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Haplo Veteran Member
Joined: 06 Dec 2003 Posts: 117 Location: Boston, MA
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Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 7:25 pm Post subject: Austin Custom Brass TA2 |
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Hi All,
Just wanted to share my experience with the Austin Custom Brass TA2.
I'll start by saying that I make my living with the trumpet and work in just about every imaginable setting from orchestra to quintet to jazz to wedding band etc.
I normally play a 1 1/2C and have always had trouble finding a brighter "commercial" piece that I could easily switch back and forth from. They all seemed to be either too shallow for a wide rim or had a rim that felt smaller than it measured.
The TA2 is the most balanced commercial piece I have ever played. The cup doesn't seem too shallow, but it provides great support for the upper register. Most importantly it allows me to have a full sound in the staff and below. This is now my go-to piece for pops, show playing, and anything that calls for some serious power.
This is the first time I've started a topic just to rave about new gear. It's just that good. |
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sam1750 Regular Member
Joined: 09 Jun 2015 Posts: 41 Location: California
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Posted: Mon Dec 10, 2018 9:55 pm Post subject: |
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How is the feeling of resistance compared to your 1.5? I have had the same problems that you mentioned when I try to move to a brighter piece for latin music and commercial, adding that very tight backbore or throats do not let me blow with ease. I also played a Bach 1.5 and was trying to try this piece TA2 of ACB. |
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Dieter Z Veteran Member
Joined: 21 Jun 2013 Posts: 449 Location: Mountains of North Carolina
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Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2018 6:29 am Post subject: |
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I also have a ACB TA2. My main mouthpiece is a ACB MV1 1/4C.
If I need a bright mouthpiece I can switch easily to the TA2.
The TA2 is still pretty free blowing, but also helps you in the upper register.
Personally, I can not play on high compressing mouthpieces _________________ B & H Sovereign 928
Conn 80A
F. Besson Brevette Kanstul made
B&S Challenger II 3137 rl
Buescher 400 - 225 (WWII)
Benge 90C
Eastman 540 D/Eb
ACB Fluegelhorn
Selmer Picc
ACB mouthpieces for most of my playing
Last edited by Dieter Z on Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:31 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Trumpetingbynurture Heavyweight Member
Joined: 18 Nov 2015 Posts: 898
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:24 am Post subject: |
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TL;DR: The TA2 top is phenomenal (for me anyway)
I have a TA2 top (mine is drilled to a #22 throat) and never really played on it because I don't really do lead type stuff, but I pulled it out for fun and spent the past few days playing on it...
Just phenomenal. like holy mackerel.
I'm actually pretty gobsmacked at how ridiculously easy this mouthpiece is to play, particularly in the upper register. I've long had pretty good range upto and beyond Double C, albeit above High C they tend to get weaker and thinner (and I've long had an annoying break around High F#/4th leger G where it's easier for me to shoot over into the doubles than to slot those notes). Anyways, I've always found it hard to get any real ompf up there without killing myself. That said, I usually play largish, deep-ish mouthpieces.
The dozen or so other shallow mouthpieces I've played on made my sound brighter and made it a bit easier to get some greater punch, but not enough that I saw playing MF charts anywhere in my possible future. Some of the shallow pieces backed up on me / shut down somewhere, or the sound was awful. Usually endurance on them would be terrible as a little (normal amount of) swelling would mess with everything. I had tried pieces like the Schilke 14A4A and the 14B, GR 66MS, Marcink CG3, Yamaha Miyashiro/Vizutti/Shew, some Cat Anderson type pieces, the Lynn Nicholson X-Piece etc.
None of those made me want to attempt any serious or prolonged high note playing. That's the reason I put the TA2 in the cupboard for a good while without really playing it, I had pretty low expectations.
The TA2 is something else. I don't quite know what it is about it that makes it work, but it is unbelievably easy to play, has a suprisingly big, rich sound (I can still honk out a full bodied Low G on it!), it takes whatever air I give it, and I'm able to get real, focused, loud as hell notes to at least Dubba C. It's absolutely nuts.
The sound is bright, full and focused, and I honestly think I could probably get away with playing something like the Arutunian on it, and it would sound perfect for the Dokshitzer Rhapsody in Blue I think.
I seem pretty much unable to bottom out on it so I can just keep going and going. I actually had to stop today because I was starting to abuse my lip a bit with not resting enough etc but still playing great on worn out chops!
The interesting thing with this mouthpiece for me is I can just let the top lip go and don't have to worry about lip intrusion, so it feels like I'm hardly doing anything except air, tongue and a little adjusting with my lower lip between registers. The more I let that top lip relax, the easier it is. I thought yesterday might just have been a fluke or something but still working today.
This could all just be a fortuitous match between me and the mouthpiece but sounds like it has worked for a couple of other folks as well.
Needless to say, I'm impressed!
Now I'm seriously wanting to know if there is a slightly deeper version of this mouthpiece as if I could keep some of this magic but have just a little darker sound, I would almost certainly play all my solo Bb rep on it. And then a slightly deeper version again for C trumpet etc and I'd have all my bases covered!
(Btw, I've matched it up to the ACB MO backbore, I found the MT a little on the tight side, but with a slightly more open backbore it just takes my air and puts out the decibels!) |
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Mark Bradley Heavyweight Member
Joined: 28 Jan 2002 Posts: 1149 Location: Kansas City
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Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2022 8:51 am Post subject: |
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Great to hear a nice positive story. Trent is making some really good mouthpieces. So much so I feel like raving too... I recently picked up his ACB 7M and (for me) it's absolutely fantastic. _________________ Bach 180S-25/ Bach 5C
Blessing 1580
Bach 181SML cornet/ Laskey 60SB
Yamaha 8315G flugel/ Reeves 42F |
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madAhorn Regular Member
Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 12
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Posted: Wed May 18, 2022 3:40 pm Post subject: |
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Just ordered a TA-2 Gen 2 top on sale today. My first Austin Custom Brass product. I will try it with my Schilke C and B backbores. The standard C backbore is usually my choice. I'll report my finding when I get it. |
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yourbrass Heavyweight Member
Joined: 12 Jun 2011 Posts: 3636 Location: Pacifica, CA, USA
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2022 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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I have both 3CMv and 3cMVCS mouthpieces and they are what I play every day.
Trent is a player, and that's what it takes to find a good mouthpiece. _________________ "Strive for tone." -John Coppola
Edwards X-13
ACB MV3C /ACB A1/26 backbore
https://yourbrass.com/ |
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Subtropical and Subpar Heavyweight Member
Joined: 22 May 2020 Posts: 627 Location: Here and there
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Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2022 10:03 pm Post subject: |
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Trumpetingbynurture wrote: | Now I'm seriously wanting to know if there is a slightly deeper version of this mouthpiece as if I could keep some of this magic but have just a little darker sound, I would almost certainly play all my solo Bb rep on it. And then a slightly deeper version again for C trumpet etc and I'd have all my bases covered! |
Maybe a one-piece TA2 in one of Trent's heavier blanks would do the trick? My TA2 is in his skeletal blank so I certainly can't speak from personal experience;-) There's a little something-something in all of his mouthpieces that makes the high range pretty accessible. The other ACB pieces that I use consistently are a B cup and a TF cup (his second-deepest flugel-style trumpet mouthpiece), and even on the TF there is greater than normal efficiency baked in somehow. _________________ 1932 King Silvertone cornet
1936 King Liberty No. 2 trumpet
1958 Reynolds Contempora 44-M "Renascence" C
1962 Reynolds Argenta LB trumpet
1965 Conn 38A
1995 Bach LR18072
2003 Kanstul 991
2011 Schilke P5-4 B/G
2021 Manchester Brass flugel |
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madAhorn Regular Member
Joined: 14 Dec 2007 Posts: 12
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Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2022 1:00 pm Post subject: |
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I really like the ta2 so far with my standard Schilke Backbore. I think I might hit him up for his personal ta1 piece also since I like 1 /1/2 C size stuff as well. The ta2 seems to give me good range and endurance, with maybe a little fatter rim than I prefer.. |
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Destructo Veteran Member
Joined: 18 Apr 2022 Posts: 174
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Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2022 10:12 pm Post subject: |
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madAhorn wrote: | I really like the ta2 so far with my standard Schilke Backbore. I think I might hit him up for his personal ta1 piece also since I like 1 /1/2 C size stuff as well. The ta2 seems to give me good range and endurance, with maybe a little fatter rim than I prefer.. |
Just so you know, the TA1 is a totally different mouthpiece. I think it's ~bach 7 diameter with a medium V cup. If you're looking for a 1 1/2C they have that but it's not the TA1 |
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ALETRUMPET Regular Member
Joined: 30 Jun 2022 Posts: 79
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Posted: Tue Jul 05, 2022 2:28 am Post subject: |
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I have 3 of their mouthpieces: the TA1, the TA2 and the MV 3C.
Personally I have never been comfortable with these mouthpieces. I don't consider them exceptional at all. I just don't like the TA1 how it sounds. The TA2 slightly better, but it's not for me. The MV 3C has an rim that I am not comfortable with. It doesn't hold me back, I'm always in the balance. However, this too is not the sound I want and in any case it is very far from the Bach 3C MT VERNON.
Like all mouthpieces, some people like it, others don't. I sold all 3 of them. |
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