Mouthpiece Recommendations for trombone doubling

[Ajeasley]

Hello - long time reader of the forums, but a first time poster.

I play euphonium in a military band as a reservist, and have been tasked with playing a lot more trombone lately. My current euphonium set up is a Deg BB1 on a Yamaha 641 (my horn) or 642 Neo (government-owned). I had decent luck with a Wick Heritage 4AL when I was playing more trombone in the past, but at the time I was using that same Wick, an SM4, or SM4U on euphonium. My current trombone I have on loan is a Conn 88H, and my work is a mix of concert band and brass quintet.

In a perfect world, I would like to find something that feels similar to the BB1 but with a shallower cup more suitable for trombone. Decent options off the top of my head:
- Bach 5G
- Wick 5BL
- Schilke 51

Other thoughts? In a perfect world I would lean towards getting a Doug Elliott configuration with the same rim and different cups/shanks for each instrument, but that may be a bit cost prohibitive.

[enhite]

I've read that Dennis Wick developed the 4AL to get the sound he wanted from the Conn 8H and 88H trombones. Although I use a 4AL on euphonium, it doesn't work for me on trombone. (But then I'm light-years away from the musician that Mr. Wick is.)
When I recently switched from euphonium to trombone in a community band, I wanted to better match my sound to that of the principal trombone player who was using a Wick 6BL. I tried the Bach 5G, the Schilke 51 and several other mouthpieces. I finally settled on the Remington mouthpiece that came with my Elkhart Conn 88H. ("The Chief" knew what he was doing.) Good luck in your search.

[cochranme]

I had a lot of success with the Giddings Boreas:

https://www.gwmouthpieces.com/produc...one-mouthpiece

It’s similar to the feel of a 5G. There are also a ton of other Giddings offerings in or close to that size. They are a bit on the expensive side, but I find the stainless steel to respond quicker and helped me make a more characteristic trombone sound more easily than a brass mouthpiece. Nothing wrong with a good old Bach 5G either!

[djwpe]

An important key to trombone/Euph doubling that Martin touches on is that it’s essential to have a clear concept of a distinct characteristic sound for each instrument. Without this distinction, I found my trombone sound was “euphonium on a stick”. There are others I’ve heard whose euphonium sound is very tromboney.

Mouthpiece makes a difference, but the sound concept makes more.

Don Winston

[Hiramdiaz1]

Currently I play a 51D on euph and a Greg Black 4G-5G M (for medium weight) on trombone. Although...I can’t find a super great reason for playing different mouthpieces. Because of what Don said, if you have a very strong concept on each horn, that’s half the battle.

[cochranme]

Euphonium on a stick

This is hilarious, and unfortunately a pretty accurate description of my trombone sound!

P.S. upvote on Hiram’s Greg Black suggestion. Those are great Mouthpieces.

[dsurkin]

Hello - long time reader of the forums, but a first time poster.

I play euphonium in a military band as a reservist, and have been tasked with playing a lot more trombone lately. My current euphonium set up is a Deg BB1 on a Yamaha 641 (my horn) or 642 Neo (government-owned).

I use the BB1 on euphonium (Mack Brass, which is a clone of the Yamaha 641/642), and a Bach 6.5AL on my Bach 36B trombone. The BB1 rim may be closer to the Schilke 51 rim (I've read that the BB1 is a tweaked 51D), but I have found that switching between the BB1 and 6.5 AL is pretty easy.

[Ajeasley]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment of compartmentalized concepts for euph and trombone - when I was playing both on a fairly regular basis, I like to think that I was pretty good with this delineation. I was able to get a hold of a Schilke 51, so we'll start there.

[tbonesullivan]

I am also a trombone/euphonium doubler, and play bass and alto trombone as well, so finding the 'right' mouthpiece was important. I really liked the trombone sound I was getting from my Hammond 11ML, so I went with that. I actually hadn't played baritone/euphonium since H.S., but I finally decided to get back into it about a month ago. I found that getting a good "euphonium" sound was definitely helped by going up a bit on the cup size. I picked up a Hammond 11L, and it seemed to work a lot better.

Of course, it also depends on the Euphonium, as if you are like me, and tend to look for used instruments in need of some love, med/euro shanks are often encountered.