LI Brass and the 550E Mouthpiece review!
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- Опубліковано 10 сер 2023
- I had the good fortune to go visit Long Island Brass and become an artist for them last week! Timings and line-up below under the break!
While I was out there I got to pick up this great 550E Mouthpiece, which does so many of the things I have been looking for.
I'm going to compare the 550E with a fantastic Doug Elliott Mouthpiece I've been playing on, as well as a Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH I've been using for orchestral playing, and a Romero signature mouthpiece also from Long Island Brass.
Please visit www.librassco.com to find out more about this interesting (and aesthetically beautiful) line!
the Line Up!
Long Island Brass 550E with a type 1 shank
Long Island Brass Sasha Romero Signature (1st generation, .285 backbone, type 3 shank)
Doug Elliott XT104, XT G* cup and G8 shank
Timings!
1:05 Bolero on LI Brass 550 E
2:38 Meditation from Thais on Doug Elliott
3:35 Meditation from Thais on LI Brass 550E
4:52 Meditation from Thais on LI Brass Romero
6:09 Fratres on LI Brass Romero
6:37 Fratres on LI Brass 550E
7:00 Fratres on Doug Elliott
8:08 Extreme high range on Doug Elliott
8:41 Extreme high range on LI Brass Romero
9:13 Extreme high range on LI Brass 550E
10:09 Amy Beach Romance LI Brass 550E
10:44 Amy Beach Romance on Doug Elliott
11:42 Amy Beach Romance on LI Brass Romero
12:49 David Opening on Doug Elliott
13:35 David Opening on Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH
14:26 David Opening on LI Brass 550E
15:22 Tuba Mirum Second Main Phrase on Doug Elliott
15:56 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH
16:29 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on LI Brass Romero
17:13 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on LI Brass 550E
Excellent breakdown and you sound incredible
Did I see you at ITF on Saturday with a full beard? I did buy the LI Brass mp #600 Chimera and love it! Doug Elliott gave me a Conn shank for my 1966 Conn 8H with a wider 104M rim. Thanks for your tutorials!
Wasn't able to be there this year! The LI Brass mouthpieces are really great though - I'm happy to be working with them
That new mouthpiece is definitely a keeper. I think you are sorted.
Hearing differences with my desktop computer speakers is usually difficult, but WOW! The Long Island Brass 550E elevates the lyric qualities in your playing to a buttery level. Every demo was great. I couldn't get enough of the music coming out of the LI550E.
thanks for listening! that lyric quality where it almost sounds like you take it for granted is what i've been aiming for. it's an interesting sound to shoot for, and asks for a lot of subtle adjustments.
thanks for sharing, very interesting!
Smooth as silk and a ton of tone!! That seems to be the Long Island Brass Company promise. 🤘🏻
If you got time for a visit someday you should go!
Haven't had the chance to visit the workshop, but I met Jeff at a trade show in DC and now I'm playing on a mouthpiece that looks very similar to yours! Loving for pretty much the same reasons!
Timings!
1:05 Bolero on LI Brass 550 E
2:38 Meditation from Thais on Doug Elliott
3:35 Meditation from Thais on LI Brass 550E
4:52 Meditation from Thais on LI Brass Romero
6:09 Fratres on LI Brass Romero
6:37 Fratres on LI Brass 550E
7:00 Fratres on Doug Elliott
8:08 Extreme high range on Doug Elliott
8:41 Extreme high range on LI Brass Romero
9:13 Extreme high range on LI Brass 550E
10:09 Amy Beach Romance LI Brass 550E
10:44 Amy Beach Romance on Doug Elliott
11:42 Amy Beach Romance on LI Brass Romero
12:49 David Opening on Doug Elliott
13:35 David Opening on Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH
14:26 David Opening on LI Brass 550E
15:22 Tuba Mirum Second Main Phrase on Doug Elliott
15:56 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on Laskey-Alessi 60SYMPH
16:29 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on LI Brass Romero
17:13 Tuba Mirum 2nd Phrase on LI Brass 550E
the Line Up!
Long Island Brass 550E with a type 1 shank
Long Island Brass Sasha Romero Signature (1st generation, .285 backbone, type 3 shank)
Doug Elliott XT104, XT G* cup and G8 shank
I bored out the throat on a Schike 53 (3g bach). I found that aside from a darker tone, it changed the tonguing sound when compared to a mouthpiece of equal rim and cup size. Less resistance, easier maneuvering between high&low registers, but it's a real S.O.B. to get use to because of endurance, at first. But, when I want to go back to a smaller throat for a brighter sound, I feel like I get tongue-tied.....I should've taken violin lessons.
Came by the algorithm, stayed for the music
thanks for dropping by!
I didn’t think that the Doug Elliott could work for me orchestrally either. But after a couple of lessons with him to stabilize my embouchure, my sound darkened quite a bit with more resonance and core for carrying power. Furthermore, instead of the XT G, you may want to try the G+ cup which is slightly larger, and that provides more depth to the sound. Finally, I use a Wedge style XT104 rim, and that design adds even more depth and core to my ears, and it gives the mouthpiece an overall more stable feel than Doug’s standard rim.
That being said, you sound terrific on both the Doug Elliott and LI Brass. If you feel more comfortable on the LI Brass for orchestral playing, then by all means use that.
Also, I listened to the Amy Beach excerpt, and the LI550 was the only one that centered properly on the double high G#. The others sounded sharp on that note, more like an A.
Thanks for the thoughts! With a more Alessi orchestral style American trombone sound in mind, I would love to try out some of Doug's even larger options - I think they can work orchestrally depending on the context.
With the G model I think they could work with an orchestra that was looking more for a Bousfield or van Rijen style sound on principal. Either way, great pieces, just the LI Brass suit me a little better so far.
@@WilliamLang yes, Doug has a new Symphony series, I’d like to try that myself eventually. Probably sometime next year I’ll get in touch with him
I’ve been going back and forth between the XT 104 and 105. Some days the 104 feels better, other times I can play more accurately on the 105, even in the high range.
it's funny - what works for people w/r/t rims and shapes can be radically different than the expected orthodoxy. part of the reason i started this mouthpiece comparison series was to test and gather evidence rather than assume.
@@WilliamLang typically for me, if I’ve been playing a lot of bass trombone, the 105 feels better. But if I haven’t, I’ll go back to the 104. Overall the 105 size feels more comfortable on my face, and many times I feel like my high range and endurance is better on it, and the low range is always more secure and stronger too. So if I had to pick just one size to use, it would be the 105. I do like the Wedge shape a lot. It’s even more comfortable, and just seems to sound better. Notes all center better in the extreme ranges with it.
I also have a couple of XT106s, a Wedge plastic rim and Doug’s regular. Those are just a tad too big for me to control. The Wedge plastic one does feel smaller. The Laskey Alessi 67 feels like the 106 to me.
I have a LI Brass SR650 coming. Im excited to get it. I felt the same as you when I tried it - like I could forget about the technical side of things and just concentrate on musicality.
Wow, the Romero is a much, MUCH clearer, immediate sound than the 550E. To my ear, the 550E sounds nasal. Now, don't get me wrong. My wedges do that too - the Hybrid versions (109G nd 110G), they nasal a bit, BUT are super pleasing to play. Just the right amount of resistence to help me out. The brass Wedge (110G) has a more open sound, fuller, a touch brighter without getting crass. My Markey 85 sounds similar, but has a more secure low register - of course it's a 28.3 vs the 27.9 of the Wedge 110G. But for ME, I warmup on the Wedge Hybrid 109G because of the ease of playing in the low-middle to upper register. This is pure mind-tripping, to convince me, that I -can- if I need to. Then after a few minutes move on to the Hybrid 110G to work a bit on the single and double paddle lowest registers - again to convince myself I can. Then I'm ready for either the brass Wedge 110G or the Markey 85.
But then again, that's on bass trombone and as a player, I'm no where as good as you.
mid-range is the money range! it makes sense to pick a mouthpiece with that in mind. also I definitely agree on the immediacy of the Romero line - there is one trade off that's specific to the type of work i do that's a factor for me though.
Since I do a lot of solo and chamber music - i try to avoid articulation sounds that you normally wouldn't hear from the back of the orchestra. so the Romero is super clear and immediate, but also has a little bit more tongue noise to very close listeners, while deeper mouthpieces, like the 550E, give me a little more room to have that sound disappear at close distance.
thank you for the feedback!
@@WilliamLang - YES! The predominance of "tonguing sound" - I always need to think of that when playing my Greg Black 1 3/8 or Markey 85. Christian Griego wrote about this and how he develops his mouthpieces with the left edge in mind, being immediate. All fine and good for orchestral work as you say. But if you are doing chamber work, your legato better be good. Mine used to be great, being a reformed trumpet player, legato was my daily bread, learning better slide technique to counter it, or rather compliment it was my thing.
And yes, for tenor, the middle register is the most important. For me on bass I also need to, for example, warm up into my single and double paddle register. Every day. Every day a new. Nowadays, and at my advanced age, I don't "work" my upper register, just check in now and again to see, that it hasn't died on me. But if my low and mid range is working, more often than not, what I need of the higher register is also there.
Love the sound you get with both LiBraCO MP, but for you the 550e is a great match. The tamper and darkness in youre sound is so fantastic i love it
I was gonna say, the low register connection was smooth! Sounded like you were kind of trying to get the DE to fail down there on the Thais.
oh definitely wasn't trying - just looking for a mouthpiece where i didn't have to adjust during that downwards motion - doing so much contemporary music has me jumping around the horn a ton! - and demonstrating what happens with that particular DE setup if i don't overcompensate.
it's a small detail, and maybe overlooked if i didn't draw attention to it, but also an important demonstration for me about what i'm looking for in the fine details. btw, the DE is also still the most perfect brass quintet mouthpiece i've ever played
I love the concepts of the DE system, and still can't beat the C+/D3 setup for jazz (I really tried to develop someone better but failed), but for me personally there is something restrictive on both the large bore and bass setups. I think it's got to do with the backbore and throat being "efficient". I want to throw air at the horn and play unrestricted, but those larger pieces seem to back up and resist loud playing.
i know what you mean - but i found that with the G series it would work well for most regional orchestras and such on principal. For a larger orchestra or most second playing I would have to try out some of the symphony line or the even deeper cups to feel comfortable in that system.
while I was out at LI Brass I also ordered a 675 chimera mouthpiece for really large orchestral work - that mouthpiece will take any and all air you can throw at it!
The li 550e wins hands down.
Which Bach size does it compare to, 3g, 4g, 5g?
It's like a 5g size rim (but feels larger due to the contour) and a 2g cup depth