Today, I am excited to be reviewing the new Ambika 3 hard rubber soprano saxophone mouthpiece made by Theo Wanne. I reviewed the original Gaia soprano sax mouthpiece about 12 years ago and have been playing that mouthpiece on the soprano sax ever since. This week I will be reviewing three Theo Wanne soprano saxophone mouthpieces: the Gaia 3, the Gaia 4 and the darkest of the Theo Wanne models, this Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
The Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece was shipped with the usual high standards of the Theo Wanne mouthpiece company. Each mouthpiece comes in a perfectly designed box with stylish gold printing on it with all the details about the sax mouthpiece inside. Inside the box is a beautiful black leatherette Theo Wanne mouthpiece case with the Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece well protected inside. The Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece I am reviewing today has a 7 tip opening which is measured at .065 and is made of hard rubber.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
Even before you look at the Theo Wanne mouthpieces themselves, everything about the Theo Wanne packaging and presentation just speaks to quality and high standards. Just the process of opening the package and unpacking the mouthpiece brings about an excitement and anticipation that this mouthpiece you are about to play is going to be amazing!
Here is how the Theo Wanne website describes the new Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece:
The AMBIKA 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece is the result of Theo’s many decades of large chamber soprano mouthpiece research. His goal was to get the full bodied sound of the vintage 1940’s mouthpieces, but with much improved projection, ease of play, and dynamics. The AMBIKA 3 soprano sax mouthpiece has the best of the old world sound along with the benefits of modern research and manufacturing technology by the worlds foremost mouthpiece designer, Theo Wanne.
The Hard Rubber AMBIKA 3 mouthpiece uses real vintage style hard rubber just like the vintage mouthpieces of the 1940s-50s. If you love a full and beautiful soprano sound, your will love the AMBIKA soprano saxophone mouthpiece.
SOUND
- Built to outplay Theo’s very best Vintage large chamber soprano sax mouthpiece, and have enough projection for modern music at the same time!!!
- A deep and haunting sound best left to poetry. Hauntingly dark!
- Revolutionary in improving upon the true vintage sound!
DESIGN
- Revolutionary Extra Large True Large Chamber, NO baffle, and rounded inner side walls.
- Crafted to the highest accuracy in the history of saxophone mouthpieces.
- Designed by Theo Wanne, the foremost expert on the design and manufacturing of vintage and new mouthpieces.
DETAILS
- Case: Beautiful Leatherette Case! Like the case? See our other Mouthpiece and Reed Cases here!
- Serial Number: Includes specific serial number showing care given to your mouthpiece.
- Premium Hard Rubber: The Hard Rubber AMBIKA uses the finest vintage style hard rubber on the planet!
- Ligatures: The award winning Enlightened Ligature. To truly individualize your sound, try our Premium Pressure Plates, which fit all of our mouthpieces and ligatures!
- Cap: Reed Replacer Cap. The most secure cap in the world.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
Here is some more fascinating details on the story behind the creation and development of the Theo Wanne Ambika soprano saxophone mouthpiece line from the Theo Wanne website:
In 2002 Jan Garbarek flew out to my shop in Philadelphia, and I had the privilege of refacing many mouthpieces for him. I have always been a big fan of Jan’s music, and in particular love his soprano sound, it is just so expressive! The work I did for Jan eventually inspired the design for the original GAIA 1 soprano mouthpiece. Jan’s description when he first got the GAIA 1 was “Finally my soprano sounds like a saxophone!” Jan has been playing the GAIA 1 mouthpiece all these years….until this year…
I can never rest with a design, I always want to find a way to make things better. I don’t always succeed, but I must always try. I sent several newly designed mouthpieces to Jan, but he always stuck with his GAIA 1. This drove me nuts, ha ha ha. Eventually in the process of creating the GAIA 3 alto sax mouthpiece I hit upon a new design idea & technology, which proved amazing in the GAIA 3 alto mouthpiece. I thought, maybe this will work with the soprano too. So I transferred the new concept/technology over to the soprano and the GAIA 3 soprano mouthpiece was born. It just does everything the original GAIA 1 did, but better. It might look like generic shapes in the chamber and baffle, but I assure you, they are not.
Jan Garbarek playing the soprano saxophone on “My Song” by Keith Jarrett (check out the studio version for a better recording)
Until this year I never made an AMBIKA soprano mouthpiece, as when making a soprano mouthpiece darker, it can turn ‘dead’ sounding. But this new technology from the GAIA 3 mouthpieces created life in the sound, even when the baffle was significantly lowered. So yes, the AMBIKA 3 soprano is darker and less edgy than the GAIA, but instead of going ‘dead’ it becomes warm and full. This was the first time I felt comfortable making a truly dark soprano mouthpiece, as it was full of color and life…while still being warm and very dark.
I sent the AMBIKA mouthpiece to Jan, and he has been using it as his primary soprano saxophone mouthpiece ever since then. There is no greater testament than that!
I am passionate about beautiful sound and feel. To me, even more important than the sound coming out of the instrument, is how we feel when playing. Do we feel creative, passionate, and inspired? Only then do I feel a mouthpiece is doing what it is meant to do. So after creating such a dark soprano mouthpiece, it wasn’t until after I received this message from Jan that I felt like this mouthpiece was truly a success. “I’m having fun with the Ambika soprano mouthpiece. Good things pop out as I get into it. Each day playing the Ambika, I discover more!”-Jan Garbarek.
I hope you enjoy it as much as both of us. In many ways the AMBIKA is my Crown Jewel for the soprano sax. It is a combination of many years of intense study in soprano mouthpiece design, new technology, and the inspiration provided by one of the greatest living legends on the soprano sax, Jan Garbarek!– Theo Wanne
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
The Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece is beautifully made and has a perfect looking symmetry and balance to it. The Ambika mouthpiece engraving is as perfect as can be. Not a flaw or mistake anywhere. Each Theo Wanne mouthpiece has a unique serial number on it which I really love as I know which mouthpiece is mine and if I decide to sell a mouthpiece everyone knows from the serial number that this is the mouthpiece I reviewed on my site.
The tip, rails, baffle, table and chamber all look perfect as well. Smooth, even, symmetrical…….flawless. The sidewalls are scooped out as they head towards what I would describe as a large chamber. The window of the Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece is squared off at the bottom and looks to be similar in size to the window of the original Gaia soprano sax mouthpiece I have been playing for the last 12 years. I like to think the extra large windows on these Theo Wanne soprano mouthpieces allow more of the saxophone reed to vibrate and respond while playing.
The mouthpiece chamber looks to be slightly bigger in diameter than the bore of the mouthpiece. The roof of the chamber is nice and thin.
Theo Wanne describes the Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece as having no baffle but I am not even sure if that is possible. I do see a little bit of a rollover as the baffle heads down to the chamber but it is certainly less of a baffle than the Gaia model soprano sax mouthpieces.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
The Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece played perfectly with a Vandoren Java 3 soprano saxophone reed. I have always loved Vandoren Java reeds on the soprano sax for some reason and the Ambika played beautifully with the Java Green 3 soprano sax reeds.
I have to admit that I was very excited to be trying this darker Ambika soprano saxophone mouthpiece by Theo Wanne. Although I have loved playing the original Gaia soprano mouthpiece for the last 12 years, my only negative about the original Gaia mouthpiece was that at times, it just felt way too bright and edgy in tone for my tastes.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
Wow! The Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece was exactly what I was looking for! It played just as easily and effortlessly as my original Gaia soprano mouthpiece but I didn’t have to hold back on the Ambika 3 out of fear that the tone would get too bright and edgy like I had to do with my original Gaia soprano mouthpiece for all these years.
With the Ambika 3 soprano mouthpiece, I could play with all of my air and the tone was round and warm to my ears. The range of the horn was even and smooth from note to note and the intonation was very good on my Yamaha YSS-62 soprano saxophone.
I absolutely love the first clip with reverb added. It sounds like I am playing in a big room with a natural reverb. The Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece responded great to vibrato and I found it to be very expressive. Many times, on other mouthpiece clips, as I am holding a long note with vibrato and fading out, the note will either break before it completely fades out or the vibrato with falter. With the Ambika 3, the vibrato was incredibly consistent and easy to play even at that softest volumes.
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
The articulation was crisp and clean and I seemed to be able to tongue faster on the Ambika 3 than on other mouthpieces for some reason. You can hear an example at the 1:52 mark. I play this legato tongued idea in almost all of my reviews but here it sounds extra legato to me while also sounding as smooth as butter but still clean and precise.
One interesting moment in the sound clip is at the 2:27 mark. When I was listening back, I swear that one note I start with sounds just like an oboe to me. The rest of the notes in the sound clip sound like a soprano sax to me but I thought that one note sounding like an oboe was kind of cool when I listened back to it. (I love the sound of the oboe although I absolutely hated trying to play it for a semester in college! That was rough……..the only instrument that was worse for me was the bassoon!)
The characteristic I love the most about the Theo Wanne Ambika 3 is how the dark warm soprano tone is consistent from note to note and in the different octaves of the soprano. I could play fast lines through out the range of the soprano without fear that certain notes would pop out as too bright. This uniform warmth of tone just makes playing the Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece so enjoyable. I found myself just really loving the tone of my soprano while I was playing and just wanted to play slow melodies so I could just immerse myself in that beautiful rich sound.
Theo Wanne describes the Ambika 3 as having a “hauntingly dark” soprano saxophone tone and I think that is a great description! Somehow, Theo Wanne has produced a really dark/warm soprano mouthpieces that is still incredibly lively, rich and resonant sounding. I absolutely love it!
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece
In my opinion, the Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece is a great soprano saxophone mouthpiece for those looking for a soprano saxophone sound that is warm, rich and beautiful to listen to. If you are like me and the brightness of the soprano sax sometimes bothers your ears, then this is a great mouthpiece to try out. Give the sound clips below a listen and decide for yourself. The two clips are both the same but the first one has a little bit of reverb added and the second clip has no effects added.
If you like the sound and look of the Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece by Theo Wanne, you can find them at Theo Wanne’s website. I have agreed to be an affiliate for Theo Wanne so if you purchase a Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano sax mouthpiece from a link here in the review, neffmusic 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…..).
If you are lucky enough to play a Theo Wanne Ambika 3 soprano saxophone mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece – Vandoren Java Green 3 Reed-Reverb Added
Theo Wanne Ambika 3 Soprano Saxophone Mouthpiece – Vandoren Java Green 3 Reed-No Effects
Steve,
You sound great on the Ambika! From the yellow box at the end, it looks like you won’t be replacing your Gaia with the Ambika. Is there something that you still like better about your Gaia or maybe the Gaia 4 over the Ambika? If you still have both mouthpieces, it would be fun if you would do a comparison recording of the two. It would be very helpful for people trying to decide between the two.
I picked up one of these when they first came out. Up to that point, I had always been a small chamber soprano guy. I had tried the Gaia 2 but it didn’t have enough of the sweetness that I got from my soloist. When I got the Ambika, it almost immediately took over as my main piece. I can’t recommend it enough!
Jacob, I definitely plan on keeping the Ambika 3 but as of right now my agreement with Theo is to send it back as that was the original agreement when I asked to review it. If I buy it at full price, end up getting a discount on it, or end up getting it for free, I will make that known in the review when those details are figured out. I am working on a review right now of the Gaia 3 & 4 which both play great but I honestly am won over by the warm round tone of the Ambika 3. I also have a strange hearing issue where brighter and higher pitches distort in my hearing. It’s very annoying and quite bothersome so for that reason also, I enjoy the Ambika 3 much more. Steve
I’ve just fallen in love with the new Soprano Planet Missing Link 2, which sounds rather similar to the Ambika 3, being intended to be darker, without any loss of power. I’m so happy with it that, for now, I can just about resist the temptation of the Ambika 3. You might want to ask Joe to try the new Missing Link 2, and compare. It’s been a real eye-opener for me and made me play more soprano, as tone production and intonation are so much easier, without having to force things. https://soundcloud.com/andy-bowie/black-orpheus-91022
That’s great to hear Andrew. I had a Missing Link 1 at one point that played great but unfortunately, there was too much back pressure for me with that mouthpiece and it affected my health negatively at the time. I have found that I have to have that large chamber to avoid this. Every soprano mouthpiece I have played with a chamber that is smaller causes issues for me. I’m glad you are happy with the Missing Link 2. Hopefully I can try one at some point and review it as well without issues.
The ML2 is a large chamber mouthpiece, but there is a small amount of back pressure, which tends to help intonation. Joe did a lot of experimenting to get the balance right for a large chamber, and I don’t think you’d have any trouble. But you sound fabulous on the Ambika, and I may yet be tempted at some point. Like the new website design, by the way.
Steve, do you have tinnitus? I do and blame it for my aversion to bright, high notes. They hurt (as does sharp). Dark and warm are much more comfortable for me.
Not that I know of. I don’t have any kind of ringing but when I listen back to sound clips of me playing in the higher range of soprano, alto or the altissimo range for tenor the notes start distorting. At first it is annoying but if I keep listening, it gets almost painful to listen to. It’s like nails on a chalk board. That’s the best analogy I can give. I haven’t been to an ENT doctor about it but it has been going on for quite a while…….
I honestly have to say I didn’t find the sound samples to be “hauntingly dark”, nor incredibly “full & beautiful”. It was nice, but still a bit edgy & piercing, at least to my ears. Certainly not earth-shattering, as I’ve heard many players sound just as good, if not warmer & fuller, on pieces that have been around for many years. Of course, I believe the biggest factor in how any mouthpiece sounds, is the player, for a great player can often get a wonderful sound, despite playing on a piece many would deem inferior.
It’s also very difficult to judge how well a mouthpiece sounds without any side-by-side comparisons, thus I can’t hear if this is an improvement from the sound you are currently getting. And it’s sadly ironic, that unlike in years gone by, it’s a rare city where one can go to a music store, and spend a day trying out lots of different mouthpieces, and ligatures, for that’s always been the go-to method I’ve always used, either that, or trying some a friend may have for sale. Because something you play may enable you to get a great sound, but just not work for someone else. And the huge investment a new mouthpiece requires today, is still a bit shocking to me.
Come on Steve, you can’t blame Neff for music stores not stocking dozens of mouthpieces for you to try out.
I have a couple of Theo Wanne Gaia 3 special dark edition mouthpieces, size 7 that are even darker than this Ambika mouthpiece. Theo never listed these special dark edition mouthpieces on his website. I purchased them from Pro Winds I believe. I prefer the more lively sound of this Ambika mouthpiece over my special dark edition Gaia mouthpieces. Steve’s microphone setup is definitely bright sounding. I love Steve’s demos, but you have to understand the sensitivity of a condenser mic… especially in close mic situations. I am getting much warmer sounds on my Gaia 4 mouthpieces (soprano, alto, and tenor) than Steve gets on his demo recordings of the same Gaia 4 mouthpieces… but I clearly understand the brightening effects of condenser mics and bright sounding rooms. I am getting almost a too dark sound in my soundproofed studio. I have a great Lexicon PCM 90 reverb unit that livens up the sound. I would prefer having a million dollar studio with wood flooring and wood sound boards on the ceiling. I am using an amazing microphone which is the Warm Audio WA-87 R2 microphone. I was lucky to use some vintage Neumann 87 microphones in studios before and my Warm Audio mic actually sounds more balanced in the lows and mids… the Neumann mics sounded a little brighter. Even though my cheap studio doesn’t have the best sound, I use the db pad on the mic and put the mic closer than is recommended so that I don’t get too much of the stuffy room sound. Anyways, I will soon share a video of me playing my Gaia 4 mouthpieces on soprano, alto, and tenor. I have a warm sounding soprano sax, so the Gaia 4 matches up perfectly. If I had a bright sounding soprano sax, I would definitely be interested in this Ambika soprano mouthpiece. I was using the Drake Son of Slant soprano mouthpiece until I tried the Gaia 4. Steve, when I make my video, I will share it with you under one of your Gaia 4 demos.
In my previous comment, I was replying to David Charles’ comment that the Ambika mouthpiece doesn’t sound dark.
Wow, just been playing the Ambika 3. Blown away, works extremely well on my Keilwerth SX90. It’s not dark per se but really opens up an already open darkish horn. Not what I was expecting! I have a Gaia 3 and Durga 5. More even throughout the horn, palm keys are easier (Keilwerth sopranos play really different up there than say a Selmer, Yamaha or Yani). I’m not into altissimo on soprano, however G, G# and A pop out easily, unlike every other mouthpiece I own (many!).
I got the new Wanne Brahma soprano mouthpiece, which is fine if you need a lot of projection, but can become a bit strident if pushed. So I’ll sometimes use it on gigs where I need more power and the acoustic is not bright. I then finally caved and got an Ambika 3, and absolutely love it. It is darker like the Soprano Planet ML2, but is more easy blowing and flexible, and the tone is to die for. You can also push it quite a bit and it will respond without becoming strident. I may have finally got what I’ve been looking for. Very highly recommended if you want a darker soprano sound. Wouldn’t have done this without your excellent review, Steve, so thanks again for shrinking my reserves!