 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: donald
Date: 2015-09-12 01:45
Kia ora,
I posted this last week, then went to edit my original post but got interupted, and was then busy for 24 hours- when I returned back to the BB it had gone... apologies to those who had contributed to the thread only to have it disappear... Since this was originally posted I have had another hour long session to test some of the claims I made re intonation, and I stand by my original assessement.
Author: donald (---.jetstream.xtra.co.nz - (Spark New Zealand) Auckland, E7 New Zealand)
Date: 2015-09-05 14:04
(I am sure that there was an existing thread started by someone who had tried these, but I couldn't find it using the search function)
Kia ora,
I was reccently sent clarinet barrels made by Brad Behn from hard rubber and have been really quite impressed by them. He shipped two of them for me to try, and I've now had about a week of regular playing on the 66mm barrel (in the "standard/traditional" form) Here is what Brad wrote to me about them....
"I have two designs - one which is slender but a standard or traditional form, and the other is more of an hour-glass shape. They are both made with the same bore which has a slightly more extreme taper than Moennig barrels. Their design is to be as low-mass as possible thereby creating ring, resonance, and flexibility from their body-mass, and center, depth, and hold from their slightly smaller bore."
Note that his comments are in regards to DESIGN, he does not makes any claims regarding the material the barrels are made of (which I do not believe to be his unique hard rubber compound that he uses for his mouthpieces)
I play a Buffet Festival B flat clarinet, and an R13 A clarinet, and found the 66mm barrel actually works well on both instruments (slightly under lower pitch on the A clarinet, as would be expected, but after a very short warm up period it plays very nicely in tune)
I spent some time comparing the intonation (on both clarinets) between these Behn barrels and various other aftermarket barrels I have (and the stock barrels that came with the instruments) and found that the intonation was definitely improved using the Behn. I have always expected the various aftermarket barrels to "improve" intonation rather than completely cure the characteristics/shortcomings of the instrument, and don't expect a barrel to make a clarinet play perfectly in tune. Most of the barrels I have bought over the years have brought some improvement, a few times I've been disappointed to discover, after extended playing, a shortcoming that wasn't immediately obvious.
With the Behn barrel, I've not only found the intonation to be improved considerably, not perfect but a lot closer than my other options, but after a week have no drawbacks... no unexpected shortcoming that I had missed. The tuning is pretty darn good.
As a mouthpiece maker Brad values "hold"- which (if I understand him) is the tendency for the equiptment to maintain tonal shape at extreme dynamics. Of course this will be very dependent of reeds/player etc, but the mouthpiece and barrel can greatly influence this. These new Behn barrels certainly DO seem to provide this "hold". I can sit back and let the sound ring and glow, but as I push dynamic and articulation to extremes it maintains shape much more easily than on my other barrels.
There is a real sense of evenness too, impressively so. No regions of the instrument that seem to suffer a loss of resonance or compromised tone (almost all my other barrels have a region of the instrument where I find myself thinking "this is why I got this", but a spot where I'll think "ah, I am having to try a bit harder here"). Interestingly both a flute player and a Jazz Sax player whom I asked to listen to me playing on the Behn barrel commented (without me promting them) that they could perceive an evenness in tone and response.
The sound?
Well, of course there is the old saying that whatever you play on you end up sounding like yourself.... but at the same time the greater or smaller variations that may come from the equiptment can influence the direction you are having to work toward....
These barrels help me make a bright, compact yet vibrant sound. I can't really think of any better words at the moment. All of my colleagues responded favourably when I played the Behn barrels (so far I haven't actually played to other clarinet players, just to flute/saxophone/violin/cello/pianist/singer). Half of them then said they liked the richness of my wooden barrels when I switched over, but it's hard to know what to make of that (and they were all standing next to me, rather than being in a large hall). One colleague said that the Behn barrel had a smaller sound than my Segal, another said that the Behn was the "biggest, loudest"... so go figure.
The bottom line is this- everyone responded positively to what they heard BEFORE they had to compare.
NZ has just gone through a phase of being obsessed with making a "fat/dark/big/German" sound (yes, I know that many German players sound very bright, and that those words mean something different to each person who uses them) and it's obviously a fact that there are players who will look for these qualities in a barrel, rather than a brighter/ring.
However I'm really enjoying a feeling of security that my Behn barrel gives me- from the evenness, the hold and the improved intonation.
I'm definitely going to stick with it, and even if it doesn't become my all time favourite barrel it's upped my expectations no end.
Certainly worth a try.
dn
(other aftermarket barrels used for comparison were Chadash, Moennig, Zinner/Lomax, Backun, Schwenk-und-Seggelke and a very fine rubber lined barrel by Les Nicholson)
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Author: seabreeze
Date: 2015-09-12 22:09
The previous recent discussion of Behn's products you recall reading here might be "Brad Behn Blows it off the charts" from ClarinetRobt on 2015-07-18. He was talking mostly about trying some of Behn's latest mouthpiece designs which he does not mention by name but could be the Epic and Sono models. Evidently these mouthpieces gave him better projection over the brass and overall blend in his peformance ensemble than the mouthpiece he had been using (Fobes Europa with thick rails) .
I haven't tried Behn's new slimline rubber barrels, but a rubber barrel I have tried is Henderson's "Chedeville" model. It tends to focus the sound and increase the central resonance beyond what I get on any of the exotic wood barrels. The wooden ones tend to spread and dull the sound but also add an element of lushness (what your auditors might mean by "rich") that the rubber does not have. Finally, I suppose it all depends on what is most appropriate for the music you are playing and the ensemble you're playing with--a range of colors to suit the occassion.
If Behn's new barrels markedly improve intonation on Buffets that alone might be a good reason to use them.
Post Edited (2016-01-25 03:34)
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Author: donald
Date: 2015-09-17 09:27
"an element of lushness", yes that is a good way of putting it. So far I've used the Behn for two professional rehearsals- a big orchestra (Tchaik 5/Debussy prelude to afternoon of faun) in a trully AWFUL acoustic, couldn't say if the barrel had any positive effect.... and a smaller group playing contemporary music (Peter Maxwell Davies) where I was required to play really extreme dynamics/range and both play soloistically and "blend"... I acquitted myself well, and while there's no way to prove that was because of the barrel, no one told me i was "too bright" or lacking in lushness....
dn
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Author: TomS
Date: 2015-09-17 22:29
Why stop at the barrel, with the use of hard rubber? Continue on down the instrument ...
Tom
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2016-10-27 06:09
Seabreeze:
My sincere apology for not clarifying which one of Brad's mouthpiece I play. I was looking for suggestions for a Rose etude errata and stumbled across this old post.
I'm playing on his Vintage II.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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Author: Wes
Date: 2016-10-27 09:09
Do any barrels that you tried bring the altissimo F# up to pitch? Are there any other notes that need improvement?
Thanks
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Author: ClarinetRobt
Date: 2016-10-27 19:22
Wes:
Brad Behn is the nicest guy in the world. I haven't made the equipment upgrade to his Rod Rubber barrels, but I'm sure they are spectacular none-the-less. Contact him directly, I'm sure he can answer your question and address any concerns.
~Robt L Schwebel
Mthpc: Behn Vintage
Lig: Ishimori, Behn Delrin
Reed: Legere French Cut 3.75/4, Behn Brio 4
Horns: Uebel Superior (Bb,A), Ridenour Lyrique, Buffet R13 (Eb)
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