December 31, 2024

Review: Theo Wanne’s Price Conscious “Essentials” Mouthpieces

By Zach Sollitto / Featured, Product Reviews / Mouthpieces, Music Equipment, Saxophone Parts, Tone Production

Introduction

Theo Wanne has expanded its saxophone mouthpiece lineup with the new Essentials series, offering “Concert”, “Contemporary”, and “Jazz” models for soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones. These affordable mouthpieces aim to provide options for diverse playing styles. Bryan Vance, the company’s COO, sent me an Essentials Jazz Tenor 7* and Essentials Jazz Alto 5 and 7 tip opening. I will be reviewing each mouthpiece across the following five criteria:

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Tone
Response
Intonation
Quality
Overall performance

Theo Wanne Essentials Jazz Tenor (7*)

Product Overview

The Theo Wanne Essentials jazz model was designed with the classic jazz player in mind. The sound profile for this mouthpiece was meant to be not too dark nor too bright but more in the middle. The jazz model showcases a medium chamber with a roll-over baffle and is made out of proprietary bio-safe polymer, leveraging a new additive manufacturing process. This material is similar to the resonance, density, and weight of vintage hard rubber. Just like the other Theo Wanne mouthpieces, the Essentials line is held to the same high standard as the Signature models to eliminate inconsistencies and the need to try multiple of the same tip opening to find the right one for you. The Essentials jazz tenor mouthpiece is currently offered in two tip openings: 5 (.080) & 7* (.105). To find out more information, check out the links below to learn more:

Tone

Now, I find the tone of a mouthpiece can be quite subjective in terms of what you think is bright versus dark. Overall, I found the Essentials Jazz to be balanced sonically from low Bb to high F#, but I did find that when playing above high G and into the palm keys, I noticed my sound was a bit on the brighter side. I found the sound of this mouthpiece to have a nice spread and core across all registers; depending on how you focused your air.

Sonically, I think this mouthpiece is not a copy of a vintage slant or early Babbitt Link but takes aspects from those mouthpieces in terms of edge, core, timbres, etc., and combines them with Theo’s mouthpiece concepts to try and provide players the characteristics associated with the classic jazz sound but with additional flexibility.

Response

The Essentials Jazz was easy to sub-tone and play at various dynamic levels with ease from top to bottom. Based on the design, I did not notice any “tubbiness”, and it was quite free blowing versus having more resistance, which can be good or not depending on preference. This proprietary polymer material did feel comfortable playing on, but for me, it had a bit different buzz to it than vintage or traditional hard rubber. With that being said, the material felt fine, and it did not take long to get used to the difference. Projection-wise, I found the Essentials Jazz could project well when pushed, but if you are looking for something that really cuts through, then you may prefer the Contemporary model.

Intonation

From playing my overtone series and even into the altissimo range, I found the Essentials Jazz model performed well in terms of intonation. I did not have to adjust much when switching between my Slant and the Essentials Jazz mouthpiece to play in tune.

Quality

To my surprise, these pieces are not CNC machined but are made using additive manufacturing which are then hand-faced by the same techs that face the Signature Collection. This process ensures that each and every facing on them is perfect. After further speaking with Bryan, he mentioned that “unfortunately many brands at this price point will leave the player with the frustration of a warped or concave table, uneven side rails, thick/thin or non-existent tip rails and incorrect facing curves. For beginner or intermediate players not knowing these discrepancies, it can be a disaster. So, we decided to treat the Essentials just like our top-end models and not compromise at all.”

Overall

I am overall impressed with the Theo Wanne Essentials Jazz model. I think the essentials line-up truly gives advancing students, hobbyists, and professionals access to a quality mouthpiece that is consistent, easy to play, and replaceable if anything happened especially at its price point. The Essentials Jazz model is $195 which put’s in relatively within the range of the Vandoren V16, Otto Link Hard Rubber, Jody Jazz, D’Addario Select Jazz, and a few others just to name a few.

Although mouthpiece preference is obviously extremely subjective, I personally favor my Slant Link over the Essentials Jazz mouthpiece. However, I still found it easy to switch between my main mouthpiece and the Essentials Jazz model.

I do intend to revisit this mouthpiece, as it embodies certain characteristics and playability that I found easier to achieve than on my Link.

For a further comparison, please see the sound clips below.

Comparison Sound Clips

Testing Equipment

Saxophone: Lupifaro Platinum Tenor
Reed: D’Addario Jazz Select 2.5
Ligature: Marc Jean Evolution 4 Ligature

Original Slant Signature (7)

Theo Wanne Essentials Jazz (7*)

Theo Wanne Essentials Jazz Alto 5 (.071) & 7 (.081)

Product Overview

Same as Essentials Jazz tenor model. See links below for

Tone

Overall, I noticed that the Essentials Jazz alto mouthpiece, compared to my current setup (Phil-Tone Meyer Copy), played more on the brighter side, offering greater clarity and less edge to the sound. The timbre felt balanced from low Bb to high F#, but similar to the Jazz Essentials tenor mouthpiece, I observed that when playing above high G and into the palm keys, the sound leaned toward the brighter side. The Essentials Jazz alto mouthpiece produced a nice spread sound and when you pushed more air through it, it could cut through and project well. The overall sonic characteristics do not directly replicate vintage models like Meyer, Brilhart, or Otto Link, but rather, seem to blend elements from modern mouthpieces such as the Meyer, Vandoren V16, and D’Addario Select Jazz, creating its own distinct sound profile.