[florian]

I had recently one of Phil's new Orion tenor mpcs in the mailbox. I was so curious because i own 2 Tonalin Brilhart mpcs that are not as open as i prefer in general. I always did like the sound but did not like the feeling while playing them because i never found the right reed to make the smaller tips work for me. Phil did say that the Orion mpcs are based on Brilharts and the chamber and baffle are similar to Tonalins. So i asked Phil whether my prefered opening of 8 was possible and i was lucky. Today i compared my Tonalins with Phil's Orion and i have to agree Chamber and Baffle are very very close (not all Tonalins are completely the same and even my 2 Tonalins are not identical) and also the horseshoe chamber looks pretty the same. If Phil would not have mentioned it that the material not being hard rubber i would not have noticed it immediately. Sometimes some mpcs out of resin react with my lips (often also very fast) but i had no problems with the Orion and i played it on several longer rehearsels the last days.
Soundwise i like it very much. It sounds very similar to my 7 Tonalin which i prefer of the 2 Tonalins i own. I even would say i like the Orion more. You could make it sound warm and soft or play with power. I had some rehearsels were we play old jazz and where i have to play with a different sound than the sound i use for groups who play more modern music. I easily could play both with the same mpc, exactly what i prefer. The lows could easily be played with subtone or with lots of power. Dynamics were also no problem.
Great mpc, at least for me. I review the Orion alto next which i also bought.

I just did a short take in the small time i had today. very very dry room with a zoom H4N. Too bad Soundclous always reduces loudness and quality (128bit).

https://soundcloud.com/user-844412529%2Forion-tenor-a

 

[minicooper]

Sounds great! I got mine in the mail last week, but i haven’t had time to try it out yet since all my free time had been going to painting my house and getting it ready to sell.

 

[Manitou]

I just did a short take in the small time i had today. very very dry room with a zoom H4N. Too bad Soundclous always reduces loudness and quality (128bit).

https://soundcloud.com/user-844412529%2Forion-tenor-a

thanks florian. any chance you could post something similar with your tonalin

 

[florian]

thanks florian. any chance you could post something similar with your tonalin

If i find the time i can try to do it next week.

 

[jazzznbluezzz]

Thanks for the clip Florian. It has indeed a very Tonalin like thick and deep tone.
Maybe an even deeper and bigger low end. I hear a lot of similar tonal characteristics of my Tonalin 7*.
Although that is a Streamline.

 

[Sigmund451]

Thanks for posting Florian.

And if players want the pieces can have more upper partials ie more baffle. I think soundcloud sucked some of them out of the recording. Anyway..like anything I make, they can be made to order.

 

[florian]

thanks florian. any chance you could post something similar with your tonalin

I finally had the time to do a comparison. I uploaded 2 new tracks to soundcloud. One Track is an Original Tonalin and the other the Orion from Philtone. Playing-wise i felt way better with the Orion. Tonecontrol was much easier for me. Sound-wise the Tonalin felt much more like a one trick pony while playing it compared to the Orion which gave me more possibilities to get the sound in different directions.

https://soundcloud.com/user-844412529%2Forion-tenor https://soundcloud.com/user-844412529%2Ftonalin-tenor

 

[mijderf]

Sometimes I cannot hear differences between mouthpieces. But this time I could hear it. The Orion seemed to have a more focused and cleaner tone. Although you did not play loudly, there were times that I could hear that the Orion had the potential for more dynamics. Nicely done!

 

[jazzznbluezzz]

Nice comparison. And indeed a notable difference. I am not sure if you did use the same reed on both
and if your distance from the mic was the same. The Tonalin seemed to be a tad louder and straight forward
with more presence and edge on top. The Orion sounds a teeny bit softer and gentle here but also warmer around the edges.
Based on these soundclips I would agree the Orion seems to have more room for dynamics and delicate playing. A beautiful thick tone.

 

[florian]

Nice comparison. And indeed a notable difference. I am not sure if you did use the same reed on both
and if your distance from the mic was the same. The Tonalin seemed to be a tad louder and straight forward
with more presence and edge on top. The Orion sounds a teeny bit softer and gentle here but also warmer around the edges.
Based on these soundclips I would agree the Orion seems to have more room for dynamics and delicate playing. A beautiful thick tone.

I used for both the same reed. I tried to play the Orion the way that it gets more in the direction and style of the recording of the Tonalin. So i tamed down the sound of the Orion a little bit because i wanted to see whether i could come close to this Tonalin. I think it is similar but not the same. I think i can shape the Sound on the Orion even darker but also brighter than on the Tonalin.
For me the Orion is far better, regarding loudness and straight forward playing. The Orion outplays this Tonalin by far. If i have wanted i could have had more edge, power and loudness on the Orion than on the Tonalin.

I only own this Tonalin (with an tip opening i can work with), so i can't say whether this one is a good example for a Tonalin mpc or not. The Sound of this Tonalin is nice but compared to other mpcs it is a lot more difficult to get all kind of different sounds out of it (while playing it felt like a one trick pony) and also to play it loud. I felt like i reached the highest volume much too soon. I would never use the Tonalin on a concert with a Soulband but with the Orion i could play swing of the 20ties on a dance, more modern jazz and also funky music without getting soundwise in trouble. If you know how to shape your sound you can get very different sounds out of the Orion. This flexibility i did not get with this Tonalin and i practised on the Tonalin for 2 days to get a feeling for the mpc, still the Orion would let me shape the sound so much easier and that is something i prefer and need because i am no fan of changing the mpc for every band you are playing in.

 

[jazzznbluezzz]

I thought it would be a nice idea to revive this thread and post an update.
A few months after the last post I decided to take the plunge and order an Orion tenor mpc from Phil.
I have been playing it on and off for around seven months now and I like to attest that if you are after the Brilhart tone on spades this the real McCoy. I really love playing it. Phil made mine a little more leaning to the brighter side. I admit it took a while for the it to grow on me and find the sweet spot. Like with many other mouthpieces.
Although it is modelled after a Tonalin model which is generally believed to sound a little softer on the edges as opposed to the Ebolin model, I think it compares very well to both. I have owned and played numbers of Brilhart pieces over the years but I must admit that the Orion gets me as close as it gets to the tone of Prez on a Conn tenor. It has the thickest core and warm and full tone and a nice edge on top of it when pushed a little.
It plays effortlessy from top to bottom. I am not much if an altissimo player so I better have no report on that. Like Florian said it is little more flexible and versatile compared to the average Tonalin.
Like many of us I have not yet been able to test it at a gig. Only on a few band rehearsals and this has become my favorite Brilhart. Great work, Phil!