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 .
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