Vandoren SM712 AL4 Optimum Series Alto Saxophone Mouthpiece

Sonido oscuro, me quedo muy cómoda y de excelente calidad. Como recomendación checar en la pagina de Vandoren la numeración de caña recomendada.

We bought 2 in a sale and found one was totally defective, the tip rails were not even cut straight. The other was close to being made right and that played well and produced a nice sound with a Rovner mk3 ligature and vandoren traditional reeds. So buyer beware, the quality is variable on once reliable Vandoren mouthpieces. Sadly low C was out of tune on my sons saxophone and his existing green Yanagisawa 4 alto mouthpiece had cleaner attacks, better intonation and a more compact sound. But I preferred the AL4 sound. Looking through the neck hole the AL4 had a slightly bigger round chamber diameter. It is probable a harder reed on the medium short facing may have improved the tuning. So I can give 5 stars for the good one and 1 star for the reject (the hole did go all the way through it). My son would give the good AL4 3 out of 5 because he has a good fit already and efforts to improve on it have proven futile. Neither of us like the stuffy smaller AL3, which is very popular. Someone else will love it.

The Vandoren company produces a very dependable line of mouthpieces, reeds, etc. My experience with the Vandoren Optimum A4 is that it is a great mouthpiece. In my experience it has a nice warm tone and something I would definitely recommend over something like a Selmer C*. In my opinion, though a great mouthpiece for beginning-intermediate students, I personally like the warmth and resonance of a Selmer Concept much more. If you plan on upgrading mouthpieces from something like a Yamaha or Selmer C* and don’t have $60 more I would say this is the best option for a classical saxophonist, but no classical mouthpiece I have tried compares to the Selmer Concept.

When i upgraded from my Yamaha 280 Alto to the 480 I thought 'What an incredible improvement'. Then my teacher suggested upgrading the mouthpiece from the 4C as supplied. I tried a number of different ones and eventually settled on the VanDoren AL4. The improvement was unbelievable - more power, more flexibility of volume, improved tone, and I am sure it has improved my sight-reading! Also it doesn't require more puff.

Same as my review for the Vandoren tenor mouthpiece.