OttoLink STM metal alto mpc

[Andrea]

Anyone experienced with them on alto?
I think they copuld be very good players on alto, I have a Florida 6* and it's amazing. What's your opinion?

Andrea

[super20dan]

metal links on alto stink.

[Johannes Gerber]

I have posted this many times before. I used a recent one for quite some time, I had a good tone and could play well on it, and I liked it. All I did to it was fixing the table and lay, no baffle. Most people will get used to it after some time and HARD work. The chamber/baffle is designed like a tenor Link, they chose a poor combination for chamber size and baffle hight. Typically, an alto Link will require much more air than needed for the amount of volume.

Play an alto Link (thick tubby tone) and then take any medium chamber piece or even some of the medium-large chambers - this is not for all links, but most STM's on alto are dead ducks.

[BrianL]

I've played on a metal alto link for about a year and a half now. Though it is not the best piece out there, its a fairly good one at a reasonable price (around 90 bucks at saxquest.com, though I picked mine up for 75 on a clearence). I get a pretty good tone when played on my Yamaha 62II alto (And yes, I'm picking up the revised neck tomorrow for that horn). There's a lot better out there, but I'd say the metal link is a good 'step up' mouthpiece.

[baribri]

I would say that simply saying that metal Links on alto suck! Is a bit harsh. Sonny Stitt used one for most of his career and sounded great. There are some (if cats like using metal on alto) that are very good. I have a very early Pomano 7 Link for alto with the number on the side and a serial number on the other side of the shank, Super tone master and no USA engraved on the bottom and it is a great player. Again all a matter of who we are and what we want to sound like..

[Vortex]

But surely with a little chamber/baffle work they could be made more alto-like? I'd think that almost any mpc could be made to play reasonably well, but let's get onto how they sound. Do they have the gutsy quality of the tenor Link STM's or would Meyer still own them in tone? How's the balance of higher/lower partials?