10mfan Robusto 7 (3-D printed)
First impressions: Wow, this mouthpiece sure is heavy. Of course, this is the first 3-D printed mouthpiece I've ever played, but I wasn't quite expecting how dense and hefty the material is. The facing work is very nice, as I had expected. Interestingly enough, this piece failed the suction test, which had initially given me pause, but my concerns thankfully ended up being unfounded.
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Reed Friendliness: I had three types of jazz reeds on me: Vandoren ZZ 3.5, Vandoren ZZ 3, and Vandoren Green Java 3s. The Robusto played well with all three, but the Javas sounded the best by far.
Response: Effortless. My Mark VII tenor needs a repad, as it's still on its original pads (in my defense, I bought it less than three months ago and the repair place I go to is backed up until Thanksgiving). That said, you'd never know it if you played the Robusto. I bought this to compare to the Early Babbitt Tone Edge that came with the horn, and the response is nearly identical (which is obviously a compliment), but with a little more stability in the spatula keys, which is always a plus.
Tone/dynamic flexibility: Big, open, cavernous, spread. It has the kind of tone that makes you want to play it all night. The low end is huge on this mouthpiece. It brightens up a little around G2 into the palm keys, but still retains a nice balance of highs and lows with a pleasant buzziness that isn't overpowering. I kept switching between it and my Early Babbitt, and while the two sound very similar, the Robusto has a certain je n'ai c'est pas that made me keep coming back to it. The EB is more focused, I think, while the Robusto brings has a spread quality that makes the horn sound like something older and more American than a Selmer from the mid-1970s.
Conclusion: I bought this piece because it was a way to play around with a mouthpiece I've wanted to try for a while at an affordable price. I didn't want a replacement for my EB, and I didn't expect to find one.
And yet...
I really, really like my EB Link. It plays beautifully, and it's not the sort of piece you part with easily. It's nice to own a classic mouthpiece- especially one that I stumbled into without having to pay extra for it- and it just sounds so nice. But the Robusto gives me pause. A lot of pause. After all, if I got all this from a 3-D printed mouthpiece, I can't imagine what the real hard rubber versions sound like- but boy, do I want to find out. I need more time to play around with both pieces to see if I really want to sell the EB to pay for a HR Robusto. But the more I think about the Robusto, the more I like it. Man, when 10mfan said he wanted to get people to leave their vintage pieces behind, he wasn't screwing around.
Thanks to almost halfway for the piece. And of course, thanks to 10mfan for making something magical.