Question:
What I know that you may not.
Haven't posted in a while....here's what I've learned.
There are three mouthpieces which I use now for different purposes...
I use an HR "6" Link, a Runyon Q 118, and a Berg 115 stainless customized by Mojo. I now use the Link for regular technical practice and jazz practice. While more extreme and open pieces can strengthen your emboshure, are great for playing altissimo, doing sound effects and playing with electric guitars, they get in your way when woodshedding. The loud brighness of a high baffle will ring in your ears and not allow you to develop your tone the way a low baffle hr piece will. Plus these pieces fatigue your emboshure much more quickly. When you work on your fingerwork, you should have a mouthpiece/reed setup that is very easy. Do most of your practice on your Link or equivalent. If you learn to play altissimo on a low baffle piece, it will come much easier on a high baffle one and you will be shocked at the improvement in your tone.
"Vintage mouthpieces play better on vintage horns" and vice versa or "This brand of sax is mouthpiece picky". :
TOTAL BOGUS
Any great mouthpiece will sound great on any great horn if played by the right player.
People ask about mouthpiece comparisons and here is what I have found.
Runyon Boinix & Jumbo Java: Quite similar, built for altissimo ease....Bionix even more extreme and larger in the mouth, deserves a better rep than it has. I want to trade my X.L. for one of the two....anyone game?
Berg Larsen and Runyon X.L.: Extremely similar in design and sound...I own both but only need one. The Berg has been customized by Mojo for altissimo ease and sounds and plays pretty good in the low register too...great for effects and can bend well too. I think I prefer it over the Quantum. Sounds best with a Runyon lig...somewhat reed finicky.
Runyon Plastic Quantum: With spoiler has the most volume of any mouthpiece I have ever tried..loud and full, edgy...trumps the Berg and X.L. in that regard. A beginner could get a big sound out of one of these. Extremely reed friendly. I use it when I am playing with amplified guitars with no mike or when the mike is weak. Without the spoiler it sounds a little less remarkable. This mouthpiece has a very stable tone that seems to have volume compression...great in the right setting, but does not lend well to bending notes or playing with great volume dynamics.
Link HR: My piece I use for most of my practicing and for when I am not playing Rock or blues (and sometimes when I am). Standard and versatile...can sound stuffy if played improperly.
Other thoughts:
A Yamaha YTS-61 is an underated horn and ranks up there with the King Super 20 and the Mark 6.
Rico reeds are the best deal for the money and many come out of the box playing just fine...even some of the ones that are cut unevenly.
Rico and Rico Royal reeds are not capable of hitting the very extreme tenor altissimo range (if you ever find a reason you would want to)...you will need a Vandoren.
"A horn that has been relaquored will never play as well"
BOGUS
Many relaquored horns have no noticeable loss of tone quality provided they have only been worked on once. Some high-profile gigs prefer you to have a shiny horn.
Okay, hope I get some feedback....gotta go to bed.

Answer:
Replace the word "you" with "me" or "I". And consider changing the title of your post to "What works for me and might work for you".
It sounds like you have found some things that work for you at this particular point of your development. Seasoned players understand that the only true generalization is that there are no generalizations. That is what I know that you may not. :)

Answer:
Hazdog:
I completely agreed with you thoughts on close tip mouthpieces for woodshedding. But I don't switch mouthpieces based on the gig. I know many do.
Interesting info - thanks for your thoughts.

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1 Attachment(s) "Forgive us Hazedog."
The Dukoff, Lamberson, Selmer C*, Golden Calf thing was just a joke."
"You we're up on that mountain and we thought you'd buggered off with all the camels. Martysax actually reckoned you'd buggered his favourite camel, but I digress."
"Anyways, we're all very sorry. Now, if you could just make it rain Mark VI's....?"

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I just LOVE this site!!!

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i have a bionex tenor mpc i would trade for a tenor xl

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Originally Posted by Dog Pants "Forgive us Hazedog."
The Dukoff, Lamberson, Selmer C*, Golden Calf thing was just a joke."
"You we're up on that mountain and we thought you'd buggered off with all the camels. Martysax actually reckoned you'd buggered his favourite camel, but I digress."
"Anyways, we're all very sorry. Now, if you could just make it rain Mark VI's....?"
Heh.

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reply
When I said that "there are things that I know that you may not", I was referring to the mouthpiece comparisons and which of the ones that I've tried that were similar. Many people have not tried them and only hear one vague term after another used to describe them. There is a lot of shaky sax information out there...legends and myths....if it is not logical, it is not true. A saxophone is only a tube with specific dimensions. I have a day job and don't claim to be some sort of guru, but I didn't start playing yesterday either and I don't come to my conclusions in one day. If you don't agree with my claims, then I would like to hear "what you know that I may not". That is why I posted this thread.

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Zondas
Have you ever tried Zonda reeds? Or Rico Jazz select?

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What's this thread about? That first post was so long I dozed off before I found out.:)

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Rico Reeds will play the extreme range of the Altissimo.
There is no problem with using Rico or any brand of reed, provided that it works for you.

Answer:
Originally Posted by jazzbluescat What's this thread about? That first post was so long I dozed off before I found out.:)
Something about a guy doing something with my Camel. :shock:

Answer:
Originally Posted by Hazedog Haven't posted in a while....here's what I've learned.
There are three mouthpieces which I use now for different purposes...
I use an HR "6" Link, a Runyon Q 118, and a Berg 115 stainless customized by Mojo. I now use the Link for regular technical practice and jazz practice. While more extreme and open pieces can strengthen your emboshure, are great for playing altissimo, doing sound effects and playing with electric guitars, they get in your way when woodshedding. The loud brighness of a high baffle will ring in your ears and not allow you to develop your tone the way a low baffle hr piece will. Plus these pieces fatigue your emboshure much more quickly. When you work on your fingerwork, you should have a mouthpiece/reed setup that is very easy. Do most of your practice on your Link or equivalent. If you learn to play altissimo on a low baffle piece, it will come much easier on a high baffle one and you will be shocked at the improvement in your tone.
"Vintage mouthpieces play better on vintage horns" and vice versa or "This brand of sax is mouthpiece picky". :
TOTAL BOGUS
Any great mouthpiece will sound great on any great horn if played by the right player.
People ask about mouthpiece comparisons and here is what I have found.
Runyon Boinix & Jumbo Java: Quite similar, built for altissimo ease....Bionix even more extreme and larger in the mouth, deserves a better rep than it has. I want to trade my X.L. for one of the two....anyone game?
Berg Larsen and Runyon X.L.: Extremely similar in design and sound...I own both but only need one. The Berg has been customized by Mojo for altissimo ease and sounds and plays pretty good in the low register too...great for effects and can bend well too. I think I prefer it over the Quantum. Sounds best with a Runyon lig...somewhat reed finicky.
Runyon Plastic Quantum: With spoiler has the most volume of any mouthpiece I have ever tried..loud and full, edgy...trumps the Berg and X.L. in that regard. A beginner could get a big sound out of one of these. Extremely reed friendly. I use it when I am playing with amplified guitars with no mike or when the mike is weak. Without the spoiler it sounds a little less remarkable. This mouthpiece has a very stable tone that seems to have volume compression...great in the right setting, but does not lend well to bending notes or playing with great volume dynamics.
Link HR: My piece I use for most of my practicing and for when I am not playing Rock or blues (and sometimes when I am). Standard and versatile...can sound stuffy if played improperly.
Other thoughts:
A Yamaha YTS-61 is an underated horn and ranks up there with the King Super 20 and the Mark 6.
Rico reeds are the best deal for the money and many come out of the box playing just fine...even some of the ones that are cut unevenly.
Rico and Rico Royal reeds are not capable of hitting the very extreme tenor altissimo range (if you ever find a reason you would want to)...you will need a Vandoren.
"A horn that has been relaquored will never play as well"
BOGUS
Many relaquored horns have no noticeable loss of tone quality provided they have only been worked on once. Some high-profile gigs prefer you to have a shiny horn.
Okay, hope I get some feedback....gotta go to bed. I practice on the mouthpiece that I gig with and would recommend that for most people. Get used to it and make it work. But maybe that doesn't work for you. If you need an extremely open, extremely small chambered piece for the really loud gigs and don't want to practice with that, then I certainly would understand using a more moderate piece to practice with. But it's different strokes/different folks; just because this works for you doesn't means that it's generally true for other players.
The equipment that we prefer and how we use it is extremely personal. The variance in equipment, approach and results from player to player is remarkable.........

Answer:
I agree with most of the first post, although I would have other preferences for mouthpieces but I get the drift. If you do a bunch of teaching, as do I, you also come to a point where you are looking for the middle ground with a mouthpiece that allows you to play with students on beginner exercises, or jazz stuff with advanced students without having to put on a C* or something, so I agree about having something like a link that works for those purposes as well as for your own practice. I have found a ponzol traditonal 110 works well for me in that vein, also a Morgan I just picked up. But I have had the best luck with RPC pieces being able to play comfortably quiet and controlled as well as flat out without killing yourself, even in larger tip openings like 115 and 120. I have a bright edgy piece I use for some things also but I can't stand to practice with it because I don't like the sound. But, its easy to put on and play so I use it with some bands. In those cases, the sound is probably crappy out front anyhow. (Some gigs in the middle volume wise are tough, as I would love to be a purist and play a totally dark piece but those just don't get the job done volume or projection wise for me. Anyhow, Morgan 9E and comes close to the RPCs for me so far...)

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Thanks for sharing your lessons-learned. I agree with you on most points.
I use a Berg 115 on my bari. I only get to play it about 2 hours a week. After I put in an hour with this mpc/horn and pick up my Link NY STM 7/tenor, I feel like I've just 'worked out'...I'm in "embrochure fatigue" for about 10 minutes. If I try to play tenor immediately I have to go easy for about 10 minutes. However, if I'm only playing the bari for 20 minutes, it's not so bad. Obviously, I need more practice with the Berg.
I DO practice with the Berg, but not as much as I need to...
I DO switch mouthpieces depending on the tempo/raucous nature of the piece. The Berg cuts really well, but my other bari piece (Y5C) can't cut its way out of a wet paper bag. I use the Yami piece for classical work.

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I don't switch mouthpieces much anymore but in my past experience I do believe firmly that some saxophones are more mouthpiece freindly than others, and there are some mouthpeices that work better with certain horns than other, but yes, I suppose with enough time and effort spent, these idiosyncracies can be overcome.

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I only practice about 1-2 hours per day, so I see no need to switch to a smaller mouthpiece for practice only. I really want to get good and comfortable with one piece, so that's why I do it. The mouthpiece I do play can get a nice subtone to low Bb. When I need it to, it can also outright knock you down if you stand in front of the bell!
I also believe some horns are more mouthpiece friendly than others. I got with a friend and we had a slew of mouthpieces between us and three horns -- a Mark VII, a B&S, and a Yani 9937. It didn't much matter what mouthpiece I put on the B&S, it sounded in tune and each piece had it's own character of timbre, tone and focus. The Mark VII produced similar results, but most pieces were mostly in tune and the differences between pieces not as marked as on the B&S. The Yani 9937 just plain didn't work with some pieces and the pieces that did work were all bright and thin as hell. Same results from two different players.
My $0.02

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response
Well I haven't tried that many horns but the mouthpiece friendly thing never seemed to make sense to me....I guess that's something I would just have to experience for myself....I own a YTS-61 and I like it a lot....tried my mouthpieces on a King Super 20 and a 6 and all three responded similarly on all horns given the different characteristics of those horns.
When I started playing on the Link 6, it seemed like I broke some kind of plateau for myself that more open pieces were preventing me from reaching....like it made me concentrate less on my mouth and more on my fingerwork. Also it seems to take less wind so I can play longer passages. But it is sort of difficult for me to get the higher harmonics to pop out easily on that piece and the tone is a little thin. Nothing a little reverb wouldn't cure, but I hate to rely on effects.