Mouthpiece boosters

[jondrowjf@gmail.com]

Ordered a used KGU trumpet mouthpiece booster and waiting on its arrival. Plan on using on my Bach 3 B trumpet mouthpiece. What has been your experience with a mouthpiece booster?
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King 603 cornet American wrap
Yamaha 2330 Shepherds crook
Denis Wick 4 W classic gold mouthpiece
Getzen 4 B mouthpiece
Yamaha 11 e mouthpiece

[Dkjcliff]

A few months ago I acquired my used Getzen Genesis, and it came with a Bach 3B and a KGU booster from the previous owner. The Genesis is a heavier horn so I really liked the added weight on the mouthpiece to balance the horn. But to be honest, I felt that the booster was just exhausting me without providing much of a benefit in my sound.

I later acquired a used Monette B2D classic STC-3 mouthpiece (the old heavyweight hunk of brass kind). After the acclimation period, I have come to love this mouthpiece. I use it constantly now without the exhaustion issues I had previously experienced. I'm not sure if there is a significant difference in terms of sound waves/vibration/(whatever is the proper term) between the mass from a piece that is not integrated with the mouthpiece vs. a solid heavyweight mouthpiece. I may be totally wrong, but I think one of the important parts of the Monette design is to open the throat and backbore to account for the reduced response from a heavier mouthpiece. This may be one reason that adding the mass to a Bach mouthpiece didn't work as well for me.

Then again, after a brief honeymoon period where I was playing the 3B a lot without the booster, I no longer like playing it generally. So my issues may be more due to the mouthpiece itself than the booster.

The booster is very precisely machined, fits the Bach 3B nice and snug, and looks cool. I think it's a quality accessory and I think there are plenty of fans out there using it. It just didn't work that well for me. I'd be interested to hear your experience after you've had a chance to try it out.
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Selmer Radial II
Yamaha YHF-635T Flugelhorn
Martin Indiana Cornet

[Rapier232]

I use a booster all the time. Smith-Watkins make trumpets, lead pipes, mouthpieces and various screw on boosters. Richard Smith is the science part of the firm and has the Scientific and technical knowledge about sound production etc. Derek Watkins (sadly now deceased) was the playing side of the company. You will have heard him playing on nearly every Bond film.

Mike Lovatt, another great player you probably have heard on film, Avengers End Game, Judy Etc. Worked with Richard Smith to develop his own mouthpiece range. 3 types, Lead, Studio, and Classical, together with 3 different booster weights, which screw on. The weights work, for me, giving more of a core to my sound, which I prefer.
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"Nearly as good as I need to be. Not nearly as good as I want to be".

Smith-Watkins Bb
Will Spencer Bb
Eclipse Flugel
Smith Watkins K2 Cornet
JP152 C Trumpet
Besson Bugle

[jondrowjf@gmail.com]

So the used mouthpiece booster arrived today. Sounds good. But it doesn't screw on well on the trumpet mouthpiece. Fits the cornet mouthpieces better. Glad I didn't pay the full price.
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King 603 cornet American wrap
Yamaha 2330 Shepherds crook
Denis Wick 4 W classic gold mouthpiece
Getzen 4 B mouthpiece
Yamaha 11 e mouthpiece

[jondrowjf@gmail.com]

Well it was worth a try. Didn't like the mouthpiece booster. Decided to sell it and buy a Heavytop or megatone mouthpiece.
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King 603 cornet American wrap
Yamaha 2330 Shepherds crook
Denis Wick 4 W classic gold mouthpiece
Getzen 4 B mouthpiece
Yamaha 11 e mouthpiece

[delano]

Adding weight to a mouthpiece must be done for a reason, it can help when a horn is not well balanced especially concerning slotting. In general more heavy horns can react quite good on a heavier mp. But not all mp’s are equal.
With Bach the 3B megatone has a 26 throat instead of the 27 throat of the standard 3B. If I remember well it was done to correct for the extra resistance. I presume Selmer had a (good) reason for that. So if your horn has no obvious reason for adding weight via the mouthpiece and it’s not a heavy horn there is no ground for your experiment. If there is such a ground go for the 3B megatone instead of a booster, excellent mp BTW.
Sometimes I play a Yamaha 14B GP and other than Bach the heavier Yamahas have the same throat as the standard. Again, I suppose Yamaha had also a reason for that.

[deleted_user_687c31b]

[trumpethead]

For those like me who like to experiment, I've had similar success (or not) to a mouthpiece booster, by using an appropriate sized 'nut' from a hardware store, which fits on the upper part of the mouthpiece shank.

Sometimes the result is an improvement, other times makes the horn sound 'dead' in comparison.

[Brassnose]

I fully realize I am comparing apples to oranges (or possibly to coconuts or dolphins or whatever ) but I just weighed three mouthpieces that I have been A-B-C-ing for my C trumpet (see signature).

AR Resonance ME40/40XS in nickel silver: 89 g
JK USA 5C in brass: 94 g
Frate 3M 3 104 in brass: 101 g

All are silver plated.

The AR ist the most open, the most flexible, the most dynamic, the easiest to play (my) high. At higher volumes starts to sound a little „aggressive“, but it’s brilliance may actually be quite nice for playing with an organ or so (test coming up in Fall).

The Frate has very tight slots and the highest resistance of the three, very clean attacks, and a very round and warm sound. Harder to push a higher volumes but keeps together very well. If I back off a little and don’t push as hard, the sound becomes more brilliant but remains much warmer than with the AR. Harder to play above the staff due to the resistance.

The JK is between the two others. Attacks are nice and clean, rather round and classical/jazz sound, less of a lead sound. Closer to the Frate than the AR soundwise. Resistance resembles the Frate, but is less pronounced, and the slots are also closer to the Frate than the AR but not as tight as with the Frate. Also harder to play above the staff than the AR due to the resistance.

I know weight is not the only difference between the three but as I had just weighed the three pieces I figured I might as well share the info in case someone is interested
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2019 Martin Schmidt eXcellence
1992 Bach 43GH/43
1989 Kühnl & Hoyer Model 15 flugel
1980/2023 Custom Blessing Scholastic C 😎
1977 Conn 6B
1951 Buescher 400 Lightweight
AR Resonance, Frate, Klier