 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-02-09 07:20
Speaking of beginner/student mouthpieces, has anyone first-hand experience with Behn's Ouverture?
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Ben
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2006-02-09 17:52
Ben,
I got about a half dozen of them for my students, and they worked out pretty well. They use a good facing, which I think really helps in the development of good tonal production. I think anything from Brad Behn is exceptional. And after trying hundreds of mouthpieces, i can definately say that the Behn Vintge is the best Mouthpiece i have ever tried.
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Author: Dan Shusta
Date: 2006-02-09 22:09
I have an Overture mpc which Brad customized for me. I am able to go from E3 to F6 with a Mitchell Lurie standard #2 reed. I found Brad to be extremely friendly, thoughtful, and, IMHO, he certainly knows what he's doing.
I highly recommend him.
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-02-10 17:36
Rod,
Good to hear that the Vintage is a great mouthpiece. I am just about $550 dollars short of being able to afford one though. I had gone the dangerous route of trying to fund the best stereo system money could buy (maybe this is why I am not budgeted for Behn!) and found that the incremental increase in benefit did not match the increase in price very very quickly in the process.
If it is safe for you to say that this mouthpiece is six times better than most mouthpieces, I will start saving up right now.
..............Paul Aviles
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2006-02-10 19:48
Paul,
I have played on original vintage stuff, a lot of different things. I got the kaspar version, and it is definately the best ive tried, and i was sort of elated about this mouthpiece, i practiced about five hours a day for about three days in a row, and now my face hasn't recovered, i need the day off. But the bes tis the response and hold of the mouthpiece.
Best Regards
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-02-10 21:00
Paul -
High end audio is where you spend:
- $1,000 each for power cords connecting each component to the wall socket (even though the power is put through a rectifier and comes out at 12 volts D.C.)
- $1,000 per foot for cables connecting components
- $1,000 per foot for speaker cables (each speaker needs at least two sets)
- $100 each for dots of vibration-absorbing material to stick all over the **outside** of components
- $1,000 for a cable conditioner to remove magnetic pollution from your cables, to be used once a week.
- $100 each for props to raise the cables two inches off the floor, thus avoiding floor interference.
- $14,500 for a 17-1/2 watt monaural tube amplifier (you'll need two) and the same for two preamplifiers
- at least $7,000 for speakers (and up to $40,000 and beyond)
- And where there's only one good spot, six inches wide and six inches high, where you get the true image
Good audio equipment sounds wonderful, but there are loads of hucksters out there, who compose beautiful ads and audio-porn prose, and want $1,000 for a stick of chewing gum.
I love the porn. I buy The Absolute Sound a couple of times a year. But even they are starting to balk.
More to the point, I used to listen to BBC classical broadcasts on AM shortwave radio, with constant interference. I got as much musical pleasure from those as from my current, pretty good stereo system.
The same goes for clarinet mouthpieces. I'm sure Brad Behn's student mouthpiece is good, and his pro model even better. I wouldn't perform on anything other than my Opperman mouthpiece. But my brother, who has a good ear, couldn't tell the difference when I played my customized Buffet and then the plastic Yamaha (with a plastic Yamaha mouthpiece) he had rented for his son. I could certainly tell the difference, but was surprised by the similarity.
By all means get a Behn Vintage if you can afford it. Just don't expect it to be that much different in the long run from any other professional quality mouthpiece.
A moderate amount of pleasure comes from playing the best equipment. Far more comes from making great music.
Ken Shaw
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-02-10 21:10
> A moderate amount of pleasure comes from playing the best equipment. Far
> more comes from making great music.
I will cross-stitch that onto flax, frame it and hang it where I always can see it.
So there's a lot of snake oil and superstition in that business, huh? But maybe we need those rites and rituals. There's a little Monk in every one of us...
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Ben
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Author: Sylvain
Date: 2006-02-10 21:21
Paul,
IMHO, the problem is that pretty much any decent mouthpiece is going to get you 95% of what you are looking for. As long as you know what sort of response/facing you like you can find a $60 machine made mouthpiece that is going to do just fine.
I agree with you, a $600 mouthpiece is probably not 6 times better than a $100 dollar. But if you are one who really is after getting this extra 5% of satisfaction, and 600$ is what it takes to bring you there and nothing else does, then maybe it is worth spending the money.
Here is a simple calculation:
spend an hour in a car every day commuting for a year mucho $$$$$
practice an hour a day on a mouthpiece Ferrari like the Behn Vintage for many many years: $650.
Of course, you might feel the Behn Vintage to be no more exciting than a stock Vandoren,
then please save your money!
--
Sylvain Bouix <sbouix@gmail.com>
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Author: Chetclarinet
Date: 2006-02-11 00:00
I had the pleasure of trying several of Brad Behn's vintage mouthpieces before he began to market them and can say that they are very very good and can equal the majority of Kaspar and Chedeville original mouthpieces that I have played. Brad is an amazing craftsman and a beautiful clarinetist--the level of his clarinet playing mixed with his mouthpiece skill makes for a great product. In my opinion, the Behn Vintage mouthpieces are well worth the price. Chester Rowell
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Author: Paul Aviles
Date: 2006-02-11 21:11
Ken,
Kimber Cable (speaker cable) was a steal at only $6.50 per foot (back then).
Where can I get my hands on that cable conditioner? :-)
Seriously (?) I heard the Wilson Audio Modular Monitors back in the 80s, though impressive, they were not worth the difference of speakers at one tenth the price (such as the oh so beautiful Quads). I would hasten to add I am not saying that super expensive is a rip-off, only that the differential in quality becomes so slight as to make the added expense impractical for all but the most die-hard fans.
Specifically back to mouthpieces: it is NOT the sound that changes. Most of us would concede that we will sound like ourselves on any equipment, it is that I occasionally stumble onto equipment that makes how I do what I do easier and more fluid.......so I can't help just wondering about that proprietary rubber..........
................Paul Aviles
Post Edited (2006-02-11 23:17)
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Author: RodRubber
Date: 2006-02-11 21:33
Paul,
you nailed it. The Behn vintage has the almost effortless playing qualities, and as i work with it more, the reeds are getting better and better
.
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Author: Bellflare
Date: 2006-02-11 21:38
The law of diminishing returns?
No.
In order to order a quality mouthpiece from a living and breathing modern artisan, you have to call them on the phone. Even better is that you might be able to sit beside them, or at least return the product in exhange for one that is adjusted to your liking. You partake of their time.
True also for those who reface but who do not manufacture the original product.
Expertise costs.
Like my lawyer's sign says "The attorney's {mouthpiece maker's} advise is his stock and trade."
Q: are there any female mouthpiece makers\refacers?
Q: why dont they call them mouthpiece facelifters
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Author: Hank Lehrer
Date: 2006-02-11 21:43
Hi,
I use a Portnoy BP02 or a Stowell Wells Schneider B2; an old Mitchel Lurie, Gigliotti or Bonade ligature; a LeBlanc L200 clarinet; and a Mark VI alto and tenor among other things. I listen to Advent speakers and use Tommy Armour T100 irons.
It would seem that I need to get into this century/decade/year! I must be missing something.
HRL
PS I have a pair of cordovan dress shoes that are still #1.
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Author: Phat Cat
Date: 2006-02-12 02:21
Ken:
You absolutely nailed it! Ultra high end audio and clarinet set up discussions share many characteristics. Most prominent is the use of pseudo scientific fuzzword buzzword jargon expressed in a pasionate manner that denigrates everyone who can't hear the "huge" differences that some piece of equipment purportedly imparts. Of course none of these biases and opinions that masquerade as accepted wisdom have ever been born out by controlled, double blind testing. In both cases, talk about equipment too often is a substitute for actually making music.
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Author: Ken Shaw ★2017
Date: 2006-02-12 02:27
There are sax necks and even basson bocals made of wood (with no metal liner). And if you think clarinet mouthpieces raise disagreement, and cost lots of money, you should see what bassoonists pay for prewar Heckel bocals.
The only way to evaluate Brad Behn's mouthpieces is to play one, preferably in his presence so he can adjust it to your instrument, embouchure and preferences.
If his mouthpieces help you play bettrer, they are, for professionals and rich amateurs, worth any amount of money, and more power to him if he gets a top price.
Ken Shaw
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2006-02-18 16:52
Phat Cat: (...) Ultra high end audio and clarinet set up discussions share many characteristics. (...)
I just spent a week on snowy slopes and had lots of time to admire the other people's ski equipment. Same there. Lots of buzzwords (mine sport a "soft core power jacket" slogan) but in the end it's more a question of "looking better" than "being better".
Just be glad that a clarinet has not enough surface to print fancy advertising buzzwords on...
--
Ben
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