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<\/a><\/p>\nTheo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Essentials Collection of saxophone mouthpieces by Theo Wanne are described as offering “exceptional quality and superior craftsmanship, while still being affordable”.<\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials collection includes three models for alto and tenor saxophones including the Concert, Jazz and Contemporary models and two models for soprano and baritone saxophones including the Concert and Jazz models.<\/p>\n Before we get to the review, here is some info from the Theo Wanne website<\/a> on the Theo Wanne Essentials collection of saxophone mouthpieces:<\/p>\n “Traditionally, saxophone mouthpieces were either budget-friendly but low-quality, or high-quality but expensive. The ESSENTIALS COLLECTION changes all of that, by offering exceptional quality at an accessible price point. Theo’s lifelong goal has always been to deliver the best of both worlds\u2014superior craftsmanship and affordability.”<\/em><\/p>\n The ESSENTIALS COLLECTION features a comprehensive range of saxophone mouthpieces designed for Soprano through Baritone, catering to every type of player. Each mouthpiece is meticulously crafted side-by-side with Theo’s renowned Signature Collection at our state-of-the-art factory in Bellingham, Washington, USA.<\/em><\/p>\n Key highlights include:<\/em><\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Saxophone Mouthpieces for Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxophone<\/strong><\/p>\n About the Essentials Collection<\/u><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n A Mouthpiece for Everyone:<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n Quality and Innovation:<\/u><\/em><\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Full Line of Saxophone Mouthpieces<\/strong><\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece was shipped with the usual high standards of the Theo Wanne company.\u00a0 The Contemporary 7 alto sax mouthpiece comes in a perfectly designed box with stylish gold printing on it with all the details of the mouthpiece inside.\u00a0 Inside the box is a black velvet drawstring bag that holds and protects the Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece during shipping.<\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece doesn’t come with a ligature included.\u00a0 I used a Theo Wanne Enlightened alto sax ligature that I have in my collection of ligatures that worked great.\u00a0 The Essentials Contemporary alto mouthpiece is a little bit thinner in size compared to a standard alto saxophone mouthpiece like a Meyer.\u00a0 I tried a bunch of alto saxophone ligatures on the Essentials Contemporary mouthpiece and although they all had to be tightened a bit more to hold the reed, they all worked on the Contemporary alto sax mouthpiece without issues.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Essentials Contemporary alto sax mouthpiece material looks and feels similar to the Black A.R.T. material that the Theo Wanne Water classical alto saxophone mouthpiece are made of.\u00a0 I’m not sure if this is the same material or something different because “Black A.R.T.” is not mentioned in the description of the Essentials line of mouthpieces.\u00a0 It sure looks very similar except that the material of the Water mouthpiece is more shiny so maybe it is different.\u00a0 \u00a0In the description later in the review, the material is describes as a “proprietary bio-safe polymer”.\u00a0 Regardless of the materials name, the material the Essentials mouthpieces are made of looks and feels solid and stable.\u00a0 Theo describes the material as having a similar weight and density when compared to hard rubber.<\/p>\n The shank of the Contemporary alto sax mouthpiece has a gold band around it that has “THEO WANNE” engraved into the top of the band and “Made in USA” on the bottom of the band.\u00a0 The Theo Wanne logo is painted in gold on the top of the mouthpiece.\u00a0 Since it is painted and not engraved, I would think it would wear off over time from the frequent placement of the ligature on the mouthpiece every time the mouthpiece is played.<\/p>\n On the body of the mouthpiece is engraved a serial number on one side of the table, and “CONTEMPORARY” on the other side of the table.\u00a0 Beneath the table is engraved the tip opening of 7.\u00a0 This 7 tip opening equates to a .081 tip opening.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n Here is some more information from the Theo Wanne website<\/a>\u00a0on the new Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece:<\/p>\n ESSENTIALS: Contemporary Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/u><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n The Contemporary Alto is designed for players needing a mouthpiece that is big, bright and cuts through when power and projection is needed. Great for rock, pop, smooth jazz, worship and other contemporary styles. Lead alto players love it too!<\/em><\/p>\n It is available in 2 popular tip openings:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Size 5:<\/strong>\u00a00.071″ or 1.80mm<\/em><\/p>\n Size 7:<\/strong>\u00a00.081″ or 2.06mm<\/em><\/p>\n Material:\u00a0<\/strong>A.M.P. – Proprietary Bio-Safe Polymer<\/em><\/p>\n Baffle:\u00a0<\/strong>Medium-High Step Baffle<\/em><\/p>\n Chamber:\u00a0<\/strong>Medium Chamber<\/em><\/p>\n Ligature Fit:\u00a0<\/strong>Standard Hard Rubber Alto Ligature\u00a0(Check Out Our Theo Wanne Selection)<\/a>\u00a0 *ligature not included<\/em><\/p>\n What’s Included Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto sax mouthpiece tip, rails, baffle, table and chamber all look well made and functional. The side rails and tip rails are surprisingly thin considering this new A.M.P. manufacturing process that Theo is using to create these Essential saxophone mouthpieces.\u00a0 The table looks flat, even and well made although the reed does hang off the rear of the table slightly.\u00a0 Interestingly, the window of the Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece has a slightly squared off curve to it at the bottom.\u00a0 When comparing the window to the Essentials Jazz model which I also received,\u00a0 the Jazz model window has more of a traditional rounded curve on the bottom and the window is longer than the Contemporary window.<\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary alto sax mouthpiece has what I would describe as a high baffle.\u00a0 The Theo Wanne website describes the Contemporary alto mouthpiece baffle as “medium-high”.\u00a0 The baffle looks pretty straight to my eye as it travels the one inch from the tip to the baffle edge.\u00a0 There is a curve within that space that you can see in the photo above.\u00a0 Although I don’t see a change of angle after that curve, I think I feel a slight change of angle after that curve when touching that area with my pinky.<\/p>\n After the baffle edge approximately one inch from the tip rail, the baffle travels down towards the chamber at a greater angle.\u00a0 The bottom of the baffle has a scooped out area reminiscent of a Berg Larsen type scooped out baffle bottom.\u00a0 That scooped out baffle bottom is hidden in darkness in the photo above and the photo below, but you can see it clearly in the third photo below with the lamp behind the mouthpiece.<\/p>\n The sidewalls are straight and angle inwards as they approach the chamber entrance. The sidewalls continue straight through that scooped out bottom of the baffle area and then the sidewalls open outward as they approach the chamber area underneath the bottom curve of the window.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The mouthpiece chamber after the scooped out baffle bottom and widening sidewalls looks to be about the same diameter as the bore of the mouthpiece.\u00a0 \u00a0Theo Wanne describes this chamber as being a medium chamber BUT if the standard for a medium chamber is a Meyer medium chambered alto saxophone mouthpiece, this mouthpiece seems like more of a medium-small chamber to my mind.\u00a0 It really depends on where you believe the chamber starts.\u00a0 If it is after the first edge in the baffle, then I would describe this chamber as medium-small.\u00a0 If the chamber starts after the scoop in the baffle bottom, I could see how that might be considered a similar size to a Meyer medium chamber area.\u00a0 \u00a0The roof of the chamber is nice and thin.<\/p>\n Before I even played the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece, I had a pretty good idea that this mouthpiece would be pretty bright sounding.\u00a0 The combination of that high baffle, flat sidewalls and medium-small chamber was a recipe for a bright, focused and powerful alto saxophone sound.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece played great with a variety of reeds and passed the suction test with every alto saxophone reed that I tried on it.\u00a0 I ended up using a BetterSax Jazz Cut Unfiled #3 alto sax reed for this review because it played very well.<\/p>\n As anticipated, the Essentials Contemporary alto sax mouthpiece produced a brighter tone that was focused and could be very powerful.\u00a0 I thought for sure,\u00a0 that the Essentials Contemporary alto mouthpiece would be good for one thing, a bright “Dave Sanborn” kind of sound, but the Contemporary 7 alto sax mouthpiece surprised me in that it sounded great on the jazz lines and melodies I tried playing on it as well.\u00a0 It was brighter than a typical Meyer alto saxophone mouthpiece type of design but while I was playing the Essentials Contemporary mouthpiece, I was thinking that it could be a pretty terrific lead alto saxophone mouthpiece due to it’s brighter tone and the power and volume it could produce.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece played pretty evenly and smoothly throughout the range of the alto saxophone.\u00a0 I loved how smooth and flowing the fast lines sounded as I was playing but also when listening back to the sound clips.\u00a0 The articulation on the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece was clean and crisp and playing bebop lines sounded great as you could articulate the offbeats while keeping the line connected and smooth sounding.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n The intonation of the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto mouthpiece were within normal parameters which was a relief because many times high baffle mouthpieces can mess up the intonation on my Selmer Reference 54 alto saxophone.\u00a0 My guess is that Theo Wanne has worked hard to create a balance between this high baffle and the chamber size so that the intonation is still excellent.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n I don’t know how Theo did it, but the low notes on the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece were excellent as well.\u00a0 I had no problem popping out the low notes at full volume which produced a nice and thick full bodied tone down low.\u00a0 The low notes weren’t as hefty and rich as those produced by an alto sax mouthpiece with a larger chamber and lower baffle but they were pretty full sounding nonetheless.\u00a0 Sub-toning was also effortless and made the low notes more velvety and lush sounding.\u00a0 My tendency is to over use the sub-tone effect down low but one thing to notice in the sound clips is how soft the fade out could get at the end of those lines down low when sub-toning on the Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece.<\/p>\n I usually don’t play the altissimo register on the alto saxophone because of my hearing issues but I thought I would venture a little bit up there on the second sound clip.\u00a0 The Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary mouthpiece performed great up in the altissimo register of the saxophone.\u00a0 The notes were bright and at times edgy but still fat and round sounding.\u00a0 I could push more edge into the sound and get more of that “Sanborn” sound if I wanted to as well.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n On the sound clips below, I try to give a good range and variety of alto saxophone sounds and textures so that you can hear how the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece performs in different styles.\u00a0 I demonstrate the sound of the Essentials Contemporary alto mouthpiece with all my usual lines and melodies so if you want to compare it to my other sound clips and reviews, you should be able to find many of the same lines to compare this sound clip to.\u00a0 The first sound clip is recorded dry and the second and third sound clips have reverb added.<\/p>\n Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n In my opinion, the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece is a great high baffle alto saxophone mouthpiece for those looking for a brighter more powerful alto sax mouthpiece that doesn’t just pigeonhole you into an automatic “Dave Sanborn” sound but gives you more power and brightness while still having a fat sounding tone.\u00a0 The Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece can be used for contemporary music as the name suggests but is also flexible enough to be used for jazz, big band and small group settings (not for classical music probably…..).\u00a0 Theo Wanne and his team have done a terrific job designing a mouthpiece perfect for modern music while still being relatively affordable compared to most of the other options out on the market today.<\/p>\n If you like the sound and look of the Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary 7 alto saxophone mouthpiece by Theo Wanne, you can find them at Theo Wanne\u2019s website (save 15% by using this link)<\/a>. I have agreed to be an affiliate for Theo Wanne so if you purchase a Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece from this link (save 15% by using this link)<\/a>, Neffmusic will receive a small commission on the sale.\u00a0 This helps to support my site and keep the saxophone related reviews, articles and transcriptions coming to you.<\/p>\n If you are lucky enough to play a Theo Wanne Essentials Contemporary alto saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below.\u00a0 Thanks,\u00a0 Steve<\/p>\n\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIntroducing the ESSENTIALS Collection<\/em><\/h3>\n
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