[Richard901]

Video description
Dr. Wally Wallace puts the Meyer up against the D'Addario select jazz mouthpiece.
Which is a better option for your step up or first pro alto mouthpiece?

 

[Hassles]

Yeah - another informative presentation. A tough choice to make but I'm siding with the Meyer.

 

[BOPITY FUNK]

The D'Addario is probably more consistent overall, stock Meyers can be excellent or indifferent, I have both. Being a player of advanced years I've played Meyers for ever on alto and a couple of years ago got a D'Addario off Ebay quite cheaply in mint condition it came with a Rovner Platinum lig. I was very impressed and started to use it immediately with a standard brass 2 screw lig. I would certainly recommend these pieces.

 

[Saxydude]

Take-away: give two mediocre (in the sense that they're both mass-produced and, presumably, off-the-shelf) mouthpieces to a great player and he'll make either sound great.

To my surprise, I prefer the d'Addario: more focused, a bit cleaner (I hear more of the center of each note), and a shade brighter. Meyer sounded fuzzy and less defined.

Then again, I bet Dr. Wally would sound pretty similar on a 4C, too.

 

[Benjamin Allen]

It doesn't matter which of these pieces a player chooses though they are two totally different pieces and made in completely different manners. Either mouthpiece is fully capable of delivering exemplary performance for the duration of one's playing career. That said, I prefer Meyers (whether made by the Meyer Bros. or JJ Babbitt). It's a personal preference for the Meyer--nothing more.

 

[Hassles]

It doesn't matter which of these pieces a player chooses though they are two totally different pieces and made in completely different manners. Either mouthpiece is fully capable of delivering exemplary performance for the duration of one's playing career. That said, I prefer Meyers (whether made by the Meyer Bros. or JJ Babbitt). It's a personal preference for the Meyer--nothing more.

very very well said ;-)

 

[2phunkey4u]

It doesn't matter which of these pieces a player chooses though they are two totally different pieces and made in completely different manners. Either mouthpiece is fully capable of delivering exemplary performance for the duration of one's playing career. That said, I prefer Meyers (whether made by the Meyer Bros. or JJ Babbitt). It's a personal preference for the Meyer--nothing more.

How are they geometrically different? I never owned two at the same time. From what I remember, the Meyer had thinner rails and a bit more of a short baffle.

 

[Benjamin Allen]

How are they geometrically different? I never owned two at the same time. From what I remember, the Meyer had thinner rails and a bit more of a short baffle.

Offhand, the Meyer NY 100th Anniversary models have medium chambers; regular Meyers are available in different chamber configurations. The NY Meyer has a gradual smooth/long rollover baffle into a medium chamber with slightly reduced sidewalls (it beats me if they are truly scooped--perhaps minimally reduced). The D'Addario has a medium to low rollover baffle with a smaller chamber and clearly scooped out side walls. I don't have these pieces in front of me, but this is what I recollect--I could be mistaken.

What this means is that the pieces play differently--quite differently. The relevance of the internal geometry, after all, is in how the piece plays.

 

[Grumps]

What, D'Addario isn't happy just wrecking reeds they've got to wreck mouthpieces now?

 

[Benjamin Allen]

What, D'Addario isn't happy just wrecking reeds they've got to wreck mouthpieces now?

You have the best posts, Grumps. I'm not a fan of D'Addario's rebranding and whatever else of Rico's products. I became a Vandoren player to avoid D'Addario before I started playing Boston Sax Shop's reeds. I do miss the pretty wrapping paper Vandoren uses for each reed along with the color of their boxes. I wish I knew why Rico sold out to D'Addario.

You make me chuckle more than anyone else on the forum, and I do indeed take you seriously!

 

[Grumps]

You make me chuckle more than anyone else on the forum...

And here it was I thought I was wasting some of my best material in this place. :lol:

 

[Randyfast]

I thought I might as well chime in here. I'm still a beginner of under two years. I had to take almost a year off after shoulder surgery; so, I'm not sure how long it's been. Anyway; I've been looking at D'addarios lately and with all the good things people were saying about them; I just had to try one. I have been using a Meyer 6M ((also recently acquired an E. Rousseau which isn't bad) on my tenor and it has a pretty sweet sound, although altissimo was difficult. I've read that altissimo G was one of the most difficult ones to play and it was for me...couldn't seem to get the note out. Well; I tried the D'addario 6M today. When I spoke with a store employee at L&M about the mouthpiece; he said you have to have good chops for this one and it wasn't for beginners. He also said that it is "exclusively" for jazz. He didn't recommend it. I had to try it anyway! I was actually very surprised at how easy it was to play (different genres). My sax is a Yamaha 62 tenor. When I tried that altissimo G - it just popped right out! I love this MPC and will probably be sticking with it for quite awhile. It sounds great across the entire range and even though I was told it's very loud, I discovered that I can play quite softly with it. I think I'm going to be playing more! I am so happy with this MPC, that I'm taking my Selmer La Voix alto to the store to try out a D'addario 5M (for some reason, the tenor is much easier to play). I haven't been playing for long; but, for me, this is the best MPC I've ever played with. I've tried at least 6 or 7 different ones. I'm very happy with both saxes; but eager to try out the D'addario on the alto...just my 3 cents (allowing for inflation)!