What's crazy is how musicians react to and showcase new gear differently. I saw Saxologic test these same mouthpieces, but I felt like the differences were a bit more pronounced with him. Your tone sounded more consistent when changing pieces. I'm not sure if it means anything but just an observation that was neat to me.
I play tenor, so I listened really hard to the tenor pieces. I really loved the sound of the smokey. Also, I really liked the alto mashup at the end. It was pretty clear to me every time you switched mouthpieces. I listened once while watching, and once more without. I think the mashup was a really great way to display the differences in sound.
Thanks for the upload, Jay! I saw the email update from SYOS yesterday and was immediately intrigued. The side by side alternating comparison at the end of the video was a superb way to demonstrate the contrast between the three mouthpieces. Super informative! Love that smoky mouthpiece on alto!
I've had a SYOS mouthpiece for about a year now, which I've had a lot of fun with. There were definitely some design and manufacturing flaws with the first gen that I'm glad to see are being addressed. I personally didn't find the size of them to be uncomfortable, though they could certainly be slimmer.
I prefer the Burnin' over the 3 SYOS alto mpcs. On the tenor I would give a thumbs down for the Steady, but the other 2 sounded nice. Glad to hear the table is smoother on these new models.
First impressions of the Smoky. Its a little tight to slide onto the cork neck. On the plus side, very free blowing and produces a nice warm, powerful sound.
Thanks, informative video. The last section gave a good sense of the differences. I wondered though, is the sparky just louder? Would balancing the volume make them sound more similar?
I know this video is a couple years old, but after listening, I'm really impressed with how far 3D printed mouthpieces have come. Also, the Smoky on tenor was beautiful. Wasn't a fan of the Steady on either sax, but I liked the Spark on Alto for a punchy sound if that's what you need. I probably wouldn't use it all the time though.
I would probably take the burnin for my alto.soon I could be getting a tenor which I would have an steady cause it just sounds best for what I like to play honestly
Gotta say I think I’d love the Smoky 7 for my alto, and I would love a Sparky 8 for my tenor! Haha these are pretty neat! I think I’d love to try a custom mouthpiece with this new material sometime.
Would love to try out a Syos sometime on my Bari or alto, I just don’t have a budget for it as a student player. I’ve got a Yamaha 5C on my Bari, not sure what model on my alto, but I’m alright with the sounds being produced. Wish I had a slightly darker sound tho
Great video! I was wondering - could you do a review of the alto Morgan Excalibur? It's my favorite mouthpiece for playing jazz as it made altissimo much easier to practice and it gave me a very bright sound. It was also pretty popular when I was in college.
Holy crap, the difference on the Tenor is way more than on the Alto I feel. I want to scan and start printing my Rovenor MP now :) It just plays awesome but I think plastic would be better than metal for that actually.
I recently got a SYOS bass clarinet mouthpiece (Steady) and am very pleased with it! I got the ligature too, which I think is a bit ridiculous. I mean… it *works*, but a thick, hard ring of plastic that just slides on is not really the best way to secure a reed to the mouthpiece. But my old Rovner ligature works perfectly with it and I'm happy! I like the tone and the response is much better than with my old Vandoren B45. It's especially noticeable when I get above the staff, which has always been a problem for me on the bass clarinet. (I'm mainly a soprano clarinet and tenor sax player.) I'm tempted to give the Smoky tenor mouthpiece a try after watching this video… I need some more flexibility than the super-bright tone I get with my Yanagisawa metal mouthpiece.
Hi Jay, thanks so much for your amazing videos. I just bought two Alto mouthpieces here in March 2024. Spark and Smokey. You mentioned they changed the materials AND printing process/machines. How do I know if I have the redesigned version or the 1st generation?
Its interesting that the Spark was the only one I liked for both alto and tenor! They actually arent all that bright just lively. The air seems to flow better
Sweet got the 100th like haha, I just ordered a Yamaha 5C for my tenor sax and am so excited to get it. These look like theyd be awesome though, id love to get one of them
I play Syos on soprano, alto and tenor. Pros, easy to play, good intonation, color options, customization,, good sound. Cons, lack of the essential characteristics of a hard rubber mouthpiece.
can I suggest reviewing the GS mouthpieces? they are incredibly precise copies of original vintage mouthpieces, they are 3d printed, but i think they may have found the solution to the small "non comfortable" characteristics of most 3d printed pieces
I agree Benjamin. Playing a GS Slant for 5 months. It is so great. The material works. The hand finishing makes it even better. Love it. It does not sound and feel like a 3d printet piece.
I bought an alto 3d printed mouthpiece from Windy City Woodwinds. The Jazz Classic, which I was told it´s pretty similar to a Meyer. I bought a rubber Otto Link Tone Edge. Beforehand, I admit I was biased towards the Otto Link because I wasn't 100% convinced about 3d printed materials, BUT practice has spoken. The WCW Jazz Classic is way less resistant and much more comfortable to play. I see how it could be a bit one-dimensional after a few years, but for 100 $ I can´t really put any fault to it. It´s a very nice mouthpiece. A good topic would be considering why SYOS ones are almost twice as expensive...they look veeery similar to WCW ones.
I play a Jody Jazz HR* Custom Dark 7 on my alto and love it. Based on what I hear on this play test, it has a richer sound than the SYOS Smoky. I found the Spark too bright for my taste, so among these, I found the Steady to be most pleasing and consonant with the sound I'm after. But I'm sticking with my Jody Custom Dark!
This is all nice and dandy, but I'm gonna keep my tenor Hard rubber Otto Link Tone Edge 8 Slant Signature reissue from 2008,with serial number. I got one of the first ones.
I a beginner playing the EAS112 Bettersax Alto. This may sound a silly question however, I have to ask. I note that you're using a Syos Ligature, would there be an issue using any different (metal) ligatures?
I would love to hear the soprano examples. I'm leaning towards the Smoky models though. I want to get into that sound since I always have a bright sound.
You're so good Jay that is really hard to say. But if I had to pick a sound for you, it would be the spark. It speaks like your own mouthpiece which I enjoy in alto. I wish you'd make it in tenor. Hint hint...
Not a big fan of that smoky one, it's kinda "dry" sounding for want of a better word? I wouldn't necessarily call it dark, it reminds me a lot of Phil Woods' tone
When enrolling in the jazz repertoire vol1 course, will they come with a backing track? Or would I be required to also purchase better tracks along with it?
The BetterTrax backing tracks are not included with the course. Those are sold separately. We have included recordings with the saxophone part over the original backing tracks though. There are also backing tracks without the sax part (iReal Pro) computer generated.
@@bettersax Thanks for the Reply! So I take it that I can use the etudes with my iReal Pro App and that the cords of my iReal Pro App and the Etudes match? Best regards.
Having owned several syos mouthpieces I found them all a little large and difficult to fit my mouth around. I now have a Theo wanna gold piece and it’s much easier to fit in my ombrechure. Imo syos is a little overrated, but if they can make their products a little slimmer then I’d be interested again
Alto: Tenor: 1. Smoky. 1. Spark 2.Spark. 2. Smoky 3. Steady 3. Steady Consistently I wasn’t a huge fan of the “Steady” model. The back pressure, to me, seems like it would be awkward for me as a player (different strokes for different folks). I think I personally like the “Spark” model the best (or I had to choose one for both alto and tenor). To me it wasn’t too edgy but seemed to focus your airstream a bit more, which is something I particularly like.
I got to say Jay, I’m not convinced.. I don’t think 3-D printed mouthpieces are a panacea for quality. I had high hopes for a WCW #56 MkII alto mpc that Theo Wanne was allegedly involved with, and I had to return it. Tried different reeds and strengths. Always had a good seal, but not up to the hype, it was always darker than it should’ve been, and didn’t articulate quite as well as my old Cannonball CAM5 hard rubber nailing the tone or my old Rico Royal B5 nailing it on playability. The Cannonball is still closest to the holy grail I’ve been looking for. In fact, the tone is there, it just needs slightly better playability in the altissimo (like the Rico). The CAM5 was especially gifted to me from Sheryl Laukat about 15 years ago.. I’m Attributing the problem with the printed mouthpiece to the facing curve .. I tried taking in more or less mouthpiece to see if I could find the sweet spot, but it just didn’t seem to be happening. Oh, btw, its table and rails were super smooth, so I’m assuming there was some kind of finishing going on, but the piece was only a little over $100. I probably need to look at more pricey pieces. The hard part is which ones cuz you can waste a lot of time doing this.
Have 4 different tenor SYOS mouthpieces. All different in chamber, battle etc. But they all have a tone that makes you aware that it is a SYOS. Hard to explain. Kind of 2D vs 3D... Maybe the material. Now I play a GS Slant. This material is some kind of dental material, close to HR in density. Fantastic piece, that has become my main piece for the last 5 months. Going back to syos - they just sound like a plastic piece.. Sorry. But that is just me. There are so many great players on syos out there.
You are a great sax player with great tone. I don't hear much difference bettween the various mouth pieces you are playing on because they are all a reflection of yourself.
A very minor thing...you have your video chapters wrongly labelled! Great that Syos now make pieces with a smooth table, always found that textured table a bit weird not getting a good seal.
Hi just got two of the smooth originals for tenor (6 and 7). I am very disappointed with the quality. Both mouthpieces were not finished at all. Due to the structure of the printing process the table and especially the rails were „rough“. The reed could not make a seal at all. Therefor it was hard to play and the sound was bad ,muffled. I can‘t believe that the mouthpieces you tested were the same quality.
BTW. i just got a 3D printetd mouthpiece fron Windy City Woodwinds (the 56. Tenor) The printing quality is far superior. Also it is hand finished. (Table, rails and tip are absolutely smooth). And its even 50€ cheaper than the Syos.
What's crazy is how musicians react to and showcase new gear differently. I saw Saxologic test these same mouthpieces, but I felt like the differences were a bit more pronounced with him. Your tone sounded more consistent when changing pieces. I'm not sure if it means anything but just an observation that was neat to me.
The Burnin mouthpiece sounds the best to me
i dunno i thought the smoky sounded really great
I play tenor, so I listened really hard to the tenor pieces. I really loved the sound of the smokey. Also, I really liked the alto mashup at the end. It was pretty clear to me every time you switched mouthpieces. I listened once while watching, and once more without. I think the mashup was a really great way to display the differences in sound.
Thanks for the upload, Jay! I saw the email update from SYOS yesterday and was immediately intrigued.
The side by side alternating comparison at the end of the video was a superb way to demonstrate the contrast between the three mouthpieces. Super informative! Love that smoky mouthpiece on alto!
I've had a SYOS mouthpiece for about a year now, which I've had a lot of fun with. There were definitely some design and manufacturing flaws with the first gen that I'm glad to see are being addressed. I personally didn't find the size of them to be uncomfortable, though they could certainly be slimmer.
I prefer the Burnin' over the 3 SYOS alto mpcs. On the tenor I would give a thumbs down for the Steady, but the other 2 sounded nice. Glad to hear the table is smoother on these new models.
Love the smoky one. Beautiful sound!
You make them all sound great! I really am not sure which I like better, to be honest!
Steady and burning the best sound for me .
Tenor “Steady” sounds nice. It would be interesting to play them side by side with your regular mouthpiece.
The smoky will be okay by me and also love the sound of it
'Burnin' sounds great!
Love the music you're playing!! Might have to get it
Thanks Bailey!
Well when you play them they all sound great. I have the Smoky ordered and coming next week. Hopefully it will help darken up my sound.
Great video, as always! To me, Steady sounds rich and vibrant. Smoky a little bit dull and dry. Sparky edgy.
All great sound!
First impressions of the Smoky. Its a little tight to slide onto the cork neck. On the plus side, very free blowing and produces a nice warm, powerful sound.
The steady on the Tenor nice sound
The Burning sounds very nice, I have to have one of these.....
Thanks! I’m looking for demos of the baritone ones 👍
I think they all sound good the tenor and the alto.👍 Jay you sound great as usual 👍
Never try the plastic or metal mauthpiece.
But I think the sound is little loud on this type of mouthpieces.
Excited to try this out 😊👍
I loved the spark 7 for the tenor
the smoky is nice I like the burnin one u made also For Alto
Great concept! Just not quite there yet. I am glad to hear the tables have improved! I love good products, not just great marketing.
Thanks for watching!
Smoky on alto sounds really good. Steady was my preference on tenor.
Thanks, informative video. The last section gave a good sense of the differences. I wondered though, is the sparky just louder? Would balancing the volume make them sound more similar?
I know this video is a couple years old, but after listening, I'm really impressed with how far 3D printed mouthpieces have come. Also, the Smoky on tenor was beautiful. Wasn't a fan of the Steady on either sax, but I liked the Spark on Alto for a punchy sound if that's what you need. I probably wouldn't use it all the time though.
I would probably take the burnin for my alto.soon I could be getting a tenor which I would have an steady cause it just sounds best for what I like to play honestly
I’ve been playing the Chad LB on tenor. I like it but I get bit every once in a while. I’ll be trying more.
I'm looking for a jazz tenor mouthpiece for the occasional band gig, I'll probably give these a try at some point :)
Gotta say I think I’d love the Smoky 7 for my alto, and I would love a Sparky 8 for my tenor! Haha these are pretty neat! I think I’d love to try a custom mouthpiece with this new material sometime.
Nice. I have an artist model alto piece but I think I may be more interested in one of these.
1:11 I just bought myself a SYOS spark for Bari, and that one also comes in 5 tip opening, great for a fairly new sax player!
Would love to try out a Syos sometime on my Bari or alto, I just don’t have a budget for it as a student player. I’ve got a Yamaha 5C on my Bari, not sure what model on my alto, but I’m alright with the sounds being produced. Wish I had a slightly darker sound tho
Great video! I was wondering - could you do a review of the alto Morgan Excalibur?
It's my favorite mouthpiece for playing jazz as it made altissimo much easier to practice and it gave me a very bright sound. It was also pretty popular when I was in college.
Syos sounds great
Holy crap, the difference on the Tenor is way more than on the Alto I feel. I want to scan and start printing my Rovenor MP now :) It just plays awesome but I think plastic would be better than metal for that actually.
The Burnin' Hard rubber alto had the nicest, fullest tone.
Syos never misses! I have one for alto and one for tenor and don’t see myself switching to anything else!
I got the Scott Paddock model and had for about 5 days and I won't go back to my Theo Wanne Durga, the Syos is almost unreal, great mouthpiece! cheers
Another incredibly happy customer here, got a custom piece with a large chamber and step baffle, perfect mix of both worlds
What mouthpieces did you guys buy, I am looking to buy a mouthpiece now.
Spark7 nice bright tone
Nice vid it makes me wonder why other mouth pieces are so expensive
I recently got a SYOS bass clarinet mouthpiece (Steady) and am very pleased with it! I got the ligature too, which I think is a bit ridiculous. I mean… it *works*, but a thick, hard ring of plastic that just slides on is not really the best way to secure a reed to the mouthpiece. But my old Rovner ligature works perfectly with it and I'm happy! I like the tone and the response is much better than with my old Vandoren B45. It's especially noticeable when I get above the staff, which has always been a problem for me on the bass clarinet. (I'm mainly a soprano clarinet and tenor sax player.)
I'm tempted to give the Smoky tenor mouthpiece a try after watching this video… I need some more flexibility than the super-bright tone I get with my Yanagisawa metal mouthpiece.
Hi Jay, thanks so much for your amazing videos. I just bought two Alto mouthpieces here in March 2024. Spark and Smokey. You mentioned they changed the materials AND printing process/machines. How do I know if I have the redesigned version or the 1st generation?
Its interesting that the Spark was the only one I liked for both alto and tenor! They actually arent all that bright just lively. The air seems to flow better
Steady on Alto and Smoky on Tenor get my vote
Sweet got the 100th like haha, I just ordered a Yamaha 5C for my tenor sax and am so excited to get it. These look like theyd be awesome though, id love to get one of them
I play Syos on soprano, alto and tenor. Pros, easy to play, good intonation, color options, customization,, good sound. Cons, lack of the essential characteristics of a hard rubber mouthpiece.
If the syos spark is the orange one, I'd like that one
Awesome
I just ordered a Spark for my tenor.
I prefer the Steady and Spark versions on both horns personally.
can I suggest reviewing the GS mouthpieces? they are incredibly precise copies of original vintage mouthpieces, they are 3d printed, but i think they may have found the solution to the small "non comfortable" characteristics of most 3d printed pieces
I agree Benjamin. Playing a GS Slant for 5 months. It is so great. The material works. The hand finishing makes it even better. Love it. It does not sound and feel like a 3d printet piece.
I'd love to see Saxologic as a special guest one day
That thumbnail... my gut reaction before closer inspection... I need to get my mind out of the gutter haha
Hi, I just bought a used Amati super Classic alto sax from the 80s. I'd like to hear your opinion about this instrument. Thank you
Peppe
I bought an alto 3d printed mouthpiece from Windy City Woodwinds. The Jazz Classic, which I was told it´s pretty similar to a Meyer. I bought a rubber Otto Link Tone Edge. Beforehand, I admit I was biased towards the Otto Link because I wasn't 100% convinced about 3d printed materials, BUT practice has spoken. The WCW Jazz Classic is way less resistant and much more comfortable to play. I see how it could be a bit one-dimensional after a few years, but for 100 $ I can´t really put any fault to it. It´s a very nice mouthpiece.
A good topic would be considering why SYOS ones are almost twice as expensive...they look veeery similar to WCW ones.
The burning One, more color, warmfull, you did a good job on that one .
I am always impressed by the quality of these videos! Love from Slovenia hope i win :))
Good luck!
I play a Jody Jazz HR* Custom Dark 7 on my alto and love it. Based on what I hear on this play test, it has a richer sound than the SYOS Smoky. I found the Spark too bright for my taste, so among these, I found the Steady to be most pleasing and consonant with the sound I'm after. But I'm sticking with my Jody Custom Dark!
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the burnin alto mouthpiece on the brighter end of the spectrum of sound? It sounds very comparable to the sparky
This is all nice and dandy, but I'm gonna keep my tenor Hard rubber Otto Link Tone Edge 8 Slant Signature reissue from 2008,with serial number. I got one of the first ones.
The Spark on Tenor sounded fantastic. Nothing stood out about the others to me.
agreed
How are you able to play low C & C# with middle C & C# fingerings? Is that a feature of the SYOS mouthpieces?
How do these compare to a JJ Jet MP? That's what I'm currently using, and was curious because these are significantly cheaper. I play tenor.
Is there a physical copy of the essential jazz repertoire? I would like to play these but don't want to print these on my bad printer
hi could i use these mp with soprano straight saxophone? thank you
I will stick to my Syos customs but I hear the complaints on the size. Altissimo control would be easier with a lesser diameter
I a beginner playing the EAS112 Bettersax Alto. This may sound a silly question however, I have to ask. I note that you're using a Syos Ligature, would there be an issue using any different (metal) ligatures?
Hey i want to ask, where can i find that book you are playing? I would really appreciate if u answer.
On the alto models, the “dark” one isn’t too dark and the “brightest” one isn’t too bright, They all sound good. Not sure which I like best ?
Yeah but that could be because of his sound.
Hey man, it looks like you put the chapters for a different video in the description
yeah, thanks oops!
I would love to hear the soprano examples. I'm leaning towards the Smoky models though. I want to get into that sound since I always have a bright sound.
You're so good Jay that is really hard to say. But if I had to pick a sound for you, it would be the spark. It speaks like your own mouthpiece which I enjoy in alto. I wish you'd make it in tenor. Hint hint...
What reeds did you use for this test?
Not a big fan of that smoky one, it's kinda "dry" sounding for want of a better word? I wouldn't necessarily call it dark, it reminds me a lot of Phil Woods' tone
Jay plays great, but IMO, none of them sounded anything like Phil Woods, too bright and lacking in the rich harmonics of Phil on his NY Meyer.
PLEASE try the WCW mouthpieces, I have one and I can say they are better than the SYOS.
Spark7 tenor
When enrolling in the jazz repertoire vol1 course, will they come with a backing track? Or would I be required to also purchase better tracks along with it?
The BetterTrax backing tracks are not included with the course. Those are sold separately. We have included recordings with the saxophone part over the original backing tracks though. There are also backing tracks without the sax part (iReal Pro) computer generated.
@@bettersax Thanks for the Reply! So I take it that I can use the etudes with my iReal Pro App and that the cords of my iReal Pro App and the Etudes match?
Best regards.
Having owned several syos mouthpieces I found them all a little large and difficult to fit my mouth around. I now have a Theo wanna gold piece and it’s much easier to fit in my ombrechure. Imo syos is a little overrated, but if they can make their products a little slimmer then I’d be interested again
Interesting , I played Durga for a while and immediately got hooked on the Syos, I too prefer slimmer pieces but the Syos are working great for me.
I play a bari syos mp and my mouth fits better on then than just about any mp i’ve tried. I had mine custom made though…
@@rogersalles200 It'salways a personal thing with mouthpieces, whatever works for you is the best mouthpiece!
You should make clarinet videos!
Haven't played my clarinet in over 10 years. Don't miss it either.
Alto: Tenor:
1. Smoky. 1. Spark
2.Spark. 2. Smoky
3. Steady 3. Steady
Consistently I wasn’t a huge fan of the “Steady” model. The back pressure, to me, seems like it would be awkward for me as a player (different strokes for different folks). I think I personally like the “Spark” model the best (or I had to choose one for both alto and tenor). To me it wasn’t too edgy but seemed to focus your airstream a bit more, which is something I particularly like.
I got to say Jay, I’m not convinced.. I don’t think 3-D printed mouthpieces are a panacea for quality. I had high hopes for a WCW #56 MkII alto mpc that Theo Wanne was allegedly involved with, and I had to return it. Tried different reeds and strengths. Always had a good seal, but not up to the hype, it was always darker than it should’ve been, and didn’t articulate quite as well as my old Cannonball CAM5 hard rubber nailing the tone or my old Rico Royal B5 nailing it on playability. The Cannonball is still closest to the holy grail I’ve been looking for. In fact, the tone is there, it just needs slightly better playability in the altissimo (like the Rico). The CAM5 was especially gifted to me from Sheryl Laukat about 15 years ago.. I’m Attributing the problem with the printed mouthpiece to the facing curve .. I tried taking in more or less mouthpiece to see if I could find the sweet spot, but it just didn’t seem to be happening. Oh, btw, its table and rails were super smooth, so I’m assuming there was some kind of finishing going on, but the piece was only a little over $100. I probably need to look at more pricey pieces.
The hard part is which ones cuz you can waste a lot of time doing this.
Brightest mouthpieces sound better for me, other sound too plastic. And you burnin on alto best of all of course
which mouthpiece was your favorite
What reeds are you using for this video?
I played a Rigotti 2.5 on the alto and a 3.5 on tenor
Ayo what song was that??
Have 4 different tenor SYOS mouthpieces. All different in chamber, battle etc. But they all have a tone that makes you aware that it is a SYOS. Hard to explain. Kind of 2D vs 3D... Maybe the material. Now I play a GS Slant. This material is some kind of dental material, close to HR in density. Fantastic piece, that has become my main piece for the last 5 months. Going back to syos - they just sound like a plastic piece.. Sorry. But that is just me. There are so many great players on syos out there.
How can I get a sopranos sax syos mouthpiece
Info info how can I get one sopranos sax mouthpiece made by syos
Smoky on tenor kinda sounded like a bari to me
You are a great sax player with great tone. I don't hear much difference bettween the various mouth pieces you are playing on because they are all a reflection of yourself.
👍
🙏🏿
A very minor thing...you have your video chapters wrongly labelled! Great that Syos now make pieces with a smooth table, always found that textured table a bit weird not getting a good seal.
Thank you! I knew I forgot to do something.
There Will Never Be Another You.
Can you speak to the free blowing qualities or lack of for each respective mouthpiece?
Do something for clarinets😭
Yes, SYOS tenor barrel is bigger than most (Jumbo Java is bigger).
The time stamps match this video.
haha sorry about that. fixed now.
Hi just got two of the smooth originals for tenor (6 and 7). I am very disappointed with the quality. Both mouthpieces were not finished at all. Due to the structure of the printing process the table and especially the rails were „rough“. The reed could not make a seal at all. Therefor it was hard to play and the sound was bad ,muffled. I can‘t believe that the mouthpieces you tested were the same quality.
BTW. i just got a 3D printetd mouthpiece fron Windy City Woodwinds (the 56. Tenor) The printing quality is far superior. Also it is hand finished. (Table, rails and tip are absolutely smooth). And its even 50€ cheaper than the Syos.