The Most MASSIVE Sax Sound Ever | Do Heavy Mass Screws Work?
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- Опубліковано 27 вер 2024
- #bettersax #saxophone #saxophonelife
Jay Metcalf demonstrates whether heavy mass screws on the saxophone work.
ReedGeek - Klangbogen bit.ly/2lkv6ac
Yanagisawa - Yany Boostar bit.ly/2llM3kK
Sax Gadgets - Vari-Screw bit.ly/2kO37Q9
▶ Blind Test Answers
Scale Test 1 - A Massive Configuration B Plain Brass Screw
Arpeggio Test 2 - A Massive Configuration B Plain Brass Screw
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If you use heavy mass screws on your saxophone, run it through tube amplifier, record it to vinyl and play it back using gold plated wires on your speakers you'll sound like a god.
haha
@@bettersax I'm seeing many comments saying
1) A 2) B
Before I read those I also thought A sounded better,
Sounds brighter, louder and more open.
B sounded like a muted version of A)
I would says a significant difference.
The second test is much closer to me. I say B but tentatively is louder and brightener on the low end.
There is also some bias that can happen while looking at your facial expressions on each. There is also a psychological factor that could affect you possibly without being conscious of it.
I think if that screw is on A) it is a noticeable improvement on tone and should become a standard addition and so it's worth doing
However it would need an improved test. You would have 2 sax players.
Each player is blindfolded so they can't tell if the screw is on there. Somebody else is taking the sax into another room where the player can't even hear the sounds of the screw being changed. Then the other person returns after a minute and gives them the sax. So they play pattern A) 3 separate times and pattern B) 3 separate times.
Each player does this.
Then that all goes into a video. So we hear in the video each playing pattern A) 3 times and each player playing pattern B) 3 times .
In the video the player would not be shown just the audio.
Then you look at the comments. If you don't say much about the test just the minimum the comments of viewers will probably mostly be picking A or B in each test.
They would also be instructed to explain why they picked one over the other.
Then if you look at the comments and you can see a fair number of people contently identifying the right screw that would be a significant argument for the screw making an identifiable difference.
Of course playing ability is 99% more important. However we are talking about a low cost device that potentially improves the tone of the instrument and that is important.
Their reasons for picking one over the other could also be taken into consideration. For instance two people might properly identify one sound sounding more muted than the other but which one they like better, it could be the more muted one sounded nicer , more mellow but the other person likes the brighter sound. That doesn't mean the whole thing is subjective people may have a consistent description of the tone regardless of which tone they think is better. That is what is needed to find out, if the screw changes the tone in a noticeable way.
So far I think in example 1) A sound not a little better but much better. Several other people have agreed on this.
What if I already do?
Al Carnali o you gotta use solid gold wires as well. Now u got it.!🎷🎶🎼🎷🇺🇸👽
@@paulstrickland8409
I needed Y-shaped scart socket for the TV acessories. Got one from Poundland 🇨🇳 for £1. Works fine! No need for gold. LoL 🇬🇧
I've tied my sax to a cruise ship anchor, now it sounds like a fog horn. Mission accomplished.
🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣😂🤣
@@nigelinniss7219 jajajjajaaj!! I've tied my sax to a vise, but it is not enough!
you prolly dont give a shit but does someone know of a way to log back into an instagram account..?
I somehow forgot the login password. I would appreciate any tips you can offer me!
@Dash Hassan instablaster :)
I don't get it
Everybody knows that sax sounds more sultry when you play while naked.
!!!!HA, HA
*Takes off jacket*
Of course bro who doesnt know this
I'm skinny and find playing naked makes my sound thin and airy, especially in public.
This fat man could probably make bank by starting off naked and putting an article of clothing on every time he gets tipped.
Practice, practice, practice and learning music is the key in my opinion. I have seen friends who play with a non-brand sax and they make it sound awesome.
That's the way...
Charlie Parker is another one of those examples. He could pick up any saxophone and would sound like himself. I absolutely agree with Manuel; practice is everything and in my opinion it should be more than an hour a day for you to see any improvement over time.
Even on a plastic alto!
Right on!
I’m here in Texas, so I moved the steel cow-testicles from my truck’s trailer hitch receiver to the bow of my alto and it sings like an overweight opera singer....
Lol nice one
We all know everything is bigger 'n' better in Texas. So yeh 🇺🇲 (Sorry about the flag).
PS: I do have friends in Texas! LoL 🇬🇧
🤣🤣🤣🤣
I worked with a trumpet player in a band who was always adding gadgets and nagging us about if it made any difference to his sound. Weights around the mouthpiece, weights at the bottom of the piston shafts, etc. Us sax players went and got a blue broccoli elastic and gave it to him saying we got it at the music store. It’s the latest technology for trumpet sound production. Put it on the rim of your bell and it focuses the vibration and helps produce a more focused tone. Well, he was convinced and had that on his horn for weeks before we let him off the hook. Point is, as you said, the legends didn’t use these gadgets, they picked their horns up and played them unendingly. They developed solid tones through countless hours of practice.
Wow, that made an incredible difference. I ran out and purchased almost the exact set up for my tenor and all of a sudden I could play all of the minor scales perfectly. You truly are a wizard.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👍👍
You sound better because you practice Jay, and motivate me to practice! Always truth! Good luck in breaking 100k! 🚀
I have no idea if those attachments work , but, they gave me a good idea ?
To add mass why not screw on a cup holder or a hook to hang your cap on ? At least they would have an obvious use. Also on the blind test I think # 3 was definitive.
I recently discovered the best way to INSTANTLY improve my tone, is to go play in the bathroom.
A lot of people notice that things sound better in the bathroom, I read a thread about how it reinforces the fundamentals and takes emphasis away from the harmonics, like singing in a choir sounds good with mediocre individual singers. I may not remember correctly, it was a while ago, but it was interesting to me.
🤣🤣 it's the garage for me!
I bought a Tone Tablet just as a gimmick. It makes the saxophone mine. Can’t hear any difference. Happy 100 000 👍
As a w.w. tech @ a large retail store chain for many years, and playin' pro for 50 yrs. , w/dbl on flute, picc, Bassoon and bass, I'd like to weigh in. First, if you're an accomplished player, you can make ANY horn sound good. Second, if I'm not mistaken, it was the Selmer co.'s idea to use mass on the Bach Strad trumpet for what was conceived to be darker and more responsive sound They did this with heavy mass bottom caps and the "Mega-tone" mpc. I know that the SELMER SA 80's and cannonball series utilize a "patch" just above the neck tenon to improve the way the nodes break in the low register. Scott Hamilton has that on his MK VI. When I studied with Morgan at Selmer I found that the structural design on the bow has to be extracted at 6x's what the bore should be in order to build the horn. As a result, that's why it requires so much control to make the timbre balance from the low register throughout the horn. I play on a '73 King Super 20 Tenor with a Meyer #9^ and #3 VD Red Java. "73 was the last year they annealed the body tube, so it plays great . I did have an alto same brand, "75 vintage, without the annealed tube, It played like it had a rag stuffed in it, so I have a :"26 Conn, and it's great. I put the " patch" on my T.S. and Conn AS necks and they seem to help. I've never found the heavy Mass screw concept to improve nodal performance on sax, but if you think it helps, go for it.
J, I played neck & ligature screws back in the late 80's. I spent hours with Bill Singer and he had gold, silver, screws of all types. I found it does change the sound on my Mark VI. It also changes the the weight distribution from the neck strap point of the horn
Honestly... the quantum harmonics deep throughout your tone has definitely improved with the mass screw
About 20 years ago I played with a guy who swore that removing the screw changed his sound and response. This is the first Ive heard of adding mass.
I always heard that you should put a piece of electrical tape to cover the little gap where the screw goes.
Under your recommendation I bought a Jean Paul silver alto. Great purchase highly recommended. Good luck to the contestants
i welded a rearview mirror off a 56 chevy on to my tenor neck...looks and works cool..,
Made a lot of excellent points jay. The biggest one is that such devices are not for beginners to use to suddenly sound better. They are more for refined artists to use to make a 1-2% change in sound.
no, they are made for easy fooled people of all levels..
@@matswessling6600. :-D
I admire how you have made a name for yourself out of your many years of sax geekery.
Yeah, never thought that would pay off...
Thank you for the information, also I'm waiting tenor Sax Jean Paul
Miguel Cardenas up !
It's coming soon.
@bettersax I agree that the only way to grow as a player is to practice everyday and work on the things that you need work on. I went through a phase of buying all these extra things to add onto my setup to “improve” the sound. After I matured as a person and player, I realized that I wasted my money on a bunch of these items. Some of which did show SOME improvement. Basically showing that the horn played a little easier. But never enough to make me say “hey, this item is amazing and makes me a better player.”
All that being said, great video. Love the content you bring to the viewers. Extremely informational.
I know we had our disagreements on the Selmer Mark VI video you made awhile ago. But I still come to your channel to view your content.
Thank you for helping us be better Sax players!
I use heavy mass screws and they do exactly what I expected. They look great and are easy to turn.
Nice brass with pearl insets.
I noticed that if I use a massive heavy 2 lb. toothbrush and a lead-infused toothpaste just before playing that I get a headache and a desire to lay down and go to sleep. My wife claims that this is an improvement over my normal sound.....
Perfect!
*Those who study Sax technique don't have to spend a lot of money!*
When I read about all the great things that are going to improve the sound flowing from my saxophone, then I put on a video with Lester Young or Ben Webster then I find that it's not gadgets you hang on the instrument that determine how the saxophone sounds, usually it is the exercise that is the answer.
Staffan
Even in those days with not so good recording gear they sounded great. Would love to hear Billy Holiday recording today.
Reminds me of Phil Woods encounter with Bird. All doubts of horn, mouthpiece, reed, preheated and strap laid to rest. Just practice and play!!
Eugene Mann funny thing is yamaha gave phil a heavy mass screw and he used it for years and when I asked him about it he said, “I dont know what it is, but its better with it!”
@@MattVashMusic funny.
Thing is phil claim to switch from selmer to yamaha because his "old" lungs.....btw YOU sound absolutely Amazing on your old selmer.
Ariel Rodriguez he switched because he had emphysema and the yamaha was easier for him to play. The screw I’m talking about he used on his yamaha.
Hey Jay. I love your videos. I use a custom Sandro Massullo weighted screw on my 1953 Selmer and it lets me lean in on my sound more without the reed crapping out on me. It adds resistance and gives me more to push up against. I don’t enjoy using the same weight on my new Trevor James Signature Custom, as that horn is already resistant enough for me. I think it’s way more about how the horn feels to the player than how it sounds to the listener. I loved how you kept emphasizing that this is the icing on the cake and that there are aspects to practice that make a MUCH bigger difference, like playing a sealing horn, being in shape, having a good reed. Anyhoo, thanks for the great videos. Cheers.
That intro was extremely smooth.
Sounded like stronger meatier tone on the high C and D with the heavy mass screw. Basically I thought the configurations sounded notably different in the upper range.
I agree with you Jay. But, i think that color or timbre of sound (klang) can be changed a little bit with this device, because some players are sure that his sound turns deeper or warmer when put one or two cork pieces in the botton of the bell. Thanks for your great video!
Hey Jay! I've been following your channel for the past few months and really love all your content - I'm a clarinet music education major who's true passion is saxophone and I've been practicing daily for a senior recital I'm doing for fun next month. I looked at your bio and saw that you got your MA at the same school I'm currently attending and finishing up my degree as an undergraduate. Small world, I always secretly wished I was a Jazz student at Copland studying under Antonio Hart, but for now I'm taking David Berkman's jazz harmony class. Keep up the great videos, they've helped me so much as a budding saxophonist!
Jorge thanks for the message. David Berkman’s class is great. So much good stuff to learn there. Have a great recital.
I didn’t hear any difference at all.
Now when you did the reed comparison- there I heard a very noticable difference.
Best thing I did to get a ‘bigger’ sound? Listened to recordings of myself and to players I thought had a great (and big) sound. Then tried things to get closer.
Thank Yusef Lateef, Dexter Gordon
Test 1 :A
Test 2 : B
I use Meridian Winds Ergonomic Heavy Mass Saxophone Neck Screws for Selmer ,and it is real make sound more focused and realy improve response in altissimo range!
Love the no BS approach you take to gear videos.
One thing from an 'experimental design' perspective, if there's any way that you could blind yourself to which gear is on your horn before you record (thus making it double blind), that would be the ideal setup. Obviously that could be too much of a pain in the arse to organise that, but it would be that extra step in trying to make sure your example recordings are as close to 'unbiased' as you can make them.
I just don't think these things could ever make enough of a difference to overcome all the other factors going on which would make any test pointless.
I added a Klanbogen and was able to hook up much better with less wheel spin. It shaved off an extra .3 seconds in the 1/4 mile. So...there is that! Oh yeah, cool Yanagisawa Tenor!
Also, if you mount the Klangbogen mittengrabbenfingerpokken the other way around (with the parabola open to the listener) you can send shock waves through the brain and alter neuron synapses at a distance of up to (and sometimes exceeding) 60 paces...more if there is a charging black rhino. Personally, I am waiting for my Legere synthetic KlangbogenKlingenSchnauzer
haha
Hey Jay! I dig your videos! I also completely agree with you that money should be better spent on lessons and time spent on practice. I studied some saxophone acoustics for my dissertation, and I'll share a bit for your readers. The vibrating column of air inside the horn creates the tone. The walls of the horn do interact with the column air in two primary ways: thermal transfer, and friction. In other words, the smoothness of the surface and the temperature of the material contacting the column of air affect the sound waves. The sax is not vibrating like a bell. It's not a percussion instrument. Furthermore, you can make a saxophone out of many other materials besides brass and get a very similar timbre. The SHAPE of the mouthpiece, neck, and horn make the greatest difference to actual sound quality. Any perceived difference in how a material perfroms is due to the player adding more or less energy into the system to counteract friction or heat loss. A good analogy is a ski. Any material will get you down the mountain. But different materials will FEEL very different to the user. Same result. However, if hanging fuzzy dice from the neck inspires a student to practice, then by all means do it!
You are wrong. Using different materials in your ski construction will give you a completely different result in your performance. It’s obvious you’re not a skier or a ski technician/manufacturer.
I like T1 A and T2 B. Something sounded off i T1B and T2A. And was already a subscriber before 100k. Keep the videos coming
Reminds me of the arguments over cryogenically freezing your saxophone; or whether a gold-plated neck sounds fuller than a silver-plated neck...
the mouthpiece of my sax was flawed so now i am getting a replacement sent to me.the table was not flat, the rails had pits and chips in it. the reed would not seal to it. and after 20 hours of swonking away, i was like WTF why cant i get a note to sound stable, then i saw your mouthpiece video, looked at mine..and was like HOLY FREAK...so new mouthpiece on the way.
What “ mouthpiece video” are you talking about ?
I'm brand new to learning about and how to play the saxophone. If there's one thing I've learned from living for quiet a few years now is that practice, practice, practice works for whatever one is in the process of learning. I always enjoy your videos Jay and have been watching them daily for several weeks now. Keep up the great work.
Martin Saxophones are made of heavier sleeker material. But most people don't like the ergonomics, but if you can play on a horn like that, the weight of the horn may make a fuller tone.
JAY WITHOUT A HAT!!!
Well, Jay, you are 1000% correct that GOOD practice on your sax will develop a MASSIVE sound on the horn. But I thought this is a device to keep the neck of the saxophone from moving... I and other sax players may experience that the neck screw doesn't get tight enough so that the sax neck doesn't move while playing.
a different screw won't change that. If your neck isn't tight enough a good repair tech can fix that for you.
I took a heavy lug bolt off of one of my truck wheels tapped it to fit my sax neck. Only adds about a pound of weight. Wow what a sound. My head only just a bit.
I bought a klangbogen, tried it on my Mk 6 and 1937 balanced action. Subtle differences... some better pitch stability and less spreadness to tone. If you have a pitch - squirrelly sax I’d get one. I like the spreadness of tone so I rarely use the device
Now the Reed Geek reed tool- that’s essential. I was an oboe player and am used to scraping reeds (adjusting sax reeds is a cakewalk compared to double reeds)- it will make you play better and save tons of money
I got one of these at a discount and decided to buy it. I used it on my bari and never really noticed much of a difference, i would say the onlything i noticed was a bit less vibartion in the feedback of the instruments but really it still sounds the same. Definitely would recommend getting a new mouthpiece or ligature or something else as a upgrade instead of a silly little screw. Plus the player always makes more of a difference than the equipments your using, thats why i gotta get back to practicing.
Thanks Jay! The comment about those Great Sax Recordings being made without a 'heavy-mass-screw-thing' really brought the point home. Practice practice practice and beware of G.A.S.!
One of our top players had a Cannonball tenor. Came with a brass and a silver crook. He said the silver one had a quicker response so maybe weight is a factor.
I've already suscribed to this channel long before 100K! It's because you're a great sax player and you advice is useful!
Regarding how much difference the heavy mass screws make, I certainly can hear a difference, but like you said it is so minimal that it doesn't really matter. Yes good gear(along with lots of practice of course) can facilitate better playing, but certainly not the gadgets in this video.
This test confirms my own experience with the Klangbogen in the lyre holder, the "heavier" configuration either boosts the mids somewhat or, more likely, the overtones on top get somewhat muted resulting in a more centered but, to my ears, slightly less complex sound. Fatter, but more generic to my ears.
Never tried heavy mass screws so can't comment on those.
I suppose you could dial in your sound if you experimented with screws of different weight and get a happy medium of a tiny bit more meat without losing the finer details or you could just practice till you can make the cheapest china sax sound outstanding like the greats can. ;-)
For both tests, I prefer B. I hear a more vibrant sound, especially in low notes, it's like the horn breathe easier. Turns out B is the plain brass screw. I guess it's like singing with a weight tight around your neck vs without haha.
As usual excellent advice. Thanks
"A variety of screws..." just about says it all.
I wasn't expecting that much of a difference. The color of the tone changed, but not the quality. Someone who's driven to dial in the character of their tone to excruciating detail (after doing all the hard work to sound good) might like stuff like this 🤷♂
Aside from the dubious physics, it is interesting to think that there is any connection between physical mass and a sound that we metaphorically describe as "massive." By this logic wouldn't the sound be even more massive if we could hang a brick from the bell? Oh wait, that would inhibit the vibration of the brass. How about a string of lead weights hanging from the screw? (Ducking and running)
well , well , well........
I imagine brick or lead would deaden the sound. Whereas a large gold ingot would liven up the sound. If you would like to send me one I will happily review it for you.
Because bricks dont vibrate like metal. Simple "dubious" physics
The upper notes/frequencies vibration point is higher up the horn. The mass of the screw gives a little body and stability to the higher frequencies. This is why professional singers ‘think chest’ when singing the higher notes, and think ‘head’ when singing the lower notes. This gives a bigger spectrum of harmonics to the notes high and low. Attach a flimsy piece of mettle to the bottom of the bell and hear the higher frequencies when you play low notes. This is the opposite of the heavy mass screw up top for the higher frequencies.
I haven't played sax since middle school band. You make me want to get back into it. 15 years later 😅😰😭
I cant tell a difference in the sound, but the player might as the player not only hears the sound of the horn, but also the way the horn vibrates through the jaw, skull, inner ear, as well as how it feels and vibrates under the hands. So if you feel something like this makes "YOU" sound better to yourself then by all means it's worth it. However to the listener it will have very little to any effect. IMHO...
I don't know how it happened, but with the super massive screw (in this instance) the tone was brighter and more consistent, but it kind of lacked... Oomf? Body? And then without, you got some of those kahonas in the sound, but going into that upper register it quieted up and got a little less consitant, tone wise. Is there a reason for that?
On a different note, I like the Vari-Screw simply because I can get a better grip on it to tighten in the neck.
The standard OEM screw doesn't give me enough surface to grip and torque it down. Hurts my fingers aging fingers.
It's just psycho-acoustics... part of it is the actual sound in the players head (more specifically, in their mouth) and nobody in front of the horn can tell the difference. The other is a placebo effect. You have this thing that makes you "sound better," but it could just be the added confidence in the gimmick that helps you perform better.
And I've noticed that I can play much better after I've seen a black cat cross the street.
B
Air tumbles through the exhaust(“sax”)and regulating the air from tumbling will make a different sound. Jussayin, my two notes✌🏽🎵🎵🎷
Mostly helps the bottom end blow a little easier. ie. Low Bb🎷
I thought the best part was the reminder of all the important areas you can work on as a player before spending on something that might improve your tone in a very small way.
"Might" is the key word here. Practice is definite...
Very interesting video. Thanks Jay. Have one. Thought it made a slight difference.
I honestly find it makes a difference in the response; not the sound so much
That flinch before he plays the intro though 😂😂
Tried clangbogen sent it back. They make one for flute too called lefreq, costs a fortune. Changing ur ligature will make far more difference
Hello! It was interesting thing to check out. Anyway we like A configuration in both parts. Thank you for your thorough review!
Your statement at 9:38 says it all. "It's not like the difference between a good reed and a so, so reed." So, no matter what gadget you apply to your instrument if the fundamental properties aren't up to snuff then your gadgets are irrelevant. Anyway, something tells me that soon saxophone manufacturers will be outfitting their horns with the heavy mass screws or at least giving the option. And then players will be debating whether or not replacing them with a standard screw make a difference in their sound ...
haha that is funny and very likely true.
I liked “B” both times...although I couldn’t hear but a slight difference.
I have "Magic Rocks" that you tape inside the horn, using my "Magic Duct Tape" and it makes the Sax sound "Magical",,,,,,,, for only $79.99 plus shipping,,,,, plus you can double your order for an additional fee. No more practice required, just Tape and Blow.
I wonder if maybe the possible improvement of the heavy mass screw isn't due to the mass itself, but that
the stronger screw tightens the neck into the socket better, giving a better seal. If you have a leaky neck joint I can see that a stronger tightening method could really help.
Or maybe the tighter fit achieved by using this screw allows for better transition of resonance from the neck into the body of the horn.
I agree that practice makes a better sound.
Neck tighten screw broke on my tenor, have to get to repair and take out the part left inside the thread! Good time to ''upgrade'' even if it does not do much to improve the tone. I like the idea of a sturdy heavy screw though.
Love it when Jay blurs out his horn.
Are we all in some kind of "cult" Jay? I have Ashley Kahn's book about the making of Kind of Blue and there is a picture of Cannonball with a cardboard reed holder with a couple of reeds in it and the theme written on the back of a cigarette packet !!! As I've heard you say Jay it's all in the head and I suspect you could play on a chair leg and make it sound good. I think that you're programme is excellent Jay. Best wishes on the first day Britain became an independent nation again. Keep up your great work Jay and God bless you and yours and all your subscribers . Bill
I liked sound A better than B. Sound B had more brighter colors and more high overtones. I'm actually surprised there was a difference though. Can't wait to find out which is which.
Another thing to look at making your sound warmer are the different sounds you get with different reeds. I like using different reeds for bright or warm sounds. Some reeds will respond much better for your high notes depending on your mouthpiece. On my brightest mouthpiece, I will use a more full-bodied sounding reed (like Francois Louis Excellence reeds or D'Addario Reserve reeds) or a warmer sounding reed (like Boston Sax reeds). I will not use a reed like the Rigotti Gold or Java Green on my bright sounding mouthpiece because the high notes are way too bright with those reeds. On my warmest sounding mouthpiece, I like to use a bright sounding reed, like the Rigotti Gold. The different ways the different reeds are shaped, have a huge effect on the sound of your sax. If you plan on purchasing a professional sax in the near future and you want a warm sound, maybe look at the top-of-line Cannonball saxes. They are a little too warm for me, but some saxophonists love them. I tried the Klangbogen and the heavy mass screws on all of my saxes and I didn't like the dampening of the overtones. The Klangbogen is very obvious about dampening the overtones. The Heavy mass screw seemed to affect only the higher notes on my sax. I like a good mix of the fundamental note and the overtones, so I didn't like these gadgets myself. Maybe if I had only Rigotti Gold reeds and I wanted to use my bright sounding mouthpiece, then I might like using one of these gadgets. I didn't think of trying that combination because I usually use the reed that I know sounds better with each mouthpiece.
And the difference is not something we might experience, but maybe the way you play is due to the fact you think it can affect your sound, and then it does .
By exemple some people think that the sound of a black saxophone is darker, but is it because it really is ? or because when they play it they anticipate the sound to be darker and it affects the way they play ? To really do the test you too should not see if there is the "special screw".
I agree, a real test would be double blind and I expect that the results would confirm that a lot of this is in our heads.
Great video, Jay, as usual. Emilio Lyons, Lexington, MA, AKA "The Sax Doctor" added a baffle to my Vandoren A35 alto mouthpiece. Much easier to get a nice, full sound, so I'm practicing more and enjoying it more! You're correct -- practice, man, practice. Works wonders, rather than "screwing round" (ouch) with gizmos and gadgets. Steve Swartz, "The JOY of SAX!"
Fav channel not even kidding
This is the first time hearing about this 'heavy mass screws'
BINGO, practice!!!!! I almost thought about buying one of these (facetious) and then I decided I'd just buy a better saxophone than the one I owned. Now I can clearly hear all of the flaws in my playing, lol. It seems to me that if they made a significant difference the manufacturer would include one as they would love to find a competetive advantage. Further, the player's perspective of the sound is not the same as the audience's. I make more difference from take to take than one of these would make for me.
agreed
I'm not a gear guy but I heard a small difference on the first one take A sounded brighter. On the second on A and B sounded nearly identical any differences that might be present in those two could be achieved with manipulating your embouchure, or experimenting with air speed. Overall a pretty interesting video, started playing sax in 2001 and I've never heard of these things.
Best ever intros!!!
I regret subscribing, so I could subscribe at this important time!
A guy I played with engineered a gadget to hold a lit cigarette! Not allowed these days obviously. He sounded like Colman Hawkins so it worked for him.
PLEASE MAKE YOUR GIVEAWAYS WORLDWIDE!!!
Seriously, it's nice to see Jay's evil twin staying active in show biz.
Both Test A's sounded cleaner in regard to the response and had a clearer tone
The only way I see these helping is if your screw gets stuck. I have had this happen on occasion when it is cold. The bigger screw may allow you to have more leverage in a situation like this?
Brother Jay, With regard to your cautious presentation on high mass tenon screw accessories, after many years in the high end audio world I have come to know that when it comes to sound, everything matters. I deeply appreciate however the perspective you attach to your reporting on these "diminishing returns" type of possible improvements.
I have tried several mass accessories. Different Meridian Winds screws, Sax Gadgets Vari-screw, bell brace weights, and Lefreque's of different sizes. I find that most affect the response of the instrument. Does it affect how you sound? Maybe, if you consider how the resistance of certain areas of the horn affect sound production (primarily through how resistance impacts articulation). In my experience, the added mass usually solidifies or "deadens" response of certain areas of the horn. This resistance can be good or bad depending on what you want from your saxophone. The particular instrument you play on will affect how the mass accessories feel to you compared to others. A bell brace mass that gives a healthy amount of resistance to a different sax than you play may deaden the response for you. I noticed this particularly when A/B'ing my professors AWO10 against my AWO30.
All said and done, I don't own any mass products personally, though I might consider purchasing if I had a longer time to assess the different products.
One thing to note is that the pedagogy I study allows for the saxophone to resonate more than other schools of thought. Some pedagogies may change how some respond to the same mass products (I would think). The only way to tell if mass accessories make a difference is to try them (I wouldn't dream of buying something like this without a trial first).
(On a bit of a side note, you classically trained folks should try out the Peak Performance bell rings if you want something that's actually worth the money. They are actually quite interesting in how they affect response, especially in the low end of the horn)
To be honest, in more than 17 years playing the saxophone I can only notice difference in my sound when I switch reeds or mouthpieces. And to be even more honest, I never tried one of those and now I am curious :D
totally a difference. it looks baller
Silver, gold, nickel, laquer, raw . . . the debate continues , but the answer remains - just practice. I'm personally endorsing Grafton plastic saxophones, the lightweight body makes me sound just like Charlie Parker.
Mass screws are great! They're much more ergonomic when tightening down...
That's what I was thinking. You can turn it with your fingers instead of using your wrist on those flat head screws.
And they do look cool ...
How tight do you need it
@@daddycavefish tightness is not the issue, but ergonomics make a big difference in comfort...
roncyger1 the thumb screw is ergonomic
The larger screws do make it easier to tighten and loosen the tenons. My regular one is sometimes tricky to get unscrewed
And they look cool
I liked B better. B sounded a tad bit darker and more even. Did never find out which was which. A reed can make that much of a subtle difference.