Mark Sepinuck, 10mFan as he is known in the saxophone world, has been producing a line of tenor and alto saxophone mouthpieces for the last six years that have been very popular with saxophone players around the world. I have reviewed some of 10mFan’s tenor sax mouthpiece models in the past such as the Robusto, the Black Widow and the Classic. Recently I have also reviewed his alto saxophone models, the Showboat and the Daddy-O.
Mark has recently released another 10mFan tenor saxophone mouthpiece called the Showtime which I am reviewing today. Mark describes it as being in the same category as his Robusto tenor sax mouthpiece which has been one of my favorite sax mouthpieces I have reviewed here so I was curious to try the Showtime tenor mouthpiece also!
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Here’s the description of the Showtime tenor saxophone mouthpiece in Mark’s own words from the 10mFan website:
“SHOWTIME” hard rubber – Powerful, classic sounding, focused, open sounding piece with extra punch and a freer blow.
This is much more free blowing than the vintage hr Links, and has much more volume available, better intonation, far more flexibility and versatility, beautiful evenness in all the registers, and it’s simply an incredible all-around player that can do it all from warm and lush to powerful.
Mark was nice enough to send me a sample 10mFan Showtime tenor sax mouthpiece in a 7** tip opening (.108) to try out for this review.
From above, the 10mFan Showtime hard rubber saxophone mouthpiece looks the same as the 10mFan tenor sax mouthpieces I have already reviewed. It has the signature three white lines on the shank which I think is a great marketing idea. You can spot these three lines from pretty far away and know what mouthpiece brand a player is using.
The mouthpiece has Showtime engraved in white on the top as well as 10mFan in cursive engraving. When you look at the table side of the mouthpiece, the table is flat and smooth and the rails, baffle and tip look even and perfect as all of Eric Falcon’s work does (Eric Falcon is who does all the work on the 10mFan mouthpiece line)
The Showtime has a baffle that is similar in size and shape to the baffle in the 10mFan Robusto mouthpiece that I reviewed years ago and still have. The main difference that I can see, is that when the baffle drops and terminates with the Robusto, it is close to the front of the chamber. The Showtime baffle drop and continues on right through the chamber at an angle and terminates at the back of the chamber where the bore starts. This has the affect of making the chamber smaller than the Robusto chamber size.
The Showtime baffle also looks to be a tiny bit longer than the Robusto baffle. As I look at my Robusto and the Showtime side by side, the Robusto also looks to have a tiny bit more of a rollover baffle near the tip that I can’t see on the Showtime mouthpiece. The side walls of the Showtime start straight but are scooped out close to where the baffle changes direction. In comparison, the Robusto sidewalls are straight all the way until they reach the chamber.
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
I tried the 10mFan Showtime sax mouthpiece with a variety of reeds but found that I liked the Rigotti Gold 3 Light and 2 1/2 Strong reeds the best. The two reed strengths played with enough of a difference that I included some clips of both for you to listen to below. I know from experience that some will dig the softer reed and some will dig the slightly harder reed……
In my opinion, the harder reed has a more thick tone that has a lot of character to it. The softer reed has a brighter sound to the tone. I added some reverb to each clip also so you could hear how it sounds with reverb.
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
One interesting thing about the 10mFan Showtime is that this is a mouthpiece that I like the sound of in the room, as much as I like it when playing into a mirror or wall. This was a strange experience for me. I would say that 99% of the mouthpieces I have reviewed, I have played into a mirror in my office to best hear how they sound. Usually, when I play into the open space of the room, the sound is spread and diffused around the room. It is hard for me to hear the “core” sound of the tone. When I play into the mirror, the sound bounces right back to my ears and is more focused and compact sounding, helping me to hear the “core” sound of the mouthpiece.
Playing the Showtime mouthpiece was quite different than this experience. When I played it into the mirror, I didn’t hear much of a difference from the sound when playing it into the open room.
I have been scratching my head and pondering why this would be so and I think maybe it is because the Showtime mouthpiece is more focused in tone already. When I play into the room, I don’t hear that typical spread tone but I hear a more focused tone come back to my ears which I really like.
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
I found the tone of the Showtime to be in the middle of the bright and dark tone spectrum, leaning a bit more to the bright side (especially with a softer reed). The articulation was fast and clean and the intonation was very good. The response is immediate and it has plenty of volume and power when you push it. The Showtime mouthpiece has more of a focus than Otto Links and other vintage mouthpieces which is nice these days when you are playing with electronic instruments as I have noticed that more focused mouthpieces seem to cut through the mix of a band easier in my experience.
The range of the horn seemed very even and smooth to me when playing fast which I always love. The low notes are nice and fat and the high notes have a nice crisp brightness to them.
I think Mark Sepinuck and Eric Falcon at 10mFan did a great job with the Showtime tenor saxophone mouthpiece. Mark is great with his descriptions of his mouthpieces and I feel like he has come out with another “gem” of a mouthpiece. Well done guys! If you are interested in the Showtime tenor saxophone mouthpiece you can find out more information at 10mFan.com. Mark is a great guy and he can answer any questions you might have about his mouthpieces.
If you try a 10mFan Showtime tenor sax mouthpiece, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-Reverb
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-Reverb
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 Light Reed-Reverb
10mFan Showtime Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 3 Light Reed-Dry
Also as an added addition to this review I feel compelled to post this video of Ben Wendel playing the Showtime tenor saxophone mouthpiece as well. I love this clip!!
Ben Wendel play testing the 10mFan Showtime Tenor Sax Mouthpiece
