Jody Jazz DV Saxophone Mouthpieces

Hand finished, this mouthpiece oozes quality and comes with a leather ligature, velveteen pouch and truly exquisite cylindrical wooden case with a leather tong tie and tab. Tested on Selmer instruments, both the alto and soprano versions produced a big, bright, hard , ‘American’ metal sound. Harmonics were good and popped out cleanly, and control in altissimo was excellent, allowing the player to pitch with complete confidence. Although we found the lower and upper registers played well, we weren’t quite so happy with the mid-range which we felt lacked definition and sounded stuffy.

We were also a little disappointed that there wasn’t more character and individuality to the sound, and that the much hyped concept of the “golden section” proportions, producing the perfect chamber/bore/facing combination, wasn’t exactly setting our world on fire. However, the DV does have remarkable power and projection and when blown softly, has a richness to the tone that is so often missing in metal mouthpieces. Not perhaps the ideal unit for acoustic ensembles, but we reckon that it would be the perfect foil for amplified instruments, where power and projection is paramount.

The rolled tone holes help to give a certain feel of solidity and offer optimum contact to the pods, while the palm key action is a sheer delight to play through – the positioning is near on perfect and those top notes really do ‘pop’. Intonation on our sample was exceptional, with a positive dynamic range that is not too overpowering, even allowing for the large bell, which gives the instrument a big, beefy bottom end. Tonally the 66 has a really distinctive, dark, centered tone that reminds you of the Selmers of the late 40s and early 50s. The mouthpiece supplied was a generic ‘C’, which we understand will shortly be upgraded, although we did try a metal piece which naturally gave a brighter sound, with an interestingly different palette of tonal textures.

The 66 is clearly a horn with a big personality, and if you’re looking for that full, big, rich sound of the likes of Ben Webster or Don Byas – then the 66 comes with our unreserved recommendation.