Mike Wells, 1st baritone with the Grimethorpe Colliery Band reviews the new Ultra 6 mouthpiece, released this week: "I've played on a Denis Wick 6BS trombone mouthpiece for over 10 years now, purely because it came as standard when I bought my instrument. Having tried several different sizes and makes since then: a 9BS, an SM4B and a Yamaha mouthpiece I found in a cupboard, I've always come back to my trusty 6BS. Trying to achieve a wide, rich tone on the baritone is hard work at the best of times and if you need to blend with a pair of euphoniums at full tilt in a long, sustained passage, this task becomes even harder. Playing on a 4 or even a 3 can help achieve a slightly bigger tone, but at the cost of your high register, which can sometimes become a little pinched on these larger mouthpieces. The new SM6BU gives you the bigger tone, but you keep control of your high register much more easily. With the standard 6BS, my sound seemed to stay within the bell of the instrument, but with the SM6BU, I found my sound filling the room. The beauty of this mouthpiece is that it is essentially the same size as the standard 6BS, only very slightly deeper, so you will hardly notice the difference. This makes the switch much smoother than if you were to change to a simply bigger mouthpiece. The improvement to my sound was instantly noticeable and I can now blend much better with the rest of the band. You can still get an edge on the sound if you blow hard enough, but I don't think this is such a bad thing! Although I needed to move a few slides around from the set-up I used with the 6BS, intonation is very good throughout the range, and low notes speak very easily. Overall, this mouthpiece is an excellent investment, instantly improving your sound with minimal adjustment."

Mike Wells