sax setup

[saxguy9345]

I recently purchased a Yanagisawa A992. While the stock ebonite mouthpiece is alright, I feel like I need something more. I've never played around with mouthpiece / ligature / reed setups and I just want some good opinions on what I should look for.

Current setup:
Yanagisawa A992
Yanagisawa hard ebonite mouthpiece (stock)
Med. Hard La Voz reeds

Some specifics = metal, rubber, or ebonite mouthpiece? Different sounds?
What kind of reed / ligature works really well for everyone?


Another thing to keep in mind ~ I am planning on doing some solo work with piano accomp. at a coffe house in town, I also lead the jazz band at school as well as first sax in concert band. So basically, something thats very flexable and will possibly give me an edge in the jazz band but enough tone control and mellow sound for the lounge work (if there is such a thing...) I hope everyone can help me with this one as much as you did on deciding which new sax to buy (THANKS A MILLION)

~ SaxGuy

[Dave Dolson]

Saxguy: While everyone reacts to mouthpieces differently, I recently tried a new Semer Soloist F (HR) on my A992 and that's it for me, after years of Meyers and Barones. I use the Soloists on my A992 as well as my old silver Buescher TT - same results . . . perfect intonation, great response, great projection, and a focused tone reminiscent of my heroes in jazz (the old guys like Bechet, Dodds, Hodges, Tram, etc.). DAVE

[Gandalfe]

After Dave Dolson and SaxManGlen recommended the Selmer Soloist, I got one. It is my favorite SOP mouthpiece. I use an old Otto Link Tone Edge for my alto. But those are probably hard to find.

[puresaxman]

mouthpieces make all the difference in the world.
reeds make some differences depends on where the are from, they might be french cane or american.
selmer makes some awesome mouthpieces.
the c* is a good one to start with its stock with their supra80 horn.
the one i have is the selmer LT (larry teal) for regular playing nothing else goes on my horn other than that. except for my dukoff d9 which is my rip it open mouthpiece probably the best for jazz and rock.

[wolfe]

Saxguy, you may want to take a look at the Premiere by Hite. I've been using this mouthpiece for a couple of years now (although it needs to be replaced because of some wear on the tip) and it's worked well for going back and forth between jazz and classical. It's not very expensive at all, however if you don't mind spending a bit more money, you may want to buy two mpcs. I also have a selmer C* and that gives me a very beautiful, warm tone when used with an olivieri 3 on the yani A991 (I use vandorens 3 1/2 with the premiere). I've also used the Dukoff that puresaxman mentioned, and I agree, it is a real tear it up sort of mpc, altough personally I don't think I would use it in a jazz band sax section, I think you might run into some problems with blending.

Your best bet would be to try out some of these mouthpieces and find which ones give you the best sound.
Good Luck,
-wolfe

[singlereed]

The Yanagisawa mouthpiece is actually very good, do try some other reeds and maybe a different ligature before you rule it out. That said, I recommend Vandoren mouthpieces on alto, an A28 or A35 for most things, or you might like to try an A6S to give your sound a bit more edge and drive without losing subtlety and tone quality.

[Tama]

What kind of style do you want? I play Beechler, and find it highly adaptive. Also, I put an Olegiture on top of that, and can get a Bright, or Dark, open, and an in tune sound. I love it, and they way it feels is great!