more wedge shape, but I found a Vandoren M/O fits well on it.

[@CTMusic97]

I tried the CD, coming from a concept, and I didn’t like it. The density of the sound was good, but I just feel like it didn’t quite respond to the reeds I use quite how I liked. And I tried a half strength lower and it was just too bright for me. Try a half strength lower to help with the fatigue. I found that the bigger tip opening made my sound airy and had to work a little harder. it’s probably the bigger tip opening that’s causing the fatigue!

[@DynamixWarePro]

​@@CTMusic97 I have tried different reeds on my CD, D'Addario Reserve and Royal, Vandoren Traditional and Legere Signature and Classic reeds and I currently use Legere Signature 2.75. I went down to a 2.5 strength but found it too soft, buzzy and uncontrollable and 3 was too hard and a Classic reed was a bit too resistant. I also play on a Yanagisawa AWO2 saxophone and I can feel the weight of the bronze too which could be adding a little resistance and fatiguing me more as I used to play on Yamaha altos before getting the AWO2 and the Yamahas were lighter weight.

[@saxworldwide]

Hi Dave, well spotted re the Chedeville RC. However, this was intentional. Prior to shooting this video I was in conversation with the team at Jody mouthpieces and they have informed me that the plan moving forwards is to migrate the Chedeville sax models into the Rousseau brand. Therefore Chedeville sax mouthpieces will soon become obselete. It didn't make sense to immediately outdate the video, so we chose to exclude these mouthpieces.

[@j.r.1210]

I too have found the Selmer Concept to work better on soprano sax than alto sax. The sop version is nice and free-blowing, whereas the alto version always seems a little stuffy on the low end. Perhaps the facing just doesn't agree with me (too short?), even though I'm playing a Selmer Series III alto.

[@karencummins8820]

V12 reed, but what STRENGTH reed was he using?

[@Radjammin]

Interviewer is very good at interviewing. Well done. You post good questions and respond well, Watched a few of your videos.

[@tidnid1869]

Love classical sax vids

[@jayben7769]

Concept was lit 🔥

[@nickpetrov2939]

Great video! Need the same for soprano!

[@kristianborisov5928]

Very informative video. Thank you! Could I assume similar things for tenor with same models or not?

[@SaxSith]

A question- I just bought ap3 to play classical music and it turned out to be the best mp for jazz😊is that right or there is something wrong with me?😅with a green java 2,5. Is that a blasphemy?!😮😅

[@ThePaulWilliams]

@saxcouk Could you list what you picked out as the top 3? I picked up at least one or two along the way but I didn't catch a final review of the top 3.

[@williambergmusic]

Great video. What microphone was used for the playing demos?

[@leycroftcoman5487]

Excellent video i own and have played quite a few the S90 is my favourire on my SA80 11 the Concept is my least preferred .

[@AntonioTrejogallardo]

Podrían hacer una prueba de la classic metal en comparación con la Claude delangle?

[@walth2759]

Great video! Please do one for classical tenor mouthpieces :)

[@JamesExcell-InterJex]

The Backun TM2 and the Selmer Concept were my favorites. Great video!

[@陳宗南-v2z]

Why is Selmer SD20 not included？

[@bjarkifreyrbjarnason9419]

So can we know which mouthpieces were picked out as the 3 best ones?

[@halfabee]

Head spinning. Switched off and was not really listening suddenly I heard a sound I liked. Tried to find out the name of the mouthpiece and lost my location on the video. Hence I will never know.

[@AcevedoDMA]

Great video!

[@charry3464]

What ligature is he using in this?

[@benbaldwin9365]

looks like a Vandoren M|O

[@classified9668]

thats a nice SP selmer

[@stangetz534]

Would Paul Desmond choose a classical mouthpiece today?

[@dudemaster8575]

How much Jim told "Yeah"?

[@jacobdeaven7477]

Dissapointed to not see the Theo Wanne Water included.

[@j.r.1210]

The Water is a bit of an odd duck. It produces a nice warm sound when set up optimally, but it's reed-picky and also ligature-picky (very narrow body). It's also more resistant than you might expect. I think it's too eccentric overall to be a mainstream classical contender.

[@saxophoneclarinetsetc4554]

Thanks for this.I found it interesting and I am very glad you are making these kind of films and also that it with a player the caliber of Rob Buckland. I realise it is important to try to make the comparisons fair and objective.However using the same reed for different mouthpieces does not create a realistic test.Different mouthpieces have different resistances and so the same reed will be perfect/too hard or/too soft depending on the mouthpiece.If you have a real playing situation you will select the best reed you can.I am not sure how to square this circle, other than allowing the tester to use the best playing reed for each mouthpiece.

[@mr.melonlord229]

Dang no ER50 custom or classic

[@zxertsz]

unpopular opinion but i got the S90 for tenor sax and not a fan using the schools tenor p mauriat le bravo tenor sax

[@vivianastridge2167]

Nobody has asked for my opinion as to which mouthpiece sounded the most classical and the most pleasant, smooth and listenable for ever also with the minimum of the higher order partials and this would have to be the AL3 which is way ahead of the others for which the player had nevertheless good things to say which is understandable as the whole set up is commercial and mouthpieces have to be sold regardless. It was nevertheless\ the greatest pleasure to listen to this video.

[@Dany_Sax]

👍👍👍

[@studiomontreux1995]

Saxophone Selmer Silver Plated Alto Saxophone

[@j.r.1210]

To be specific, I think it's a Selmer Supreme, but it would be helpful if they confirmed that.

[@saxworldwide]

@@j.r.1210 I can confirm that it's a Supreme!

[@michaelweaver6933]

@@saxworldwide Officially, what were the three “top“ mouthpieces? I thought I remember hearing at the first time, but I just listen again, and I didn’t hear it…

[@super20dan]

the soloist sounded best next the s80.

[@DannyClassics]

They all sound the same.