Earlier this year I started umming and erring over mouthpiece choices. I own two mouthpieces currently: an Alliance DC2 and a Wick SM4X. I played the DC2 exclusively until coming out of the pandemic and the SM4X from when I was looking for something easier to play as band started rehearsing again after the pandemic (c. Sept 2019). I enjoyed the security of playing on the SM4X, but missed the tone, comfort, and low range of the DC2. When we started rehearsing Sparke's Tallis Variations, which had a lot of low range work for the 2nd euph part, I tried it out again but found after a week or two of practice my high range and pitching would suffer so would switch back to the SM4X. After changing band a couple of months ago (and getting a new band instrument) after moving I tried to go back to the DC2 again but found that the same thing happened, switching back to the SM4X after a couple of weeks.
I am not fully satisfied with either mouthpiece. The DC2 is very comfortable on my face and makes a great sound, but playing becomes much less secure and the high range goes and I don't have enough time to get back into it properly to fix these issues. The SM4X is less comfortable, sometimes even feeling a bit small (but I'm not sure if that's the cup shape or the rim size or the weight), but is much more secure in general playing. I'm not sure what exactly physically is wrong with either mouthpiece: the DC2 has a wider, rounder rim and the SM4X smaller, flatter one; the cup depths are pretty similar but the DC2 is much more of a C shaped cup against the V shape of the SM4X; and the SM4X is weirdly marginally heavier. I imagine either the DC3 (smaller diameter but C shape cup) or the SM3X (bigger diameter, V shape cup) would be better for me but I can't afford to buy both to try them out, and with Trevada music sadly closing there isn't a shop close to me that stocks both.
So I have come up with a solution: I have bought a Wick 4AL. It is the baseline euphonium mouthpiece for brass banders, and I know a few people in the school of thought that you don't need anything else (they also happen to be very good players who sound better than me on my more expensive lumps of metal). I am going to play it exclusively until at least after Christmas, before prep for the Area contest in March, and I hope it will act like a control mouthpiece. It should give me a better idea of what I would like in a mouthpiece, and maybe it is what I want in a mouthpiece! Sometimes I wonder if there are too many mouthpieces to choose from and maybe life would be easier if there was less choice
Has anyone else tried this: going back to a "baseline" mouthpiece like a 4AL or 51D? Also please share any mouthpiece journeys, I'm interested to hear how people have ended up where there are!