TromboneChat

Your thoughts and experiences please.

4 AL recent purchase and 5ABL. For my chops 4 AL is by far better. In range and tone. Previous was Bach 6 1/2 AL. Play a King 4B

Different animals

Don't like either on trom.
Have used standard on all other brass instruments (except French Horn).

Heritage seems to be a bit faster and lighter in response from my comparison. The Heritage rim is something you either love or hate I guess. I don't think it works well for many players. Also the Heritage makes it easy to play loud and be efficient with air, but for me it's too zingy especially when you open up. I've played two Heritages for a while but changed back to the standard ones after a short time.

And one more important thing: Heritage is always gold rim, which moves much more than silver and therefore isn't super helpful for many people.

My understanding is that the Heritage mpcs are made out of nickel silver which on its own will change the feel and sound.

PhilE wrote: ↑Fri Nov 04, 2022 4:11 am My understanding is that the Heritage mpcs are made out of nickel silver which on its own will change the feel and sound.

I don't think so. Not so indicated on the Denis Wick Website:
https://www.deniswick.com/product/herit ... m-and-cup/

I believe they are machined brass - silver-plated, with gold-plated rim and cup.

I have threaded some. They are not brass.

Doug Elliott wrote: ↑Wed Nov 09, 2022 11:49 pm I have threaded some. They are not brass.

Very interesting!

I played a 4AL Heritage for awhile on trombone. I was and still am a euphonium player first and foremost, and at the time it was a mouthpiece that worked well enough on both instruments. I never a/b'ed it against a standard 4AL and sold it awhile back after I went to DE stuff on everything.

The rim is polarizing. I actually really liked it. Response was good for what it was. I don't know if the concept of "Wick fuzz" in the sound is as much of a thing on trombone as it is on euphonium, but it drove me nuts on euphonium and I hear it on trombone as well. The piece was also horn-sensitive: it worked great on one horn and badly on the next (this was on euphonium). I recall that Denis Wick designed the 4AL for himself when he was playing principal bone in the LSO, and it clearly worked well for him. Personally, I wouldn't hate using it if I was playing 2nd in a band or orchestra.

I do have a standard 4BL that works better on trombone (closer to the cup depth that works for me on large tenor). Based on that apples to oranges comparison, I would guess that the standard is a little more focused, but I'm really spitballing there.

TLDR: the heritage seems to be love it or hate it based on the rim contour in your preferred size.

Standard feels more sound forward, Heritage more in the cup.

I love my Heritage, but playing really loud it gets really edgy