Very good! I have been using a Berg Larsen metal for many years, and I was going to buy a JodyJazz HR to get easier for the bass, but a saxophonist friend gave me this Vandoren V16, and from what I see here, it's worth more.
On the strength of your review and another of your videos I bought this mouthpiece, a second hand one for £77 on eBay. It's truly amazing, easy blowing, fantastic tone, in tune on my '69 MK6, whispering down to Bb and so much power when it's needed, altissimo sings. I'm playing with a Venn synthetic 2.5. It came Friday and I gigged it Sat. I've lost count of how many mps I've bought tried and sold as they didn't tick all the boxes for me - Links, Jody Jazz, Runyon, Berg Larson etc. The T6 is just incredible. Many thanks for the review.
Good evening. Thank you so much for taking the time to make these videos. They help me a lot when choosing a mouthpiece. I wish health and success. Thank you very much. 👏👏👏🎷👌✌🙌🙌🙌
Hi sir, I love how my v16 5s+ sound on my alto alot. I'm wondering if the tip opening on this T6 would be too much for me as a beginner tenor player? I've been playing alto and sops for 2 years now.
I have the T8 and love it with 3's and a simple cloth strap lig. Great for the price. A little too dark for one of my horns, but perfect for the other. I can dream of getting your range and abilities, but I won't make it.
Great playing, you fly on that horn for sure , and your reviews are excellent. I love watching your videos and you have a great way in explaining things. Do you think a V16 HR T6 Large chamber will be harder to blow? And what about sub toning? Does a larger chamber makes sub-toning easier/more stable to play in the low register?
Usually, a large chamber mouthpiece will offer greater ease in the low sub-tone register and should be easier to play. Keep in mind, the tip opening choice will be really important also.
@@Sirvalorsax Thanks for the reply. I have a Vandoren TL4, a T35 and a Java T75, and I have a V16 HR T7L on order. Hopefully, sound-wise this will offer something that my other mouthpieces don't.
Hi. I am more advanced than a beginner and far for the short time I play. Is the choice of the t6 correct, or what makes the t6 or t7? And what kind of reeds and what kind of ligature do you use? Is it worth buying a more expensive ligature? Thanks in advance, sorry for my not best english, im from germany Edit: Would you recommend this mouthpiece in 2020?
Yes, absolutely. This is a great mouthpiece for anyone at any skill level. I use the regular ligature for this and I would recommend upgrading the ligature but not an expensive one at your current skill level. I would keep the price at less than $100 US.
@@Sirvalorsax thank you. I have one of these with a #7 tip but i think it's too open for me right now. I'm going to put it aside for a few months and come back to it later. You get such a great sound out of it.
There are more facings available than the ones you find from the big American music store distributors for this piece if you are interested in buying one.
I play a Cannonball Vintage Reborn tenor with dark amber lacquer. I just bought an Allora soprano sax that I will be reviewing shortly. Thanks for tuning in
Thank you so much for your reply! I was actually trying to get my hands on a Cannonball for trial. You sound absolutely awesome and really sold it to me!!
Thanks for another great mpc review video, you really do a nice job and of course always enjoy hearing you play them. If you don't mind, I have a few questions: 1) how do you decide which tip opening, ex: T6 versus T55 versus T35? I'm struggling with my current mpc which is a 7* and am thinking about going to a 6* equivalent. 2) which do you find is an easier blowing your Vandoren V16 or Jumbo Java? I play a Series III Tenor and am looking for something that doesn't make jumping to the lower register very difficult. and finally 3) you really sound awesome on all your videos, how about making a "here's what I practice" video so we can start working on sounding as great as you :).
Hello and thanks for the great suggestions. I usually try to use the smallest tip opening with the smallest reed number that allows me to play 4 1/2 octaves and gives me the feel that is comfortable. Right now I'm about a 0.095 tip opening with 2.5 Vandoren Red Box Java's. If it feels right, I can dial in the sound with better reed choices. So many people start with trying to find the mouthpiece that sounds right but I think this is a logical but backwards approach. My Theo Wanne Datta is a 7* and it is way too open BUT, the Mantra 7* was the perfect opening for that piece. As far as the V16 (hard rubber) vs the Jumbo Java, the JJ is more open but I still find it a little easier (less resistance) to play. Classical mouthpieces usually have a very small chamber and are much more resistant. I pick smaller tip openings with those. My Selmer Soloist (using Blue Box #2's) is the hardest setup for me to play on. THE SMALLEST TIP OPENING in my collection WITH THE "SOFTEST" REEDS ARE THE MOST RESISTANT. What piece are you playing on that is the 7*?
Hi Adriene, thanks for replying. I really appreciate your insight & opinion. I'm playing on modified Kessler OL7Pro (Kesslerandsons.com out of Vegas). I sent it to Phil Engleman in France and he adjusted it to be like his Eclipse model (phil-tone.com/tenor/eclipse) but haven't had much luck with my usual Jazz Select reeds, normally play 2H or 2M so I'm going to try Java and Java Red at 2.5 per his suggestion. We'll see how it goes, although I am still strongly considering the V16 T6 given the smaller tip I was thinking it might be easier to blow (as I'm not a blowhard) and don't want to struggle when jumping to the lower register. I will try softer reeds (2 strength) if the Java / Java Red 2.5's aren't easy enough to manipulate throughout the horn. I appreciate any additional thoughts or suggestions you might have as well, also I'm primarily playing jazz currently. Cheers and best regards, Mike
I almost bought a soprano sax from there but I didn't know they made mouthpieces also. Some companies have a full return trail period on mouthpieces so you can try them with no obligation to keep them. I would suggest playing as many gigs in many different venues to get the best idea of how they respond acoustically before you agree on "the one". Also there is usually a return time limit and equal condition policy. Also record yourself and see if you can actually hear the difference in the recordings for the different pieces. Almost always there isn't as much of a difference that gets outside of the horn as we think. Good Luck and let me know how it goes!!!
@@Sirvalorsax I just wanted to follow up and let you know that my Hard Rubber V16 T6 arrived from Amazon today and even after just one practice session I can tell this is going to be a good one for a while. Thanks again for both making the demo video and answering my questions. You definitely helped my decision and #Vandoren should "get smart" and put you on their staff as you do a very thorough job with the mouthpiece reviews and are obviously capable of putting them through their paces too. Happy Holidays and best wishes in 2019. I'm looking forward to more of you videos in the New Year. Cheers!
Cool and thanks! I'll be picking up a D'Addario marble mouthpiece tomorrow and a video review will soon follow. I hope the new mouthpiece works well for you.
Thanks for tuning in to my channel!! I think if I had a more open facing for the Rico, I would prefer it over the Vandoren Ebonite T6. My reasons are as follows: 1. The facing of the Rico caused some intonation issues with the (5), but overall was a great sounding piece. 2. As for the Ebonite Vandoren, I have too many mouthpieces that are like it or kind of do the same thing. As it stands though, I prefer the T6 Ebonite over the Rico. I might be getting the more open facings for the Rico since they only cost $28 each sometime before 2019.
@@Sirvalorsax thanks man. I just called some dealer and he said the V16 was a better choice if you wanted a new vintage otto linke because the links are so inconsistent. But to me they sound way different! Which did you like better?
@@stangetz534 I had to work on my hard rubber Modern Vintage Otto Link but the Ebonite Vandoren played great right from the box. Luckily, they are both not very expensive if you wanted to get both of them. I use them for two different things but my choice is the Vandoren mainly because of its consistency.
@@Sirvalorsax Is the video of you playing the hard rubber link 5* after you worked on it? Or have you worked on it since. Also, if its playing right, would you sell it to me? Btw $120 is a lot of money to most musicians! LOL
I might be done with mouthpiece reviews for a little while $$$. I am really interested in the Jody pieces though. I just need to find a much cheaper way to do it. Thanks for tuning in
So I’ve been playing on a Yamaha 5-c for my whole saxophone career but when I joined my college big band I bought a Vandoren V 16 t6 but when ever I try to play it I’m insanely sharp (even with the mouth piece on the very edge of the neck) and I can’t get any notes out unless I play loud and when I do it sounds like a dying cat. And I don’t know if it’s just me but the facing is really big compared to other mouth pieces I’ve seen so it there something I’m doing wrong because I really need help because because now i have a 200 dollar mouth piece that I don’t even use
I would ask to try the mouthpiece of some of your college band mates to see if its you or your mouthpiece. Or even have them try your mouthpiece to see if they are having the same problem. The 4c and 5c are really close facing mouthpieces so you might want to change reed strengths or reed brand as well. Good Luck
For me in general, anything more than a .0105 tip opening is too much. I found that the HR T6 feels small so either stiffer reeds or a T7. My sweet spot is 0.095 or 6*
Yes and no. I wanted to use the same reed for the T6 and the metal T6 for the video. It seemed a little soft on this piece and a little stiff on the gold plated one.
I used the exact same reed on this mouthpiece as I did on the metal T6 in order to see how different they are from each other. I use Vandoren Redbox #2.5. In my opinion, one is not the metal/hard rubber version of the other. Thanks for tuning in to my channel
Have you ever (or any one else) bought a Vandoren mouthpiece from an established local shop? Buying from Amazon sometimes leaves you open for copies. If buying from a third-party retailer selling through Amazon (no matter what the product is). For items I truly care about (getting an authentic "copy") I buy in-person. I wonder if ALL Vandoren mouthpieces come packaged like yours. Selmers come with at least a faux velvet pouch and includes company literature mentioning their other products. I think Jody jazz mouth pieces come in a pouch as well...or do they come in a wooden box? Forget..
Years ago I bought some Vandoren mouthpieces from a "local store" but because I'm in the travel industry, its almost impossible to do this now. The only issue I've ever had was through Woodwind and Brasswind. I ordered 5 boxes of 2.5 Vandoren reeds and they sent me 5 boxes of 1's!!!!! I bought it through their website too. Also, the Theo Wanne Datta 7* that I bought on Amazon (via Woodwind and Brasswind) was supposed to be metal and they sent me the hard rubber!! I talked about this in the review I did on this piece. I try to avoid WWBB as the 3rd party carrier AT ALL COSTS!
I'm using the garbage cheap standard on it for now. I can feel how it affects the low end. This piece excels in the low register so I plan to remedy this if I plan to play this piece more. I'm looking into the Silverstein for my Metal T6 though.
What a production intro! Mouthpiece junkie much? I feel your pain. No lig is better than getting a cr*ppy Rico H with your $600 Jody Jazz. You are a monster Sir! So, you don't give your impression of it?
In general I try to let people make up their own mind. I'm not endorsed by any of these companies and as they say "One man's junk is another man's treasure". Unless I am completely blown away or disappointed, I usually just play it to the best of what I think the manufacturer had in mind.
