What's the best alto sax mouthpiece on Amazon for under $100? We check out the Otto Link Tone Edge, a great budget mouthpiece on Amazon Prime. 🎷🎷Free Saxophone Exercises: www.thesaxophoneacademy.com
That’s very kind, Steve. I feel like I can find my aesthetic on almost any mouthpiece, paired with the right reed. But, I really liked the “feel” of this one. Good balance of resistance and color. But for the record, my intonation is terrible on the garden hose.
When I was in USAF bands, (24 years,) we did concert band performances all over America, and in the middle of the concert, we switched from symphonic literature to swinging Glenn Miller style jazz. I had to be all ready for blowing lead alto, but I had to play quietly and blend in behind the oboes for the first part of the concert. I found that the Otto Link 5, a slant signature model from the 50's, was perfect to get the job done! It wailed on In the Mood, but was perfect for Holst military suite in Eb. I also had a link 5* that was a bit more aggressive in addition to my Meyer 7MM's. I had one conductor tell me I was a bit too loud once, and it was on Russian Christmas by Alfred Reed, so I learned my lesson. Bottom Line, alto Otto Link Tone Edge hard rubber mouthpieces are a real bargain, and they're the real deal for jazz (and classical) !
Having played in an orchestral band for a few years, I'm right with you on the need to blend in ☺️. Conductor/Band Leader sometimes wants the Sax section to play super quiet...takes a LOT of control. Agree the Otto Link Tone Edge has great dynamics with a lovely warm/smooth sound.
I had played an Otto Link 6* (Hard rubber) for about 8 years before I switched to Vandoren. Otto Link has been a solid mouthpiece! I had even played an Otto Link 5 for classical! It played in my opinion better than a Selmer CS80! As a ligature, I used a Daniel Bonade Model from Leblanc.
I really love your channel. The content as well as the presentation are marvelous with with the right mixture of useful info, nice playing and tasty humour. Very well done, Dr. Wallace. Thank you and keep 'em coming!
I've bought the Otto Link 6 for all of my 3 saxes, even for my clarinet. It's so comfortable to play. Now i've combined them with a expensive ligature from BG, LDT1. That improves the sound for another 15 % !! Definitly !! The ligature is more expensive than the mouthpiece.🙈 I'm on your side with that mouthpiece! Thanks!
My favorite mouthpiece is Barkley Meritage Shadow on my soprano (also available for tenor and alto). Barkley is a Brazilian mouthpiece brand. Scott Paddock uses a Pop Kustom 7 on his alto. Many thanks for the great review.
I'm young in saxophone experience, and learning as quickly as I can, but I have found that for my 1922 Martin Handcraft, the unmarked vintage mouthpiece that came with it is the easiest to play and produces the most beautiful sound quality, as compared to the D'Addario Select Jazz or Jody Jazz HR. The hollowed concave sidewalls are also easier on my developing embouchure.
I bought one of those in college and it was my main mouthpiece for a long time. I like my D'Addario Jazz Select piece a little better, but if I didn't have that, I'd still be playing the Tone Edge. It's nice and versatile too. I think it proves how overpriced lots of mouthpieces are.
ive used the same mouthpiece for years now on both tenor and alto sax it fits both. i paid £156.00 when i bought it . its still going strong i would never change it. well happy.
My favorite Hard Rubber (for a decent cost) is the Rousseau JDX Alto piece. Something about it just "fits" my 1960's Noblet. I have had no quality issues with mine, which I have heard as a knock on them - maybe I just got lucky!
Great review. I'd love to hear you playing on a Vandoren Jumbo Java (A35) and have your opinion. You get a great tone out of the Otto Link and It'd be nice to have a similar review of the Jumbo Java played with the same smooth jazz style (without peeling off the walls.)Thanks in advance.
One of my students bought one of these while he was getting his sax repaired. He's a beginner, we had discussed mouthpieces and agreed that he would need to upgrade from his Yamaha 4C eventually, so he jumped the gun a little bit. I usually don't recommend Otto Links on alto, but it definitely improved his sound.
it's a nice piece. Interestingly enough, I'm reviewing a piece this week for $70 that I think is even better. As for jumping the gun: before the internet I couldn't convince my students TO upgrade their mouthpiece. After the internet: "Dr. Wally, I think I need a hand faced gold plated limited edition....."
I ha ve been using the ottolink "Tòne edge", for years, on Tenor and alto, and can honestly say they are the business. I have tried vandoren and meyer, but i still go back to my Link.
I've been playing very little recently, but last session I played a Bilger Morgan 4M and a Vandoren A27 back and forth. And I still like my S80 C* quite a lot, though it's intonation on my JK is not good.
Thank you very much Sir Most of the up grades lve made of recent are from watching your videos.Once again thak you very much. For everyone living in small poor developing countries the price is always important.Keep it this way Sir.
Ordered the Gummy Bear, molded a part of it into a mouthpiece and ate the rest. Win win! My favorite budget mouthpiece for alto is a Schagerl hard rubber copy of a Meyer mouthpiece, they sold it for 55 Euros. Great sounding piece with perfect craftsmanship and even a metal collar, unfortunately they don't make it anymore.
Yesterday I actually managed to pick up a lightly used meyer for just 50 bucks! If you can get over to a brick and mortar music store and look at their open box selection, you could probably get a great piece for a bargain.
I was playing tenor sax for a community jazz band and was NOT happy with my Berg Laursen metal MP. There is a local store that will allow you to testdrive MPs. I wanted a darker sound than the Berg provided and found the Otto Link Tone Edge to be EXACTLY what I wanted. Glad to see/heat that the line works for the alto. I am seriously thinking of getting one for bar. I should include that I use a Rovner ligature and Fibrecell reeeds.
The stock ligature is made by American Plating and Manufacture in Chicago. It is not as bad as he says. You can oil the screws, you can custom bend it to fit the reed better and not dig in to the reed. Once broken in those old stock ligatures have a core vintage sound and look too, once the shininess wears away. Joe Henderson used a stock lig like this that uses the American 6-32 screws. To shape the ligature, use a standard Shure 58 microphone, it has the same taper as an alto mouthpiece.
Respectfully disagree. Yamaha and Selmer make stock ligatures I love. If you have to "bend" and "oil" a ligature, I honestly feel it's of bad quality. I do, however, appreciate that it does come with the mouthpiece (if it's someone's first mouthpiece).
@@drwallysax Yes the Selmer and Yamaha 2 screw ligs use metric ligature screws, and they are higher quality absolutely, but think of these APM, ligs as being American old school jazz ligatures. The kind used in the 30's, 40's, 50s,'and 60's before everyone went to Rovner in the 70's. The kind we used as kids, in the early 1970's. The standard jazz ligature, made from real brass, like what bird would have played.
I think of the saxophone (and the ligature too) as a simple machine. Machines require lubrication because of all the moving parts. Simple cork grease is perfect for ligature screws. Please join my facebook groups, "Bebop Saxophones", "Saxophone Ligature Screws", or my newest group called "Cork Grease Group". My years in the USAF Bands, exposed my horns to all sorts of adverse climates. I know you can relate, because of your military band background.
Thanks for this recommendation. As guitarist, I decided to come back to alto saxophone after many years but I struggled with my old Phil Barone mouthpiece which was a 7. I got a 5* Tone Edge. Much easier to play without getting discouraged. It seems to be made quite well. I agree the ligature is not up to the mark though.
I am finally getting around to taking jazz lessons as a beginner in grad school (for classical saxophone lol). I got refaced meyer off junkdude back in high school that I'm just now getting to use. It seems to be doing pretty well atm lol
That's great! I studied classical all through school as well - then I grew absolutely sick of the repertoire. I mean, does EVERY piece need multi phonics? Happy practicing, Joshua!
Those stock ligatures are made by American Plating and Manufacture in Chicago, also called AP&M. they have been around for about 120 years. Just use cork grease for the screws, and flip ligature to put the screws on the top of the mouthpiece with a slight piece of rubber electrical tape to protect mouthpiece. After awhile it will have the correct profile where it won't dig into the reed, when flipped to screws on bottom.
Bon jour. I am trying with a Claude Lakey 6-3* alto and my principal mouthpeace is a Vandoren V-16, 5, HR. Marvelles !!! Thancks for your savoir fare. Merci.😉
Beautiful sounds! Thank you. What mouth opening and reed combination do you recommend to alto sax beginners? I have a Yamaha 4C, which sounds very flat and soulless. I want to train on a good mouthpiece like Otto Link Tone Edge or Meyer. Please let me know your thoughts. Thank you for posting informative videos :-))
Well you have got very nice tones, not only with this Tone Edge, but also when you’re speaking. Haha! Btw, Tone Edge is my mouthpiece on alto and I love it to be honest. Good video!
I've had a Meyer from the 90s. Good mpc, then the 100th anniversary model came out. I sprung for that. Yes, to me a difference. More presecence in the 100. Or in other words, I like it better. I also have a Phil-Tone Rift. It's my main mpc. No comparison. The Rift kills it and might peel paint if you let it. But at $97 I might see this in the house. Thanks, good video
I have the Otto Link Tone Edge #7, which I got for about $75 a few years ago. The table needed a bit of flattening, but otherwise it a very good mouthpiece.
Hi Wally, I recently found my two Otto's in an old storage drawer, and started experimenting using my Plasticover reeds and a new beautiful heavyweight Jody Jazz ring-ligature. So far, so good, using my vintage #6 Otto. I noticed that rail-width is different while comparing this MP to the newer #7 Tone Edge. No one ever seems to mention the subtle difference in rail widths, I wonder why it's not always the same, considering reeds are uniform width, correct? My newer #7 Otto has a flairing width to the rails towards the tip which seems to not perfectly match my thinner reeds. What gives? (thanks!)
My favorite "budget" mouthpiece is the #7 stocked with my Yanagisawa W010. Yeah, yeah, I know, buying one new apart from the horn will run around $150, but I just bought one almost unplayed from ebay for $50! I think we as artists can sometimes look down on the stock mouthpieces that come with the horns, but if you buy a Selmer or a Yanagisawa perhaps you shouldn't. BTW, a link on alto has always been one of my favorite setups. Good choice professor!!
Hi dr. Wallace. My alto mouthpiece is Jodyjazz HR. I really like it on alto, very freeblowing and nice sound. What is your opinion about this mouthpiece?
Hey Giuseppe, they are very well made and I know a lot of pros who love them. The ones I've tried (admittedly few) seemed to be of high quality. Personally, I love a mid-century cool school aesthetic, so they're not my cup of tea. But, if you get the sound you want out of them, certainly no reason to change! Happy weekend!
Playing my old Keilwerth New King alto my favourite mouthpiece is a worn metal Lelandais Super Jazz 46. I bought it really cheap from a user of Sax-on-the-web. However, I recently bought a much newer Yamaha YAS-32, which is graded somewhere between a YAS-23 and a YAS-62. It is really nice, but I haven't found a suitable mouthpiece for it yet. The Lelandais will not slide in far enough on the cork to get in tune. And it sounds a little harsh on this Yamaha. I would like a relatively dark tone. Perhaps I will need an Otto Link - but which one...?
Maybe true at 1:28 that the Otto Link might not have been 'popular' with Alto players, but I read and have been informed that Johnny Hodges used an Otto Link Ebonite m/p. Maybe along with other m/p types at different stages of his career. Anyways, I reckon the Otto Link Tone Edge m/p gets that smooth laid back Jazz tone.
I regularly have my mouse pointer hover over 'buy now' on a Link Tone Edge, but I'm haunted by the knowledge that quality control isn't what it should be on these pieces and wimp out at the last second. After watching this, I think I'll just do it next time. Nike is gonna love me.
Wow, I'm using a Cannonball CAM 5 mpc (0.78, medium chamber, practically no baffle, and a typical facing length) and can't decide if it's worth a try to change to this, the Meyer, or even D'Addario or Vandoren..🤕 Thanks for the demos you've been doing.
Saxophone Academy - Great, thanks for the heads up! Been itching for a change, even though the current mouthpiece isn’t really a problem that I can tell. Great job, btw.
I vote for the Runyon model 22 although I have never tried it, only heard on youtube. Which one do you think is of the modern mouthpieces, the most similar to the Brilhart tonalin? Thank you.
I'm not sure there's a modern piece close to the Tonalin (that I'm aware of). BUT, a little birdie told me Selmer may re-boot the Ebolin (same shape, different material).
Bought a modern link 15 years ago and it was my main piece for 5 years on alto. I’ve bought several jj babit mouthpieces and never had issues. I agree not sure most students need vintage mps.
There's days where the strange orange color inside my Tonalin makes ME rethink vintage pieces. Babit gets a lot of unwarranted grief, for sure. Especially given their very reasonable prices. Thanks for chiming in, John!
I had one of these and didn't like it. The one I had a bit of a stuffy sound and was a bit too resistant for me and I just couldn't get a good sound out of it. I replaced it with a hard rubber Windcraft alto sax mouthpiece from Dawkes Music in the UK. It is a copy of a Meyer G mouthpiece and it plays a lot better for me than the Otto Link did.
Very surprised and impressed with the tone of a Link for alto sax. Is it my imagination or did I hear a touch or Desmond tone in that piece? If so, it could save me lots of $$
Wow great review! Which Phil-tone do you play? I have an old blue Vandoren Java from the 80s that my parents generously bought me when I was in high school, but it is um... a bit brighter than I like. Hahahaha... Perhaps when I want to redo the interior paint, I'll break it out more often.
Ha! It's certainly an assertive mouthpiece (I've got some friends who enjoy them). I play the Phil-tone Aurora, very easy and reed friendly. Happy Weekend, Sonho!
@@drwallysax you sound great on it with a certain Paul Desmond feel to your tone. I'm currently taking a break from the horn during this pandemic, but I'll have to consider phil for a x mas or birthday gift in the future. Not that pieces make the musician. I have no delusions. Like many hobbyists, I love a well made piece!
Well crafted gear is part of the fun! When I was filming my ligature review, I had all my ligatures out for the intro shot. My wife saw the collection...she did not look amused!
Hey, great video! I have a question, how much does the mouthpiece actually matter? I started my saxophone adventure about 4 months ago, but I wouldn't call myself a complete newbie due to my 4 years of prior experience on clarinet and how much I practice. By now I think my sound is decently developed and I'm not sure if I need a new mouthpiece or not. I am completely self-taught with the help of the internet and it seems like the internet cannot agree about how important a new mouthpiece is. I am using the basic mouthpiece that came with my sax. Sometimes I want to play an edgier sound but it doesn't seem to come out that way. Is this completely me or can a mouthpiece change help with that?
Assuming your mouthpiece is of adequate quality (no chips, cracks, or warped table), It's not a huge deal. Unless the mouthpiece has an unusually small or large tip opening, I can find a reed to make the piece work with my sound. I'd happily play a gig on a Yamaha 4C or other plastic "starter" piece (again, assuming it's not warped). Sound is a so much more a result of concept (listening and transcription), voicing (shape of oral cavity), and articulation. Playing along with a recording of your hero (or whoever you want to sound like) is MUCH more important than mouthpiece. But, sax players love mouthpieces. And admittedly, it's fun to experiment! Happy practicing! Dr. Wally
I've played on one of these for a while, but didn't care for it too much. It exaggerates the tone difference in registers (low register is bright and high register is thin). I prefer Runyon mouthpieces. They were also under $100, but unfortunately the company folded up, and they are no longer made.
I generally review pro equipment (here and on the podcasts). For a professional mouthpiece, I definitely consider it “budget.” Most of my colleagues (and adult students) tend to play on $300+ hand faced pieces. But, for 1/3 the price, I think it’s a good budget piece. What budget did you have in mind? Happy to help you find a piece if you’re in the market.
@@drwallysax G'day - thanks for your offer. I have quite a few vintage pieces hanging around here, those issued with old Donlnet's, Cousenon's for example - probably never know who made these. The list goes one. I recently purchased a new Barkley ZZ Vintage #5 for alto but the side rails were not uniform so it went back to the vendor. Hopefully they will soon have more stock. I am awaiting the delivery of a pre-loved Morgan Excalibre 7M. I play mostly on vintage horns and gravitate to the darker tonal characteristics. My prime interest at this point is assisting a very talented young local music who plays a contemporary Keilwerth tenor with Yanagisawa MP, loves Jazz and wants to add alto to her arsenal. Not sure what horn is gonna' suit her or what MP for that matter and this is what brought me here to the academy. Greetings from smoke covered Melbourne.
Gary Wilkinson Yamaha 4/5Cs are really solid piece! I played a 5C on bari in college (drove my prof nuts, but I preferred it over the “pro” pieces. They’re great lil’ workhorses to be sure.
Oh those tone edge ligatures are the absolute WORST lol... I bought the bari sax Tone Edge (6*) and It’s absolutely fantastic. But the ligature it came with was a TENOR LIGATURE. I couldn’t believe how bad it was. Like in your video they barely pass the legal definition for a ligature and cap...LOL
I heard of a guy who lost a finger trying to tighten one. Thumb just popped clean off. He claimed it was from a woodworking accident....I'm not so sure.
Still my go-to mouthpiece. But.....they are very inconsistent. No two Links play/feel the same; a good example will be great, a poor example will be sharing space in that mouthpiece retirement drawer we all have.
Ha! I have a retirement box. My wife gives me a very unpleased look every time she walks by the equivalent of our kids college savings in lil' hard rubber mistakes. happy weekend my friend!
I respectfully disagree. Having played professionally for over 20 years and taught saxophone at several American Universities, I feel quite capable of making a proper reed pairing with a. mouthpiece. The reed I selected was well suited for this particular mouthpiece. It's intended to produce a "warmer" vintage American jazz sound.
