{"id":24280,"date":"2015-02-10T13:23:51","date_gmt":"2015-02-10T18:23:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=24280"},"modified":"2015-02-10T20:17:06","modified_gmt":"2015-02-11T01:17:06","slug":"bejamin-allen-dagradi-model-tenor-mouthpiece-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2015\/02\/bejamin-allen-dagradi-model-tenor-mouthpiece-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Bejamin Allen Dagradi Model Tenor Mouthpiece Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Today, I am reviewing two more\u00a0hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces from Benjamin Allen. These are\u00a0the 20TD model (also known as the Dagradi model after the great sax player <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tonydagradi.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Tony Dagradi<\/a>). \u00a0Benjamin Allen was nice enough to send me 3 Dagradi mouthpieces to try and today I am reviewing two of those\u00a0for you. (The 3rd one is a 9* tip and feels\u00a0more open than I am used to&#8230;&#8230;)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Benjamin Allen mentored under &#8220;Doc&#8221; Tenney and after Doc&#8217;s death decided to carry on his tradition and dedication to the mouthpiece making craft. I reviewed 3 of his 10E model tenor mouthpieces a couple of months ago which were also great mouthpieces&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegTop.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegTop.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Here are some bullet points from Ben&#8217;s website about the Dagradi 20TD\u00a0model tenor saxophone mouthpiece:<\/p>\n<h3><em><strong>BULLET POINTS ABOUT THE DAGRADI MODEL:<\/strong><\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Each Tony Dagradi Signature Model is played by a world-class saxophonist (Tony\u00a0Dagradi himself).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<ul>\n<li>The tip opening is 2.60mm, which is ~.10236\u2033 for those who prefer U.S. style measurements.<\/li>\n<li>The chamber size is \u201cML\/L.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>The facing length is ML.<\/li>\n<li>Each mouthpiece is handmade and hand adjusted to ensure each piece approaches playing perfection.<\/li>\n<li>All steps are completed in the United States.<\/li>\n<li>Each mouthpiece is made of American hard rubber\u2013sorry, but there is no plastic in my pieces.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Here is also a snippet from Benjamin Allen&#8217;s website about the Dagradi 20TD mouthpiece:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;I had the distinct honor and privilege of directly working with Tony towards achieving this mouthpiece concept during the summer of 2013, and I am still in awe at Tony\u2019s capacity to detect the most subtle mouthpiece changes. While many people can detect a slight baffle change, Tony could detect the slightest chamber alteration and could describe with great precision the impact of each change.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Then he could musically express the change and its impact on the mouthpiece\u2019s responsiveness, harmonic complexity, brilliance, and overall sound quality. In short, the education he provided is unsurpassable\u2013quite literally second to none.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Beyond Tony\u2019s musical and technical virtuosity, Tony knows mouthpieces and has one of the most comprehensive mouthpiece and ligature collections around, which consists of a fraction of the mouthpieces he has tried. This mouthpiece was not only compared to the pieces in his collection, it was compared to the totality of his experience. I have altered tip rails, side rails, baffle and floor heights, chamber size and shape, and beak profile changes. I have varied the facing curve aspect ratios. I have changed the facing length, and I have moved up and down on the tip opening. Amazingly, Tony instantly detects almost every change, but sometimes I have to wait about 10 seconds for him to notice others. But while Tony is the perfect saxophonist for picking things apart, he keeps going back to the piece we initially developed together seven months ago.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>So what is this piece, and what makes it great? Tony\u2019s input sure as heck is foundational, but so is his expansive and dynamic repertoire. The mouthpiece has been thoroughly tested in every imaginable venue and gig New Orleans can provide, and this mouthpiece works perfectly in every single venue. Tony knows what players need and want, and it\u2019s my very humble pleasure to provide a skill set to \u201cengineer\u201d a piece that satisfies his demands.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegTable.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegTable.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi Model\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">When you open the package, the 20TD Dagradi mouthpiece\u00a0looks like\u00a0your average black hard rubber mouthpiece with the words &#8220;Benjamin Allen&#8221; and &#8220;New Orleans&#8221; engraved on the top. \u00a0When you turn the mouthpiece over and look at it in the light it looks perfect though. Not one ounce of asymmetry or imperfection. \u00a0The table, rails and tip look even and perfect. \u00a0The tip rail is thin and even\u00a0as are\u00a0the side rails and baffle.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This Dagradi model\u00a0tenor saxophone mouthpiece has\u00a0a higher\u00a0rollover baffle than the Benjamin Allen 10E model I reviewed a couple months ago. \u00a0 The baffle scoops\u00a0down into what I would say is a\u00a0medium-large chamber. \u00a0 The side rails are scooped out smooth and evenly.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The two models I am reviewing today are both Dagradi models with a .10236 tip. (I call them 7*&#8217;s in the mouthpiece clips) Although .10236 is technically smaller than my usual\u00a0.105 7* tip opening these two mouthpieces felt very comfortable and like .105 tips to me. \u00a0\u00a0One mouthpiece is the standard Dagradi model and one is a version that is slightly more spread sounding.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegBafffle.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegBafffle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi Model\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">OK, \u00a0on to reviewing the sound and playability of both these Dagradi models. The regular Dagradi model has a brighter focused sound in my opinion with loads of power when pushed. \u00a0It has a tight core of tone that gets brighter as you push it harder. \u00a0At soft or even medium levels the tone is hearty and rich to my ears although it does lean to the brighter side of a tenor tone. \u00a0It isn&#8217;t too bright though&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;. \u00a0I could easily play this on a jazz set although you would just have to be careful with pushing it too hard. I\u00a0have played mouthpieces in the past \u00a0with high baffles like Guardalas, Sugals and Ponzols that sounded amazing on a loud dance set but were pretty rough to play in a quieter acoustic setting. \u00a0They would just get too loud and edgy when you pushed them. \u00a0This Dagradi mouthpieces\u00a0seem like a great\u00a0compromise to those other high baffle pieces. \u00a0It blends the power and edge of a baffle with a thick core sound that can be scaled back a bit more than other high baffled mouthpieces. \u00a0In my opinion it&#8217;s like a mix between the Otto Link concept and a high baffle concept&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The other aspect I like about the Dagradi model is the focus of the sound. \u00a0Sometimes with mouthpieces that try to do everything you get too spread of a sound that gets lost in the mix in live situations. \u00a0This Dagradi model seems to have enough core and center to the sound that I believe it would carry and cut through the mix of a live band in a great\u00a0way! Of course, you never know until you get out there on a gig but in my office here the Dagradi seems to have that balance of power and tone many are looking for in a gigging mouthpiece&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.It&#8217;s a great mouthpiece if you have to morph some straight ahead playing with funkier more modern soloing in my opinion.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The altissimo was easy to get and the mouthpiece responded well to expressive playing as far as bending and manipulating the notes.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The other Dagradi model I have played below is a more &#8220;spread&#8221; version. To my ears,the tone sounds fatter and indeed more spread when compared to the regular Dagradi. \u00a0It still has a nice focused core of sound but the outside edges of the tone are more diffused and spread. \u00a0This isn&#8217;t scientific obviously but that is how I perceive the sound while playing. \u00a0The more &#8220;spread&#8221; Dagradi is less edgy and punchy when pushed compared to the regular Dagradi model. \u00a0It&#8217;s almost like the edges of the tone are softer.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The intonation and evenness throughout the range of the horn was great on both mouthpieces. \u00a0They are very smooth sounding when playing fast which I really like. \u00a0As I played and recorded the sound clips I felt like I liked the spread Dagradi \u00a0more than the Regular Dagradi but interestingly enough I felt like I liked the regular Dagradi more when listening back to the clips. \u00a0Both were recorded exactly the same and with the same Rigotti Gold 2 1\/2 strong reed and Marc Jean ligature. \u00a0I tried to keep the audio sample somewhat similar although there are differences&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;..You&#8217;ll have to listen for yourself to decide which one you liked more and why&#8230;&#8230;..I&#8217;d be interested in knowing what you think in the comments below.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegCham.jpg\" rel=\"shadowbox\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" style=\"border: 0px initial initial;\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagRegCham.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"280\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi Model\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The Benjamin Allen Dagradi\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpieces were wonderful\u00a0to play. After reviewing 5\u00a0of Ben&#8217;s mouthpieces so far\u00a0it is obvious that Ben\u00a0knows what he is doing and was a great student of &#8220;Doc&#8221; Tenney!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">If you like the sound of the clip below and the mouthpiece catches your interest then please contact Ben and give it a try. You can contact Benjamin Allen\u00a0at his website at\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.allenmouthpieces.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Allenmouthpieces.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Tell him Steve sent you&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;.Great work\u00a0Ben!!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-24280-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGStandard70.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGStandard70.mp3\">https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGStandard70.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi &#8220;Regular&#8221; Model\u00a0Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-24280-2\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGSpread69.mp3?_=2\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGSpread69.mp3\">https:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2015\/February\/BADagradiRGSpread69.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Benjamin Allen Dagradi &#8220;More Spread&#8221;\u00a0Model Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today, I am reviewing two more\u00a0hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpieces from Benjamin Allen. These are\u00a0the 20TD model (also known as the Dagradi model after the great sax player Tony Dagradi). \u00a0Benjamin Allen was nice enough to send me 3 Dagradi mouthpieces to try and today I am reviewing two of those\u00a0for you. (The 3rd one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":24283,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1120,45],"tags":[1247,1222,658,117,265,1235],"class_list":{"0":"post-24280","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tenor-medium-baffle-reviews","8":"category-tenor-mouthpieces","9":"tag-20td","10":"tag-benjamin-allen","11":"tag-review","12":"tag-sax-mouthpiece","13":"tag-tenor-saxophone","14":"tag-tony-dagradi","15":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24280\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}