What mouthpiece fits which horn?
- imsevimse
- Posts: 1765
- Joined: Apr 29, 2018
What mouthpiece fits which horn?
On bass I play mostly in big bands. On rehearsals I often experiment a lot with both models and mouthpieces. I
switch basses between rehearsals and bring approximately 5-6 mouthpieces. I learn a lot from this.
My goal is not to make a sound that puts the bass trombone in it's own section. My goal is that the bass sound should fit the section, to fit the small bore tenors, and the articulation on bass needs to be as smooth and crisp as the small bores, and both sound and articulation needs to work in the all registers, for me this means the music may include notes from contra f to high c.
What I've noticed:
- My experience with horns and mouthpieces is the horn and mouthpiece need to match. Whether the result is good or not depends on what you want.
- A certain sound at home might not be the best sound for the particular situation. I have discovered this to be true more than once. At home the tools seams to be right but then in the particular context it does not work.
- A mouthpiece that fits one horn and give a character there gives another character in another horn. If I wanr another result I can to some degree adjust and compensate for that.
- A lot of mouthpieces takes me very close to the same goal in one instrument and therefore fit that horn. Could be a little different but still in the spectra that fits the goal.
- Larger sounding horns, not really larger horns but horns that have been designed to make a larger sound takes me closer to the sound I want with smaller mouthpieces.
- I have come to the conclusion I can play a more "commercial" bass with a deeper/larger mouthpiece and still be able to make it fit the goal of my big band situation, but the same mouthpiece in a horn profiled towards a more classical sound takes the horn in another direction, not towards my goal.
- A smaller mouthpiece can give a fuller sound than a larger mouthpiece with some horns.
- I have discovered the benefits of having one larger mouthpiece in the pocket just in case one of those real low bass trombone parts appear where the bass trombone part is in its own section, then I just put that larger mouthpiece in the reciever. This is the exception, because I chose the smaller mouthpiece for everything that does not need that.I have also discovered it could be beneficial to also have one smaller mouthpiece in the pocket if the part requires for a solo in tenor register or if the part really is a tenor part. In that case the larger mouthpiece is the default mouthpiece for the horn. It could mean I need three mouthpieces if the concert demands this.
Normally I use lighter basses for big band but since this is a test to learn my equipment I do not limit my playing to those basses. During a year I bring every bass I have and the tests is I try to compensate with mouthpiece and technique to see if I can make the horns all get about the same result and fit the goal that I want.
The basses I test are mostly older basses. The newest is a Kanstul 1662 from 2013 and a Thomann bass from 2021. Older than 2000 are made by Holton, Conn, Bach, Martin, Olds, Yamaha, Benge and King. I have no thayer basses and no dual bore basses so there are a lot of newer basses and setups I can't experiment with.
My set of mouthpieces for the tests are Bach 2G, Kanstul 1 1/2 G, Hammond 20BL, Hammond 20BL "skeletonized", Kuron & Gilbert 0E and a Yamaha 60. I have a lot more but these are the ones I choose and like.
Thoughts?
/Tom
On bass I play mostly in big bands. On rehearsals I often experiment a lot with both models and mouthpieces. I
switch basses between rehearsals and bring approximately 5-6 mouthpieces. I learn a lot from this.
My goal is not to make a sound that puts the bass trombone in it's own section. My goal is that the bass sound should fit the section, to fit the small bore tenors, and the articulation on bass needs to be as smooth and crisp as the small bores, and both sound and articulation needs to work in the all registers, for me this means the music may include notes from contra f to high c.
What I've noticed:
- My experience with horns and mouthpieces is the horn and mouthpiece need to match. Whether the result is good or not depends on what you want.
- A certain sound at home might not be the best sound for the particular situation. I have discovered this to be true more than once. At home the tools seams to be right but then in the particular context it does not work.
- A mouthpiece that fits one horn and give a character there gives another character in another horn. If I wanr another result I can to some degree adjust and compensate for that.
- A lot of mouthpieces takes me very close to the same goal in one instrument and therefore fit that horn. Could be a little different but still in the spectra that fits the goal.
- Larger sounding horns, not really larger horns but horns that have been designed to make a larger sound takes me closer to the sound I want with smaller mouthpieces.
- I have come to the conclusion I can play a more "commercial" bass with a deeper/larger mouthpiece and still be able to make it fit the goal of my big band situation, but the same mouthpiece in a horn profiled towards a more classical sound takes the horn in another direction, not towards my goal.
- A smaller mouthpiece can give a fuller sound than a larger mouthpiece with some horns.
- I have discovered the benefits of having one larger mouthpiece in the pocket just in case one of those real low bass trombone parts appear where the bass trombone part is in its own section, then I just put that larger mouthpiece in the reciever. This is the exception, because I chose the smaller mouthpiece for everything that does not need that.I have also discovered it could be beneficial to also have one smaller mouthpiece in the pocket if the part requires for a solo in tenor register or if the part really is a tenor part. In that case the larger mouthpiece is the default mouthpiece for the horn. It could mean I need three mouthpieces if the concert demands this.
Normally I use lighter basses for big band but since this is a test to learn my equipment I do not limit my playing to those basses. During a year I bring every bass I have and the tests is I try to compensate with mouthpiece and technique to see if I can make the horns all get about the same result and fit the goal that I want.
The basses I test are mostly older basses. The newest is a Kanstul 1662 from 2013 and a Thomann bass from 2021. Older than 2000 are made by Holton, Conn, Bach, Martin, Olds, Yamaha, Benge and King. I have no thayer basses and no dual bore basses so there are a lot of newer basses and setups I can't experiment with.
My set of mouthpieces for the tests are Bach 2G, Kanstul 1 1/2 G, Hammond 20BL, Hammond 20BL "skeletonized", Kuron & Gilbert 0E and a Yamaha 60. I have a lot more but these are the ones I choose and like.
Thoughts?
/Tom
- imsevimse
- Posts: 1765
- Joined: Apr 29, 2018
Update
Today I played my Thomann bass with another big band, this was the second time I gave this horn a try in a band after Corona. I bought the horn this summer and have only played it at home.
The horn works good n the staff and in the trigger register and it works alright in a comfortable nuance in both the trigger and the pedalregister. I thought the rehearsal went rather well and liked the horn until the real heavy stuff was put on the stand.
Pedal Bb is what I think is my best note on any bass trombone usually, except on this Thomann bass. i noticed the pedals there are rather weak. I could not make a pedal pop out in a ff and there were many loud pedal Bb's in "Brass Machine"
Don't buy one of these horns if you want to play really loud pedals. It could be a good horn as you learn but don't buy one if you want to use it professionally.
I tried all my mouthpieces. The best result in total I got with my Kanstul 1 1/2G mouthpiece and the horn is shipped with a Bach 1 1/2 so it makes a lot of sense. The Bach 2G was what worked best with the pedal Bb's. The Yamaha 60 did not help the pedal register.
/Tom
Today I played my Thomann bass with another big band, this was the second time I gave this horn a try in a band after Corona. I bought the horn this summer and have only played it at home.
The horn works good n the staff and in the trigger register and it works alright in a comfortable nuance in both the trigger and the pedalregister. I thought the rehearsal went rather well and liked the horn until the real heavy stuff was put on the stand.
Pedal Bb is what I think is my best note on any bass trombone usually, except on this Thomann bass. i noticed the pedals there are rather weak. I could not make a pedal pop out in a ff and there were many loud pedal Bb's in "Brass Machine"
Don't buy one of these horns if you want to play really loud pedals. It could be a good horn as you learn but don't buy one if you want to use it professionally.
I tried all my mouthpieces. The best result in total I got with my Kanstul 1 1/2G mouthpiece and the horn is shipped with a Bach 1 1/2 so it makes a lot of sense. The Bach 2G was what worked best with the pedal Bb's. The Yamaha 60 did not help the pedal register.
/Tom