Steve Neff Music Blog

Sugal Super Gonz Copper Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 14:20:19 +0000

This is a very cherished mouthpiece for me. It was made by Gary Sugal in the early 90′s and is called the Super Gonz I. To give you a little background on this mouthpiece…………I started playing tenor around 1986. At that time, I was playing a Couf Superba 1 tenor with the only mouthpiece I could find. It was a Brilhart Level Air mouthpiece. To sum up my experience, I hated my sound with a passion. It was just plain gross. Bright and blatty sounding. Even thinking about it now gives me shivers. My goal at that time was to sound just like Michael Brecker but no matter how much I practiced or how hard I worked on it my sound was lame to my ears. In ’90 I took lessons with Jerry Bergonzi and he sold me a mouthpiece that was a Gary Sugal prototype. I believe it was called the JB model. It was a high baffled mouthpiece that I instantly loved. It had kind of a Dukoff/Guardala vibe to it. It had a very focused bright sound to it. You can hear me playing that mouthpiece in the clips marked “fusion” here.

Sugal Super Gonz Copper Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Soon after getting that Sugal JB mouthpiece I found myself really loving my sound. After that time, I switched to the tenor saxophone fulltime and put my alto sax in the closet. I played the JB for a few years but then one day while practicing in my garage I dropped it! It landed right on it’s tip and dented it in badly. I called Gary and he said I could come down and pick out a new mouthpiece. This was around ’93. I went down to Providence and tried probably 10 different mouthpieces. I don’t remember what the models were but he had a bunch of different models to try. The minute I played the Copper Super Gonz 1 I knew that that was the one I wanted. I loved it. It had a huge fat sound. Much fatter than the JB model. It was also warm and lush down low where as the JB model was loud and crass down there. The low notes were hard to get on the JB. If you listen to my fusion clips you can hear how the JB sounded. Many times on that recordings you can hear me honkin’ out the low notes with not much finesse at all. The Super Gonz was totally different. The low notes were warm and beautiful sounding. The high notes were round and big. The great thing about the Super Gonz was that when I really pushed it hard I could morph into that Brecker type of sound (which I had to do on many gigs) .

I played that Super Gonz for 7 years from 1993-about 2000. In 2000, I became frustrated with it because I was having a harder and harder time playing loud. The plating was wearing off and the tip and rails were looking pretty rough. When I played loudly I was over blowing way too much and creating all sorts of back pressure in my head. (I had brain surgery a few times and this back pressure was not a good feeling)

Anyways, I put the mouthpiece away and started my search for a new mouthpiece. Along the way I met Dave Jary on the internet and through our discussions he said he could fix the Super Gonz up to be as good as new. I took him up on his offer. It took forever for him to do it but when I got it back it played better than ever. It turned out, that even though I always thought it was a 7* (.105)(because that is what it was marked), Dave measured the tip at .096. That is quite a big difference. That was probably why I had so hard of a time getting enough air through it and was overblowing. He refaced it to .105 and cleaned up the facing, tip and curve. It now plays great!

To my ears, the Super Gonz 1 has a very unique sound to it. Out of all the mouthpieces I have tried the only one that comes close to it was the SS Ponzol M2 that I owned (but that is nowhere as warm and smooth sounding as the SG 1 although it does have that fat/bright sound to it when you push it). What makes this piece unique for me is that although it can be bright it is also incredibly fat sounding to my ears. The tone is fat and dense sounding. Like there is a lot packed into the sound. This was and still is my favorite mouthpiece to sub-tone on. The notes just have a certain quality to them that I love. Rich!

What is also great about this mouthpiece is the way you can really push it into overdrive and get a nice funky Brecker type sound from it. It’s not over the top bright or loud but is still pleasant sounding to my ears and can pull off that type of sound. I can’t tell you the number of gigs I did playing a standard jazz solo and then ripping into a crazy funk sound on the next tune.

With all this being said, I will say that finding a great Sugal mouthpiece like this Super Gonz is very hard. I have tried probably about 20 Sugals since 2000. Some were OK but most were just awful for me ( I did have a Super Gonz II that was a killer mouthpiece also). Many of them had rails and tips that were way too thick. Many had rails that were uneven and tip rails that were crooked and uneven. Some had bite plates that were lopsided and baffles that were all gouged. Many of them were just a complete mess. I had a friend send me 10 to put sound clips up of and I couldn’t find a good one in the whole bunch. I had to send them back to him and say sorry. So, if you like the sound of this piece all I’m saying is make sure you can try out the mouthpiece first before you buy it. That’s my opinion. Let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Theo Wanne Hard Rubber Gaia Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:50:45 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne tenor saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. This is a hard rubber version of the Gaia tenor saxophone mouthpiece. The Gaia is said to be a run at the florida link type concept. It has a medium baffle that does indeed remind me of my florida links. The difference hear is in the chamber. The Gaia looks to have a much larger chamber than the florida links I have owned. It looks closer in size to my NY links. This mouthpiece is a .110 tip opening (8). I found this to be one of the nicest darker mouthpieces I have tried. It had a nice fat dark sound that was lush sounding. The edges of the tone seemed to have a rounded quality to them. I noticed this with the metal Gaia I tried also.

Theo Wanne Hard Rubber Gaia Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

This Gaia tenor mouthpiece had some nice volume to it without getting brighter. Many mouthpieces that can play really loud get increasingly brighter as you blow. That can be a good thing if you like that or a bad thing if you don’t. To me, this mouthpiece could get quite loud and full sounding but still retained that dark robust sound. I really loved that. The low notes were full and round sounding and sounded amazing when I sub-toned. Nice and lush sounding like I like them. The high notes were fat and full sounding. I could imagine playing classical music with this piece because it sounded so pretty to me.

The other thing that struck me about this mouthpiece, as well as the other Gaia’s I have tried, is how smooth the transition between notes are. Playing scales and fast runs is as smooth as butter and the notes are amazingly even through out the range of the horn. That type of response just makes me want to play faster and faster.

Like all of Theo Wanne’s mouthpieces, this one looked great and was a joy to play. Thank you so much to Theo and his co-workers over there at Theo Wanne mouthpieces for letting me review all of these great mouthpieces. For more information on the Gaia tenor sax mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Listen to the sound clip below and let me know what you think. Enjoy!

Theo Wanne Wood Gaia Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 23:13:04 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne tenor saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. I just received a ton of these and I’m working my way through them as you might have noticed. This is a wood version of the Gaia tenor saxophone mouthpiece. The Gaia is said to be a run at the florida link type concept. It has a medium baffle that does indeed remind me of my florida links. The difference hear is in the chamber. The Gaia looks to have a much larger chamber than the florida links I have owned. It looks closer in size to my NY links. This mouthpiece is a .110 tip opening. I was hoping for a .105 tip as that is what I liked the best when I tried the metal Gaia out. This tip feels a little larger than I normally like but it was still easy to play.

Theo Wanne Wood Gaia Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

Again, as with all Theo Wanne products, this mouthpiece looks great. This one is made out of a wood compound that is a mix of wood and resin. It is advertised as never warping or cracking which is a great plus in my book. It has the logo and “Gaia” engraved on it in gold as well as a gold band around the end of the shank. It also comes with a gold “enlightened” ligature. The rails and tip are perfect and even. The chamber and baffle look as good as it gets.

Tone:

The Gaia has a medium sound that is right in the middle of bright to dark. I think it leans a little bit towards the bright side of things. I found this mouthpiece to be vibrant and the tone was nice and thick sounding. The wood material seems to give it a little more textured sound that to me adds character to the tone. At times i even felt like the tone was a little smokey sounding. Up high the notes were full sounding as was the low end. The .110 tip opening felt a little too big for my tastes. I would have loved to try this in a .105 tip.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

The Gaia was easy to play for me. It played great down low and up into the altissimo and the tone was even up and down the horn.

Volume:

I could get nice and loud with this mouthpiece. I’m not sure it would be my choice for a loud funk gig but it does have a beautiful lush sound to it that would be perfect for some straight ahead gigs. I did find it louder playing than the Ambika.

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Gaia tenor sax mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne Ambika Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:55:11 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne tenor saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. I just received a ton of these and I’m working my way through them as you might have noticed. This is a hard rubber version of the Ambika mouthpiece. The Ambika is on the darker side of the tone spectrum. It has a lower baffle than the Gaia. This is a .110 tip opening. I was hoping for a .105 tip as that is what I liked the best when I tried the metal Gaia out. This tip feels a little larger than I normally like……………………….

Theo Wanne Ambika Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

Again, as with all Theo Wanne products, this mouthpiece looks great. This one is made out of hard rubber and has the logo and “Ambika” engraved on it in gold. The band around the shank looks to be a black metal. Even the ligature it comes with is black. It looks appropriate for a dark sounding mouthpiece. The rails and tip are perfect and even. The chamber and baffle look as good as it gets.

Tone:

The Ambika has a darker sound then the other Theo Wanne mouthpiece I have tried. Sometimes a darker tone can sound almost dead but I found this mouthpiece very vibrant and the tone nice and thick sounding. Up high the notes were full and round but still darker sounding than many other mouthpieces I have tried. The .110 tip opening felt a little too big for my tastes. I would have loved to try this in a .105 tip.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

The Ambika was easy to play for me although I tend to like a mouthpiece that sounds a bit brighter (It might be because of my hearing loss over the years……….) It played great down low and up into the altissimo and the tone was even up and down the horn.

Volume:

I could get nice and loud with this mouthpiece although because of the darker nature of the tone I think a mouthpiece like this would get lost in the mix of a rock or pop gig. That’s not it’s thing. I could easily imagine playing this on a jazz trio gig and filling up the room with a nice lush sound.

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Ambika tenor sax mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne Wood Gaia Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 00:46:09 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne alto saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. I just received a ton of these and I’m working my way through them as you might have noticed. This is a wood version of the Gaia mouthpiece. The Gaia is a middle of the road type mouthpiece tone wise. From bright to darker you have the Durga,Kali,Amma and then the Gaia. I noticed a big difference between the HR Gaia and the wood model. The wood mouthpiece seemed to vibrate more. I could actually feel it vibrating as I played………………………

Theo Wanne Gaia Wood Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

The Gaia mouthpiece looks fantastic. The tip, rails and table look great. It looks like wood, smells like wood, feels like wood. What I’ve been told though is that it is actually a wood mixed with resin so that it won’t crack or warp. Here is a snippet from Theo’s website about it:

“Our new manufacturing technology allows us to make the GAIA Alto Stable Wood mouthpiece entirely from one piece of Stable Wood. Stable Wood has an incredibly rich and warm sound due to its wood grain and the character inherent in real wood. However, it will not crack or warp as Stable Wood is impregnated all the way through with resin, making it stable.”

This is a big concern for wood mouthpieces. I know because I use to have a great wood mouthpiece years ago that warped really badly a couple weeks after I bought it. I was devastated. I vowed to never buy a wood mouthpiece again. Mr. Wanne seems to have figured out how to get around the wood warpage issue so maybe it’s time to reconsider his “Stable Wood”.

Tone:

Again, I am told that the material that a mouthpiece is made of doesn’t make a difference at all in the sound produced but I find this piece a bit darker and more textured than the hard rubber Gaia. To me it seems to have more character to the sound. It could be the materials affect I guess or maybe this piece is just made slightly different than the hard rubber version. I found it a much more responsive than the hard rubber Gaia. I’m not saying it was free blowing because there was a good resistance there. By responsive I mean that there seemed to be a quicker time between my manipulation of the sound and then a change in the sound. It seemed almost instantaneous which is what you want as a musician.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

This was a very easy mouthpiece to play and control. As you can hear from the recording, I was comfortable playing fast on this mouthpiece. No problems what so ever with larger intervals or fast runs. It was also very easy to bend and manipulate the notes. One of my favoite aspects of this mouthpiece was playing with vibrato. It just seemed very responsive and I could feel that when using vibrato. If you listen to the clip maybe you can hear that. Sometimes I feel like the vibrato I’m using is just laying on top of the sound. With this mouthpiece it felt like the vibrato and movement was within the sound. It seemed easier to control and hear to me.

Volume:

This wood Gaia could get too a nice FF volume. It wasn’t as loud as the Amma,Kali or Durga. I had the sense that it wasn’t as loud as the hard rubber Gaia. It was plenty loud for most playing situations though.

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Kali mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com . This is my last Theo Wanne alto mouthpiece review for today. Now I have to go back and play them all again to see which one I like the best!

Theo Wanne Hard Rubber Kali Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 23:25:43 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne alto saxophone mouthpiece for you to check out. I just received a ton of these and I’m working my way through them. This is a hard rubber Kali mouthpiece. It is an 8 tip opening which is around a .080 I believe. This is similar to the metal Kali mouthpiece I reviewed earlier. Even though the design looks the same as the metal Kali there is a difference in the sound of the mouthpiece in my opinion. Some people believe material makes no difference what so ever but I tend to believe that the hard rubber softens the tone just slightly over the metal Kali………………………

Theo Wanne Kali HR Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

The Kali mouthpiece looks fantastic. The tip, rails and table look great. The baffle looks higher and longer than the Gaia and Amma mouthpiece. The baffle rolls into the large chamber smoothly and evenly. It comes with a gold “Enlightened” ligature as well as the other Theo Wanne accessories I talk about in my other reviews.

Tone:

Brighter than the Gaia and Amma but it’s not as bright as the Durga or the metal Kali in my opinion. To me, this sounds slightly brighter and more focused than the Gaia and Amma models. Like the Gaia and Amma, I think this would be a great lead alto mouthpiece. It’s on that brighter threshold of acceptance but I still think you can make it work easily enough by adjusting your playing to get the sounds you want. A few times during the recording I felt like it was going thin up top. The reed felt good on it but up high it gave me a feeling like it was a tad too soft.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

This was a very easy mouthpiece to play and control. Theo really knows what he’s doing with his mouthpiece work. The fact that he can make all these different models that are so easy to play fast and in tune says something about his abilities. This mouthpiece plays a bit smoother for me than the metal Kali and Durga. I tend to think this is because of the hard rubber but maybe I’m imagining it……….

Volume:

Loud! I had to back up a couple of feet and even then I clipped the levels a couple of times in the recording. This isn’t as loud as the Durga or the metal Kali but it’s close. You could easily pull back on this piece and play some straight ahead jazz on it. It’s a little bright for that but you can make it work if that’s the sound you want. Lot’s of players love that brighter sound on alto…………….

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Kali mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne Gold Kali Alto Mouthpiece

steve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 22:39:06 +0000

Here’s another Theo Wanne alto mouthpiece for you to check out. I just received a ton of these and I’m working my way through them. This is a brushed gold Kali mouthpiece. It is an 8 tip opening which is around a .080 I believe. This is similar to the Durga mouthpiece I reviewed earlier but the baffle has a smooth rollover to it where the Durga has an edge at the end of the first stage of the baffle. I believe the smoothness of that edge take away some of the brightness found in the Durga. You can click on the photos to see them closer……………………..

Theo Wanne Kali Metal Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

Beautiful as all the Theo Wanne mouthpieces are. The tip and rails are perfect. The gold brushed finish is gorgeous. It comes with the built in ligature, leather bag, reed replacer cap, screwdriver and extra ligature tone plate. The craftsmanship is excellent.

Tone:

Brighter than the Gaia and Amma but it’s not as bright as the Durga. As I write this, I’m listening to the clip again. The tone is brighter and has a metallic ring to the sound. In the clip I try to play a variety of styles so you can hear how it sounds on each. To me this sounds like a brighter more focused mouthpiece than the Gaia and Amma models.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

Volume:

Through the roof. I had to back up a couple of feet and even then I clipped the levels a couple of times in the recording. This isn’t as loud as the Durga but it’s close. You could easily pull back on this piece and play some straight ahead jazz on it. It’s a little bright for that but you can make it work if that’s the sound you want. Lot’s of players love that brighter sound on alto…………….

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Kali mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne Gold Durga Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:42:47 +0000

This is a Theo Wanne gold Durga alto saxophone mouthpiece. This has a higher and longer baffle than the other Theo Wanne mouthpieces I have played. The baffle looks to be in two stages. The first stage is high and looks to be about half an inch long. At that point there is a ledge and another baffle with a steeper decline. This secondary baffle has a rounded edge on it that drops into the chamber. This is the brightest of the Wanne alto mouthpieces I have tried. I think it’s also the prettiest. I just love looking at this piece. It is gold but has silver on the band, biteplate and ligature. It looks amazing. If you click on the pictures below they will expand so you can see more detail.

Theo Wanne Gold Durga Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

I don’t think a better looking mouthpiece has ever been made. This is the most beautiful mouthpiece to just sit and look at. Very shiny and the combination of the gold and silver is dazzling. The rails and tip are thin, even and perfect. Everything about the mouthpiece looks perfect including the leather pouch and box that it comes in. I would have loved to own this mouthpiece back when I went through my Sanborn phase……..

Tone:

Bright and loud. Is it too bright? That’s a matter of taste. There is certainly a place for this type of sound for modern alto players. It reminds me of a Dave Sanborn/Dave Koz type of sound. Remember, that this recording is totally dry. In the recording studio a little bit of reverb would be added to sweeten up the sound. This type of sound is great in the studio with some reverb on it! Again, if I had found this mouthpiece when I was 15 and going through my Dave Sanborn stage I might never have discovered Charlie Parker…………(if you don’t know who Sanborn is do a youtube search)

Intonation:

No problems at all with intonation.

Control:

For a high baffle mouthpiece this was easy to control. Many times when I play a high baffle piece I feel like the brightness takes away from the smoothness of a fatter darker tone. I didn’t feel this with this mouthpiece. If I played it longer, I think I would have adjusted my aural cavity naturally to fatten up the sound just a bit. That usually happens when I play on high baffle mouthpieces. The altissimo range was super easy with this mouthpiece also. I had fun messing around with those overblown altissmo notes that give you that tough raw sound.

Volume:

Through the roof. I had to back up a couple of feet and even then I clipped the levels a couple of times in the recording. This is one loud mouthpiece…………….

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Durga mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne HR Amma Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:50:40 +0000

This is a Theo Wanne hard rubber Amma alto saxophone mouthpiece. Theo was kind enough to send me a big box of mouthpieces to try out and I spent all morning playing and recording them. This Amma is an .080 tip opening and is made out of hard rubber. The Amma has a slightly higher and longer roll over baffle than the Gaia mouthpiece I reviewed earlier. The longer and higher baffle will tend to give a mouthpiece a brighter, more powerful and more focused sound. If you compare this clip to the Gaia clip, you should be able to hear a difference in the sound from the Gaia. Later I will put up clips of a few Kali and Durga mouthpieces that have even higher baffles in them.

Theo Wanne HR Amma Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

As usual, this mouthpiece is perfect. Theo does a great job with the presentation of his mouthpieces. From the box to the ligature and leather bag everything looks perfect. The tip and rails are thin and even looking. I love the look of the gold engraved band as well as the gold Enlightened ligature. This mouthpiece has the usual large chamber in it that Theo Wanne’s mouthpiece are known for. One thing that is not included with Theo’s mouthpieces is a mouthpiece cap that goes over the reed and ligature. There is a cap that you can put on after you take off the reed to protect the mouthpiece but no cap to put on while the reed is on it. Your on your own as far as finding one that fits. I’m not sure why they don’t make one as every working musician needs a cap to protect the mouthpiece and reed while on a gig……….I hope they do make a nice one someday.

Tone:

You can listen to the clip to get a sense of the tone. To me it has more brightness and punch than the Gaia. You can hear it when you listen to the clip. Just a little more air and the notes just pop out with not much effort. You could do a jazz gig on this but I could also imagine playing it on a Top 40 type gig. It has enough brightness and edge to perform nicely in that type of setting I think. The high notes had a nice singing quality to them that I loved. Not harsh or thin at all.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

This was a very easy mouthpiece to play and control. It is very even sounding up and down the horn. The tone of the mouthpiece really makes it easy to play fast. It’s almost like the notes just blend together on those fast runs. Large intervals were easy to play also.

Volume:

Volume was no problem on this mouthpiece at all. It has more punch and power than the Gaia. I really liked this one a lot. This would also be a great lead alto mouthpiece in my opinion. Lots of power to lead a section……………

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information on the Amma mouthpiece visit www.theowanne.com .

Theo Wanne HR Gaia Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

steve — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 20:16:41 +0000

This is a Theo Wanne hard rubber Gaia alto saxophone mouthpiece. Theo was kind enough to send me a big box of mouthpieces to try out and I spent all morning playing and recording them. I already put up a clip of a Gaia 6 alto mouthpiece a couple of weeks ago. This one is an .080 tip opening which is a bit bigger than the 6 I have. The bigger tip opening darkened up the sound just a tad from the 6 tip and also gave it a slightly bigger rounder sound to my ears. If you listen to this sound clip and then go back and listen to the 6 you should be able to hear the difference in sound.

Theo Wanne HR Gaia Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Appearance:

Tone:

You can listen to the clip to get a sense of the tone. To me it has a brighter fatter sound but it sounds a a bit dry to me. It’s like a cross of Cannonball and Paul Desmond. The sound is thick and textured but something about it reminds me of a drier sound.

Intonation:

Intonation was great with this mouthpiece and within normal limits.

Control:

Volume:

Volume was no problem on this mouthpiece. It has a higher baffle than many of the hard rubber Otto Link alto mouthpieces I have played in the past. The higher baffle speeds up the air to give it a little more punch and power while the bigger chamber stops it from getting too thin or brittle sounding. This would be a great lead alto mouthpiece for those looking for a Mayer type sound but with a little more power and punch when needed.

This is another great mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. For more information visit www.theowanne.com