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You are here: Home / Reviews / Mouthpiece Reviews / Tenor Mouthpiece Reviews / Tenor Medium Baffle Reviews / Drake Double Ring Ceramic Tenor Mouthpiece

Drake Double Ring Ceramic Tenor Mouthpiece

August 11, 2009 by Steve 7 Comments

This is a tenor mouthpiece by Aaron Drake at Drake Ceramic Mouthpieces. He has been generous enough to send  two tenor mouthpieces for me to try.  These are called “Double Ring” Jazz and a Contemporary.  They are both .110 tips.  These mouthpiece are very unique in that they are made of ceramic. I  was a bit skeptical when I first heard of these pieces but I have to say that Aaron has done a great job with these mouthpieces.  This mouthpiece I am reviewing today is the “Double Ring” model. It is a 8 (.110) tip opening. I actually received a .105 a few months ago and it just felt too small for my tastes. Aaron was good enough to send me a .110 to try and am I glad he did.

This is a great mouthpiece.  It has a full, fat sound with an even amount of highs and lows in the tone.  I can lay back while playing and get a great jazz sound or when I push it I can get brighter and go towards a more R&B type sound. It has a  nice focused sound  that really seems to cut through.  I really enjoyed this piece. Usually I’ll feel a piece is too dark or too bright but this was right in the middle. A nice balance. When I recorded the track to put on here I played for about 6 minutes and had to cut it down for this clip……….That means I liked it  a lot! I had an adult student in for a lesson today and he played it and loved it so much he wanted to buy it on the spot. Now i have to figure out if I want to keep it or sell it to him. Let me know what you think of the clip.  Listen………

https://www.neffmusic.com/images/mp3/Drake%20Double%20Ring%20110.mp3

Filed Under: Tenor Medium Baffle Reviews, Tenor Mouthpiece Reviews Tagged With: aaron drake, ceramic mouthpiece, double ring, tenor mouthpiece

Steve

About Steve

Steve Neff has been playing and teaching saxophone and jazz improvisation around the New England area for over 30 years. He is the author of many best selling jazz improvisation methods as well as founding the popular jazz video lesson site Neffmusic.com.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. AvatarKevin says

    October 18, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Hi Steve,

    I’ve been thinking about replacing my Vandoren T75 hard rubber with this piece. What ligature did you use for the sound clip? I have a gold plated FL on my T75 will it fit?

    Thanks,
    Kevin

    Reply
    • stevesteve says

      October 18, 2009 at 10:54 pm

      It was too small for my FL lig. I had to use a rovner on it. I’m not sure if your FL lig will fit. If it’s the same one I have it will be too big. Steve

      Reply
  2. AvatarDoug Quadrano says

    October 19, 2009 at 7:22 pm

    Hi Steve,
    In response to the lig question, I am using a Rovner EVO 5 for both the Drake alto & tenor Contemporary models..you also have a couple options how to place the lig, depending on your choice of sound….the same size fits both pieces…..
    Alto Sax Hard Rubber E-1RL

    Doug

    Reply
  3. AvatarDoug Quadrano says

    December 9, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    As for an update on the EVO 5 ligs, they are being discontinued by Rovner and are now in the hands of Jupiter Insruments. Doug

    Reply
  4. AvatarDon Davis says

    December 23, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    Steve,
    These sound nice. I may check out one. Need something for the soprano probably,maybe alto/tenor. Hows everything? Talk sometime………..Don

    Reply
  5. AvatarRicardo L. Abbott says

    January 30, 2010 at 8:46 pm

    This mouth piece sounds beautiful.

    Reply
  6. AvatarThomas says

    January 13, 2012 at 4:22 am

    don’t you love the tenorsax, when it sounds like this!!!

    Reply

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