{"id":41790,"date":"2017-01-12T14:15:15","date_gmt":"2017-01-12T19:15:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/?p=41790"},"modified":"2022-11-17T10:57:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-17T15:57:52","slug":"mouthpiece-cafe-house-blend-ii-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/2017\/01\/mouthpiece-cafe-house-blend-ii-tenor-saxophone-mouthpiece-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, I am reviewing another saxophone mouthpiece made by Brian Powell and Erik Greiffenhagen over at Mouthpiece Cafe<\/a>. \u00a0If you have visited my site before you probably know that I hold Brian and Erik in pretty high regard. \u00a0They have both done\u00a0tons of sax mouthpiece refacing jobs for me over the years with great results. \u00a0I have reviewed and tried many examples of their mouthpieces over the years and they are always top notch.<\/p>\n

Actually, when I am on Ebay looking for my next sax mouthpiece purchase, I always perk up when I see a Florida Link mouthpiece that was refaced by Brian Powell or Erik Greiffenhagen. \u00a0 Many\u00a0players are looking for original Florida Otto Links but after playing a few that\u00a0I\u00a0ended up having to have refaced myself, I now would rather just buy one that has already been checked over, optimized and plays great right out of the box………my point being, that I trust the work that these two guys do.<\/p>\n

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Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

This Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II was sent\u00a0to me by\u00a0an adult Skype student that asked me if I wanted to try it\u00a0out. \u00a0He sent me this House Blend II as well as a beautiful Rafael Navarro Silver Bebop Special\u00a0that I hope to review soon also.<\/p>\n

The House Blend II is a 7 tip opening which is a little small for me as I usually play a 7*-8 but this mouthpiece didn’t feel small at all for me. Actually, it feels like I am playing a 7*. \u00a0 I actually wondered if maybe they forgot to put the star on the 7. \u00a0I ended up making two clips of this one. One with a Rigotti Gold 3 medium reed and the other with a Rigotti Gold 3 1\/2 medium reed.<\/p>\n

Usually if I am trying a mouthpiece out and more than one size reed works great on it then I will do a sound clip of each just to hear what they sound like and see which reed I like better. \u00a0 It’s interesting because sometimes the reed I like playing more isn’t the one I like the sound clip of the best.<\/p>\n

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Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

The House Blend II tenor mouthpiece looks great as I would expect from Brian and Erik’s work. This is a used mouthpiece so you can see some marks on the table from use. \u00a0The tip, table, rails and baffle look smooth and even. \u00a0The inside side rails are scooped out as they lead into the chamber. \u00a0The baffle looks pretty high to my eyes. The baffle heads aways from the tip at an angle and then the curve increases as it heads down into\u00a0the chamber at a steeper pitch. \u00a0I would say the House Blend II has a large chamber similar in size to a hard rubber Otto Link.<\/p>\n

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Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here’s a description of the House Blend model tenor saxophone mouthpiece from the Mouthpiece Cafe website:<\/p>\n

This unique mouthpiece was modeled after Erik’s own hand-made creation. It is unlike any other on the market and is exclusively made by Mouthpiece Cafe. It features a large chamber with a longer baffle and we think the tone will absolutely blow your mind.<\/em><\/p>\n

The House Blend is designed to have the perfect balance of brightness and edge while maintaining the rich, full body sound you desire. This piece is extremely versatile and is great for most venues including jazz, R&B,Blues and even Rock. \u00a0This is a player’s mouthpiece for sure!<\/em><\/p>\n

HB vs HB2<\/em><\/p>\n

HB-the design concept for the original House Blend was to make a mouthpiece that had the basic tonal characteristics of a Slant Signature Link but with more power and dynamic range. Easily played ppp to fff, lush subtone or full bore. Sort of like a Link on steroids.<\/em><\/p>\n

The HB2 has an even longer more aggressive baffle than the original HB, that combines the best combination of a shelf style mouthpiece and a long roll over baffle. Still easily controllable and able to be played with a wide dynamic flexibility.<\/em><\/p>\n

We are currently offer this in the following tip openings: 6*(.095), 7*(.105), 8(.110)<\/em><\/p>\n

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Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have attached two sound clip demonstrations of the House Blend\u00a0II. \u00a0One is with a Rigotti Gold 3 Medium\u00a0reed and then for kicks I added one with a harder reed, a Rigotti Gold 3 1\/2 Medium reed. Both reeds played great with the House Blend II mouthpiece.<\/p>\n

For me, the House Blend is truly a blend between a classic Otto Link type sound and a high baffle mouthpiece. \u00a0It’s one of those mouthpieces that straddles the line right in the middle. \u00a0Great for straight ahead playing but can get more kick and power for other genres of music when needed.<\/p>\n

It was great\u00a0for subtoning (I love the subtone at 1:32 of the 3 medium\u00a0clip). \u00a0I also got almost a classical vibe to it (at 2:00 of the 3 medium\u00a0clip where I go into my version of an\u00a0improvised classical tune……..a little corny but I think it sounds good.)<\/p>\n

The Rigotti Gold 3 1\/2 Medium clip wasn’t as spread but I thought the tone sounded a bit more substantial and thick. \u00a0It sounded a\u00a0bit darker in my opinion.<\/p>\n

Overall, I loved the buttery smoothness of the House Blend II. It seems like a very versatile mouthpiece and is on my list of tenor mouthpieces to suggest to high school and college students that have to play in a variety of styles and genres.<\/p>\n

Although I felt like I could get a respectable volume from the 7, \u00a0I would be interested in trying this mouthpiece out in a 7* or 8 just for kicks. \u00a0I love the focus and pure tone of the 7 but would like to see if the 7* or 8 would keep the same focus and purity while allowing more air for volume. \u00a0If I was playing in a loud band with electric instruments like many of us do I would opt for the slightly larger tip I think but that is just me. \u00a0 This one has a beautiful and gorgeous sound in my opinion.<\/p>\n

If you are interested in trying a Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II out you can contact Brian and Erik through\u00a0the Mouthpiece Cafe Website<\/a>\u00a0. \u00a0Tell him Steve sent you………….Great work guys!!<\/p>\n

Let me know what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2017\/HouseBlendII.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold\u00a03 Medium Reed<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\nhttps:\/\/cdn.neffmusic.com\/2017\/HBIIRG3halfMed.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n

Mouthpiece Cafe House Blend II Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 1\/2 Medium Reed<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I have not received any compensation or products for writing this review. I am borrowing this mouthpiece from a fellow saxophone player who was kind enough to let me borrow it. Regardless, I only review mouthpieces and other saxophone related products that I\u00a0enjoy and believe will be a good choice for other saxophone players to try also. \u00a0 \u00a0Steve Neff<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today, I am reviewing another saxophone mouthpiece made by Brian Powell and Erik Greiffenhagen over at Mouthpiece Cafe. \u00a0If you have visited my site before you probably know that I hold Brian and Erik in pretty high regard. \u00a0They have both done\u00a0tons of sax mouthpiece refacing jobs for me over the years with great results. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":41792,"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":[487,1120,45],"tags":[108,280,1563,151,239,72],"class_list":{"0":"post-41790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mouthpiece-reviews","8":"category-tenor-medium-baffle-reviews","9":"category-tenor-mouthpieces","10":"tag-brian-powell","11":"tag-erik-greiffenhagen","12":"tag-house-blend-ii","13":"tag-mouthpiece-cafe","14":"tag-saxophone-mouthpiece","15":"tag-tenor-sax","16":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41790","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=41790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.neffmusic.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}