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You are here: Home / Reviews / Mouthpiece Reviews / Alto Mouthpiece Reviews / Alto High Baffle Reviews / Kanee Z5 Custom Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Kanee Z5 Custom Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

November 29, 2010 by Steve 1 Comment

This is another hard rubber custom mouthpiece from Kanee mouthpieces in China.  As I said in an earlier review, I received 7 mouthpieces from Kanee Music to try out.   This model is the alto mouthpiece with the highest baffle.  It is called the Z5 model for the alto saxophone.  Here is what is written about it in the Kanee mouthpiece brochure that comes with it:

“The Kanee Z model is an ideal jazz mouthpiece. It has a high baffle so that the sound is brighter and more powerful. The hard rubber Z utilizes a medium chamber to make the sound more focused.”

Kanee Z5 Custom Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

As you would expect, this mouthpiece is the brightest of the three custom alto mouthpieces I tried.  If you look at the pictures above you can see that it has a rather high long baffle that rolls down into a medium chamber.  The effect of a higher baffle like this is that the air is sped up which makes the tone brighter and more powerful sounding.  On many high baffle mouthpieces this brightness can sit on the edge of being harsh and unbearable if the mouthpiece maker makes it too high and long.  This mouthpiece doesn’t have that problem. It is indeed brighter than most alto mouthpieces I have played but it’s controllable and the tone is nice and fat sounding.  I could see playing an R&B or rock gig on this piece but you can hear on the clip where I could lay back and play some jazz lines.

If you like the clip, check out the Kanee site at www.kaneemusic.com for more information.  I’m don’t think they are available in the US yet but keep on the lookout for them as I believe they are coming soon.

https://www.neffmusic.com/images/mp3/Kanee%20Z5%20ALTO.mp3

Filed Under: Alto High Baffle Reviews, Alto Mouthpiece Reviews Tagged With: Alto Saxophone, hard rubber, Kanee mouthpieces, Z5 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.

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Comments

  1. AvatarKane Lee says

    March 18, 2011 at 2:35 am

    Hi guys, this is Kane Lee, the founder of Kanee Music, the manufacturer of HR mouthpieces, now I post to offer FREE trials as new product launching, anyone who take interested our mouthpieces, could feel free to participate our pass around on SOTW at http://forum.saxontheweb.net/showthread.php?147957-Kanee-Hard-Rubber-Mouthpieces-Pass-Around, by simply replying my tread. I shall add you in and arrange pass. Thanks. Kane

    Reply

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