Soprano mpc similarities

[ConnChu]

I recently entered the world of soprano sax, having been playing mainly tenor. I am playing a late 20's Buescher TT sop. Of course, the first thing I needed to do was to find the appropriate mpc for my playing style, which is jazz/pop. The four I have tried are

Selmer S80 (rubber)
Bari Esprit (plastic)
Link Tone Edge (rubber)
Rico Royal Graftonite (plastic)

Each one offers a different degree of resistance, but they all sound similar to my ears. With tenor mpc, there is a very wide range of tonal differences -- it is unmistakable. Did I just happen to pick 4 sop mpc that have close tonal similarities? I'm not complaining, just wondering if this is generally the case with sop mpc.

[singlereed]

I wouldn't say those four are especially similar. Maybe, moving from tenor it will take a bit of playing to get the subtleties out of a given piece, but come to think of it, I still sound like me on soprano whether playing any of the following I have owned; S80, Yani HR, Selmer Metal Classic, Jody Jazz, Runyon Quantum Spoiler - probably just as varied as the lot you tried! I actually reckon the S80 in E facing is the one I come back to and I treid it against lots of much more expensive mouthpieces. It just seems to do the job, and is not too much money.

[Buster]

If you try to count up all the completely different tenor sounds you have heard - all the different players and all the different styles of music - and compare this to the number of soprano sounds you can think of you will understand that there is not the same obvious differences between soprano mouthpieces as there is with tenors. I have been in the same position as you and have ended up opting for a piece that blows comfortably and lets me play easily from top to bottom - a Vandoren.

[Razzy]

Soprano just doesn't seem to have the range of different timbres possible as the other saxes. In fact, an observation I've made is that the larger the instrument, the more the tone depends on the mouthpiece. the smaller, the more it depends on the instrument. It could just be that as you go lower in pitch, the more curves you'll have in your instrument. Soprano has none or a half (for a straight sop), alto has 2, tenor has 3, and bari has, I dunno, 4? Can't think of exactly what that upper part looks like hehe.

[Howlin]

It is just that the human ear has difficulty discerning timbral differences in the higher frequencies :wink:
For a hotter sound you gotta try metal!

[Dave Dolson]

I agree that players need to experiment to determine what works best - for them, but I disagree that a metal mouthpiece is any hotter than a hard-rubber (or whatever) mouthpiece. Try metal, but don't think that just because it is metal that it is better because of that. DAVE

[Thomas]

Soprano just doesn't seem to have the range of different timbres possible as the other saxes.

Razzy,
Man what are you thinking? The soprano saxophone played by an experienced player is at least as, if not more flexible than A,T, or B,and is specifically mpc and reed dependent! Hopefully you were tired or your conciousness was somehow altered when you made this frivolious and just plain wrong assertion. My two sops, 1 straight, 1 curved can sound like 8 different horns depending on the setup I choose for a situation.

[Frank D]

I think you had it right from the beginning, those pieces are fairly similar - medium to open chamber, no baffle. The differences in sop pieces are a bit more subtle, and will probably become more noticeable to you with experience. While I don't have as big a collection of sop pieces as I do tenor, I find that they do fall into two groups: On one hand I have a HR Runyon Custom and a metal Bari Gold, both fairly bright pieces. These are medium chamber pieces with a bit of baffle. On the opposite pole, I have a HR Bari, a larger chamber piece, which offers a rounder sound. Since I'm playing a YSS-475 which is a fairly bright horn, I like the HR Bari to even out the setup.

If you start trying some more extreme pieces, you'll find that they'll have more effect on the tone. Just beware that with that vintage sop, a small chamber high baffle piece may not work out very well. Try researching the soprano and mouthpiece threads, this topic has been discussed to death.

[ConnChu]

On my Buescher soprano I am becoming more and more attached to the Link mpc. That fits the pattern. On my old Martin tenor the Link beat out about a dozen others. And on my Conn Chu alto, again the Link plays and sounds the best. BTW, as you might have guessed, dark and mellow is my tone preference on my saxes.