[craisycraze]

im gonna get a new mouthpiece for my alto and i dont know which to get
it all comes down to these 2. any suggestions? what are the differences between the two, which is generally better? im looking for a dark smooth sound with little punch

Vando v16 A7 >>>>> Meyer HR 7m these facings probably.

 

[DanSax64]

Meyer for alto, for me

I don't have much luck with the Vandoren pieces, while the Meyer HR 7 piece I got (reworked from Mojo, from a new model HR piece) is a killer - smooth, edgy with great punch (if pushed for it)

Just my personal reference (and my luck, I guess).

 

[Rahspeak]

I'm a big fan of Vandoren mouthpieces in general, and V16's in particular. I have rubber V16s for soprano, alto and tenor. I prefer the small chamber because on the rare occasions that I'm not playing alto in a legit style, I play more funk/louder stuff, and I like the small chamber a little more than the M I tried. The M was nice, and definitely more "dark and smooth"

Generally, Vandoren mouthpieces are excellent and don't need any extra facing work to play well, although many people choose to get them refaced because they are made from good rubber so they are good blanks. I have not played any modern Meyers, only vintage, but there are some who believe the facings on the modern Meyer pieces are inconsistent. A good facing doesn't change sound as much as response, but then again, therein lies some important tonal changes because if your piece is not responsive and you have to play your piece hard to get a decent sound, this can limit the colors you can get out of it. So, while I'm not knocking Meyers directly (since I haven't tried any) I would vote for the V16 7M, it sounds to me like what your looking for.

 

[Martinman]

I just play tested a few of these mouthpieces and ended up with the Meyer 7. It was darker and buzzier than the V16, which was exactly what I was looking for. The V16 definately had the smoother sound of the two, although it was a tad brighter.

 

[LiteReeding]

I've not tried a V16 medium chamber, but I've played the small. Nice piece, and they have a reputation for very good consistency, but not what I was after. The meyers can be great if you either a) find a really good one (not the most consistent from piece to piece) or b) send it to someone like mojo, EZ, or Brian Powell for tweaking.

My last piece was a meyer I'd had reworked in this way. Since I broke it, I've moved to a rubber Yanagisawa which is something like both the meyer and v16, but are very consistent from piece to piece and have a depth of sound I was not able to access in the v16.

As always, to each his own.

I'd suggest that if you do not live someplace where you can try both in the store, order both from an online dealer like weinermusic.com or wwbw.com and spend a few days with both of 'em and keep the one you like best.


Good luck!