I bought the 'Concept' last April (2015) as an alternative to the Selmer S80 'B' I had used for most of my soprano performance during the past twenty years. At first the slightly greater width, designed to help facilitate the change from alto/tenor to soprano when doubling, felt odd and I was also surprised that my Vandoren Classic 3 felt very soft considering that, on paper, there appeared to be little difference between the facings or tip-opening of these two mouthpieces. Once I changed to a Vandoren Classic 3.5 reed things started to work as they should.
On my Yanagasawa Elimona soprano (1992) this mouthpiece sounds very pure and 'classical'. Response is lightning fast, facilitating crisp articulation when required but also allowing long, seamless, legato passages where the notes just flow, effortlessly. The timbre is equal over all registers and I also feel that the intonation has improved. The altissimo register speaks freely as do low 'pianissimo' passages. I consider this mouthpiece to be fantastic for the Classical and lighter styles of Jazz that I normally play but it might not have the presence and power required when a more aggressive performance is required. Yet again the Thomann price was far the best - thanks!
