This is a new Drake ceramic soprano mouthpiece that I am trying out. This piece has a .065 tip opening and a small chamber. The mouthpiece plays with a nice focused tone. Much more focused sounding than the Drake large chambered mouthpiece. If you listen to both clips you can hear the difference between a fatter more spread sound and a more focused direct sound.
I really liked this soprano mouthpiece a lot also. It has a more focused sound to it but I don’t hear it as being too bright or getting thin at all. The intonation was great on it as well as the notes being even up and down the horn. I think the ceramic material gives a little bit more of a ring to the sound than you get from a hard rubber mouthpiece.
I just listened to a couple of clips of sop pieces, both of the Drakes and your Super Ses.
My vote goes to the Drake small chamber. It’s the most enjoyable one to listen to for me. The large chamber one gets a little ‘ducky’, and the super is brighter with more of a buzzy nasal quality. It may seem louder when you’re behind it but the mike picks up the highs that you don’t get while you are playing. Just my 2 cents.
So here we are more than a decade on, and I’ve just bought one of these in a 6 tip opening as new old shop stock. The model is called JS B which relates to the squeeze throat and medium chamber. It’s a monster with as much power as you want, lots of harmonics, very responsive and has great intonation. I use this with a small alto sized Versa Rovner ligature – the ceramic material bulks up the body of the piece albeit it’s light.
On a modern horn such as the Yamaha that you play, Steve, seems there’s focus, purity but plenty of colouring too. On a vintage horn, such as my Conn New Wonder II, the sound feels broader, very full, and has the most fantastic, shimmering timbre. Tuning it accurately on the Conn is very manageable . Seems squeeze throats and smaller chambers with low or no baffles work much better on these vintage horns than large, straight through pieces with baffles.
This is the most complex-sounding soprano mouthpiece I’ve ever tried or owned!
That’s great to hear Nick! You’re review of it is so good that it makes me want to try one again! Haha! Steve
Where the master leads… 🙂