Marco Pozzo kindly sent me a whole bunch of (SATB) Absolute mouthpieces to try.
http://absolutesax.com/store/index.php?route=common/home
Absolute tenor mouthpiece
The three models have completely different chamber designs. My pieces have a 9 or 9* facing. Quite similar feel.
They come with their original ligature: ring style for resin and alluminium, native, stunning, ligature for steel.
Soundclips are recorded with my unlacquered sequoia.
I did not bother too much to find a decent reed, I did not edit or equalized the clips. Just some reverb. Recorded with an unknown cheap condenser microphone.
recordings are just me messing around with a Bb groove on a rare, hot, London summer day
if you change .mp3 into .aif on the links, you get better quality, but slower loading.
Resin:
It seems to be machined from bar, showing file strokes from the hand finishing.
It has a pleasant colorful sound, very easy to blow. The price tag gives very qood value for money.
Very easy to play in tune: I did not have any issues in finding the correct position on the cork.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/resin.mp3
Alluminium:
I was very intrigued by this material.
It has a wonderful, hard to depict, matt black colour. No file strokes I could detect, but I assume it is still finished by hand.
Straight side rails, smallish oval throat, I was expecting a completely different sound.
It sounds much bigger than I thought, with a creamy quality. Very responsive and again, right in tune.
Quite resistant with all the reeds I tried.
Still very good value for money.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/alluminium.mp3
Steel:
Looking at it I was expecting a very edgy mouthpiece.
It is not.
It is a proper killer. I dared to play a function gig with it, on day one. That kind of gig where you decide, during the sound check, that you don't need a microphone, but later everyone gets much louder.
Big solid fat sound, with a great unexpected flexibility.
The ligature is a piece of art. I will try to ask mr. Pozzo to make something similar available for other mouthpieces.
SOTW member Barry Sachs tried it too (on my Sequoia) and sounded great on it. Another friend of mine found it quite easy blowing, for a 9*
Despite the fact that it has been scientifically demonstrated on the internet that material does not make a difference (please keep the can of worms closed), I am curious to know why they chose stainless steel.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/steel.mp3
http://absolutesax.com/store/index.php?route=common/home
Absolute tenor mouthpiece
The three models have completely different chamber designs. My pieces have a 9 or 9* facing. Quite similar feel.
They come with their original ligature: ring style for resin and alluminium, native, stunning, ligature for steel.
Soundclips are recorded with my unlacquered sequoia.
I did not bother too much to find a decent reed, I did not edit or equalized the clips. Just some reverb. Recorded with an unknown cheap condenser microphone.
recordings are just me messing around with a Bb groove on a rare, hot, London summer day
if you change .mp3 into .aif on the links, you get better quality, but slower loading.
Resin:
It seems to be machined from bar, showing file strokes from the hand finishing.
It has a pleasant colorful sound, very easy to blow. The price tag gives very qood value for money.
Very easy to play in tune: I did not have any issues in finding the correct position on the cork.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/resin.mp3
Alluminium:
I was very intrigued by this material.
It has a wonderful, hard to depict, matt black colour. No file strokes I could detect, but I assume it is still finished by hand.
Straight side rails, smallish oval throat, I was expecting a completely different sound.
It sounds much bigger than I thought, with a creamy quality. Very responsive and again, right in tune.
Quite resistant with all the reeds I tried.
Still very good value for money.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/alluminium.mp3
Steel:
Looking at it I was expecting a very edgy mouthpiece.
It is not.
It is a proper killer. I dared to play a function gig with it, on day one. That kind of gig where you decide, during the sound check, that you don't need a microphone, but later everyone gets much louder.
Big solid fat sound, with a great unexpected flexibility.
The ligature is a piece of art. I will try to ask mr. Pozzo to make something similar available for other mouthpieces.
SOTW member Barry Sachs tried it too (on my Sequoia) and sounded great on it. Another friend of mine found it quite easy blowing, for a 9*
Despite the fact that it has been scientifically demonstrated on the internet that material does not make a difference (please keep the can of worms closed), I am curious to know why they chose stainless steel.
http://www.aldevis.com/sequoia/absolutetenor/steel.mp3