Re: Review of Blokepiece Symphony
Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2018 5:40 pm
Joe's mouthpieces are absolutely top-notch. Joe is a very fine tuba player who can also offer advice and direction when purchasing a mouthpiece. His mouthpieces are not copies of other mouthpiece but are his own unique designs which he has determined work well through trial and error. Many fine players with good jobs use Blokepieces. I would encourage everyone to at least give Joe a call when searching for that elusive mouthpiece.russiantuba wrote:For the last several months, I have been trying to find a mouthpiece that fits a specific sound concept. I had been using a Stofer Geib, and though I was getting that sound concept, I felt like I was fighting it a bit. I tried several mouthpieces, and decided to give Joe a message, seeing what he had.I ended up getting a Blokepiece Solo with a larger throat (#2) with a rim extender. Though this gave me about 90% of what I was looking for, I went back to the charts and thought I would give the Symphony a try.
I had a Symphony that was on loan to one of my students the past few years, and he sounded great on it (only reason it was on loan was because I didn't feel it was a big enough difference from my Geib to change). I take some recordings in the hall, and after listening to them and getting feedback from colleagues, this was the mouthpiece I wanted, and surprisingly, it was not as deep as I originally thought.
I have played a few gigs on CC since obtaining this mouthpiece, and I have had several comments how there is a great amount of center, with good depth to the sound. I was wanting a bit more center and crispness. I am also impressed, from behind the bell, on how clear the articulations are, along with the general ease of playing. It is a very efficient mouthpiece and doesn't hog air.
In addition, some small things that don't make or break a mouthpiece for me...while my low C and 4th space G were quite flat, this mouthpiece has tamed the notes, and the overall tuning and tonal consistency between notes is great.
Joe isn't paying or compensating me in any way to make this post, but seriously, if you haven't given his mouthpieces a try, you should. I wish I had spent more time sooner with the symphony.
