I have played quite a few hard rubber Early Babbitt tenor saxophone mouthpieces over the years and am very excited to try one of these new hard rubber Otto Link Connoisseur Early Babbitt tenor saxophone mouthpieces out!<\/p>\n
Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The hard rubber Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt mouthpieces that were made in the 70’s were known for having a bit more baffle than the previous Otto Link Slant Signature hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces.\u00a0 I have heard people say that this extra rollover baffle was added to compete with the electronic instruments being used in the 70’s.\u00a0 The added baffle in the original Early Babbitt tenor sax mouthpieces gave more brightness and power to the sound so that you could perhaps hear yourself and be heard over the many electronic instruments being played in the 70’s.<\/p>\n The Otto Link Early Babbitt tenor saxophone mouthpieces I have played have indeed been louder and brighter than the Otto Link Slant Signature models and replicas I have tried over the years.\u00a0 Usually, I have found these Early Babbitt tenor mouthpieces to be great examples of hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces that could sound great on a jazz gig but also rip a respectable solo on a pop or funk gig when pushed because of their added power and brightness.<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n I received the 7* Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor saxophone mouthpiece directly from JJ Babbitt along with two of the NY Meyer Brothers Connoisseur alto saxophone mouthpieces in a 7 and 8 tip opening.\u00a0 All the mouthpieces were packaged well and came with metal ligatures and mouthpiece caps.<\/p>\n The Otto Link EB Connoisseur tenor sax mouthpiece looked like you would expect a hard rubber Otto Link tenor sax mouthpiece to look.\u00a0 There is a scroll band that circles the body of the mouthpiece and the top of the mouthpiece has “Otto Link” and “Tone Edge EB” engraved into the hard rubber. The lettering is painted white but the white coloring on the “Otto Link” is not perfect and parts of the engraving were either not painted or the white paint flaked off somehow.\u00a0 You can see this in the first photo of the review as well as the last photo.\u00a0 The rest of the engraving and painting looks fine.<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is how the JJ Babbitt website describes the new Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series tenor saxophone mouthpiece:<\/p>\n A quick internet search tells you all you need to know about the popularity and the almost desperate desire for Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt tenor saxophone mouthpieces. If you can find them in decent, playable condition they sell for hundreds and some for well over a thousand dollars and more. The sound, personality and unmistakable performance characteristics of this incredible sax mouthpiece have been carefully studied with numerous attempts by competitors to copy it for decades. So now, let the artisans of JJ Babbitt show you how it\u2019s done.<\/em><\/p>\n This EB model is not redesigned, not retooled, and not reimagined in any way. Made from our own original compounded rubber, molded in the original molds and cores, vulcanized to the original specifications and manually machined and hand finished just as they were from 1975 to 1979, these are true Early Babbitt tenors. Your search is over\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Otto Link EB connoisseur tenor sax mouthpiece looks well made and the table, side rails and tip rail look within normal parameters to the eye.\u00a0 The side rails and tip rail do look a bit wider when compared side by side with some of the other modern hand faced hard rubber mouthpieces on the market.<\/p>\n The tip rail is close to the shape of my Rigotti cane reeds that I use (BSS, Rigotti Gold, Roberto’s Winds, Syos reeds are all Rigotti cane reeds) but the Rigotti cane reed shape curves at a sharper decline on the outside edges than the curve of the tip rail on the Otto Link EB Connoisseur tenor sax mouthpieces. All the reeds I used for this review sealed well when performing the suction test and played great for me.<\/p>\n As you can see in the photo below, the baffle of the Otto Link EB Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece looks to be a bit lopsided in shape.\u00a0 I have to believe this is either part of the original mold or something to do with the manufacturing process. My original Otto Link Early Babbitt tenor mouthpiece from the 70’s also has a similar lopsided baffle and many of the Otto Link EB hard rubber mouthpieces I have seen and played through the years have had lopsided baffle shapes also.\u00a0 In my mind, this is really no big deal as my main focus is how a mouthpiece plays.\u00a0 I have played many mouthpieces with lopsided baffles and irregular chambers that have played great and many other mouthpieces that looked as perfectly balanced and symmetrical as can be, that didn’t work for me at all.\u00a0 For me, the most important aspect of any mouthpiece, is how it plays!!!<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The baffle of the Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor sax mouthpiece is what I would consider a medium baffle height.\u00a0 It travels a little less than 1\/4 of an inch and then hits that lopsided curved lake in the baffle where the baffle then proceeds to head at a greater angle towards the rear of the mouthpiece chamber. The entire run of the baffle after the curved lake is curved from side to side.\u00a0 The mouthpiece side walls are scooped out as they head towards the chamber as well.<\/p>\n The mouthpiece chamber is what I would consider a large chamber and the bottom floor of the chamber looks to be scooped out slightly when the light hits it at the right angle.\u00a0 \u00a0The chamber is a little bit larger than the diameter of the bore of the mouthpiece.\u00a0 The roof of the chamber is a medium thickness.<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur 7* tenor saxophone mouthpiece played great with a variety of reeds.\u00a0 \u00a0For the sound clips below, I used a Rigotti Gold 3 medium reed, a Roberto’s Winds 3 soft reed and a Roberto’s Winds 2 1\/2 hard reed.\u00a0 My favorite reed for this mouthpiece was the Rigotti Gold 3 medium reed which just had the perfect balance of being comfortable to blow yet with a perfect resistance but I have to say that after listening to the sound clips, that the Roberto’s Winds reed sound clips sound pretty darn good as well.<\/p>\n I have posted one long clip of the Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur mouthpiece with the Rigotti Gold 3 medium reed and then posted three altissimo clips with all three reeds just because I found the difference between the different reeds interesting.<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece played with a thick depth of tone that I loved.\u00a0 When pushed, it got considerably brighter and at time edgy but the tone still remained thick and full in my opinion.\u00a0 I have included altissimo clips with each reed I used and although I was pushing the Otto Link EB Connoisseur mouthpiece quite a bit, I was no where near pushing it to full volume.<\/p>\n This new Otto Link EB tenor mouthpiece has tons of power when pushed in my opinion.\u00a0 I really feel like JJ Babbitt did a great job with the baffle height and profile because this new EB tenor mouthpiece really can straddle that line between a respectable jazz tenor sound and a in your face Brecker kind of sound when really pushed.<\/p>\n The intonation on the Otto Link EB Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece was very good. The altissimo range of the saxophone was easy to achieve and get around in.\u00a0 I think the higher baffle really does make it easier to get the altissimo notes as I surprised myself by playing some lines and licks up in that range that I normally don’t play.<\/p>\n The biggest surprise was how much easier altissimo G was with this mouthpiece.\u00a0 Usually, I have to work a little harder for that G to speak clearly and this Otto Link EB Connoisseur mouthpiece just helped me get around that altissimo G with much less work on my part, which was nice.<\/p>\n The low notes were full and thick and sub-toned beautifully.\u00a0 At full volume, the low notes sounded thick and full of character and while sub-toning they had a beautiful velvety quality to the thick tone that was so lush.<\/p>\n The one other important aspect that I want to write about is “focus”.\u00a0 I have found over the years that if a mouthpiece is too spread in tone then it won’t work for me in a loud pop or funky kind of gig.\u00a0 It could be the loudest and brightest saxophone tone to ever exist, but if it isn’t focused in tone, I will have trouble.\u00a0 Even with a microphone and monitor, I have always had trouble with mouthpieces with a spread sounding tone in those environments. I need a certain amount of focus to the tone for it to get back to my ear as a distinct focused sound that I can hear clearly through the mix of the band.<\/p>\n I can’t say definitively without playing this mouthpiece on a live gig, but the Otto Link EB Connoisseur series mouthpiece seems to have enough focus when pushed in my opinion.\u00a0 It felt like the more I pushed the EB Connoisseur mouthpiece, the brighter and more focused the tone would become.\u00a0 Again,\u00a0 I can’t say for sure without playing it on a gig but my subjective opinion playing it here in my house is that the Otto Link Tone Edge EB tenor sax mouthpiece could hold it’s own on one of those incredibly loud gigs……….<\/p>\n Otto Link Tone Edge Early Babbitt Connoisseur Series Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor saxophone mouthpiece is a great hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece for those looking for a classic Early Babbitt Otto Link kind of tenor sax sound that can be full and thick with character but pushed to be pretty darn bright and powerful when needed.<\/p>\n I will say that as I tried the Otto Link EB Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece for this review, I imagined being able to try this mouthpiece back in the 90’s when I was searching for a tenor sax mouthpiece.\u00a0 \u00a0I would have been incredibly excited to try an Otto Link hard rubber mouthpiece like this back then!\u00a0 This mouthpiece is very different than the many Otto Link hard rubber tenor sax mouthpieces I tried out in the 90’s and 2000’s that is for sure.\u00a0 Otto Link did a great job with this new Connoisseur series Early Babbitt tenor saxophone mouthpiece!<\/p>\n If you like the sound and look of the Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor saxophone mouthpiece by JJ Babbitt, you can find them for sale at Sweetwater<\/a>. I have agreed to be an affiliate for Sweetwater so if you purchase an Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor mouthpiece<\/a> from this link, neffmusic.com will receive a small commission on the sale. (This helps to support my site and keep the saxophone related reviews, articles and transcriptions coming to you\u2026..). Sweetwater even offers the option to pay in three installments as well which is nice.<\/p>\n If you are lucky enough to play an Otto Link Early Babbitt Connoisseur tenor saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0 \u00a0Steve<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2022\/OLEBConnTop2.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\nRigotti Gold 3 Medium Reed\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n