Today, I am reviewing a new tenor saxophone mouthpiece from 10mFan sax mouthpieces. This is the Chameleon 7** hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece. I have already reviewed a number of great 10mFan tenor saxophone mouthpieces and alto saxophone mouthpieces in the past that you can find here.
Whenever Mark Sepinuck, at 10mFan mouthpieces, comes out with a new mouthpiece model, I am always really excited to try it out because all of his mouthpieces are so good! Mark is always thinking about how he can meet the needs of the sax playing community with new uniquely designed mouthpieces.
Here’s a description of the Chameleon tenor sax mouthpiece that Mark posted on Sax on the Web:
“These rollover baffle sax mouthpieces are very special and have a huge, powerful, full, and clear sound with some brights and a beautiful freedom to the blow! Incredibly efficient mouthpieces with GREAT CLARITY AND POWER. At the same time, these mouthpieces can be played gentle and warm. These can be used for the straight ahead player wanting a more powerful sound, or ANY setting where you need LOADS of power and volume. The sound can be warm and powerful, or bright and powerful, depending on your abilities. This is the most powerful tenor mouthpiece I offer, and its not a step baffle! It’s truly a Chameleon!!!”-Mark Sepinuck
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
Here is some more details from Mark Sepinuck’s description of the 10mFan Chameleon tenor sax mouthpiece from the 10mFan website:
“This is a free-blowing powerful rollover baffle mouthpiece designed for my 3rd category, that allows players who don’t get along with step baffle pieces, a real opportunity at finally getting some serious power and volume into their playing with a huge full-bodied sound. This is a rollover baffle design. It has brights and warmth and fatness depending on the players abilities. An open canvas of sound opportunities that fits in my 3rd Category so perfectly. Free and powerful with a full-bodied sound top to bottom!” -Mark Sepinuck
Mark describes his 3rd mouthpiece category as: “Very powerful “Cross-over” category mouthpiece. This is a POWERHOUSE roll over baffle like nothing in the marketplace.”
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The 10mFan Chameleon tenor saxophone mouthpiece came in a well packaged box. Inside, amidst the packaging was a clear tube. Inside the tube, was a velvet looking bag with gold trim that protected the Chameleon saxophone mouthpiece while shipping.
The new 10mFan Chameleon tenor sax mouthpiece has the traditional three rings on the shank that all of the 10mFan saxophone mouthpieces have. It also has “10mFan” and “CHAMELEON” engraved on the top of the mouthpiece. On the bottom corners of the mouthpiece next to the table is engraved “U.S.A.” and “7**”.
As you can see in the picture below, the table, rails and tip rail look flat, even and perfectly crafted as all 10mFan mouthpiece do. The baffle is a slightly curved side to side baffle that rolls over about half an inch into the mouthpiece before it runs straight down towards the rear of the chamber.
The first half inch of baffle is what I would consider a high baffle but it is not so long and high that I would think this mouthpiece would be obnoxiously bright. About 15 years ago, I was always complaining on the internet sax forums about how I wished there were some saxophone mouthpieces that were made with a more moderate high rollover baffle to give power and brightness but still be able to play jazz. At the time, I remember being frustrated because it seemed like most of the choices out there were Otto Link type baffles or Guardala type high step baffles (which I found too bright for my tastes). This 10mFan Chameleon high rollover baffle is exactly the kind of mouthpiece I was wishing for in my imagination way back then.
The side walls are slightly carved out on each side as they lead into the medium large sized chamber. The rails look even and precise as they head towards the tip rail. The shape of the tip rail matches the shape of the Rigotti Gold reeds I used on it.
One other interesting fact about the Chameleon tenor mouthpiece is that Mark told me that they made the Chameleon mouthpiece body longer because of the high baffle design so that it plays in-tune on older horns and modern horns. You need to lengthen the shank on a design like so that it can sit further on the cork and play in-tune.
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
So, how does the new Chameleon 7** saxophone mouthpiece in hard rubber play and sound? The 7** I played for this review played perfectly with a Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 strong reed. I also tried a Rigotti Gold 3 light reed that also played quite well and gave me even more volume and power but I chose the 2 1/2 strong reed for the sound clip below.
The Chameleon mouthpiece has a tone that lies at that midway area between bright and dark in my opinion. At normal playing levels, you can shade the tone to be warmer or brighter and it really is a Chameleon in that the player can easily adjust his playing to fit the genre of music he is playing.
Where the Chameleon surprised me, was in the power it has when you blow with all of your air. The Chameleon mouthpiece can go from a 1 on the volume scale to about a 13+ pretty quickly when pushed. A couple times in the clip below, I was playing at a medium level and then decided to push it and the Chameleon took all the air I could give it and is able to really crank out the power and volume. (I actually had to turn down the overall gain on the microphone because the full power of the Chameleon would distort the recording at my normal recording levels. That’s some pretty impressive volume!)
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The first clip below is of the Chameleon tenor mouthpiece with a bit of added reverb to the clip. I like this clip the most just because it represents the type of reverb I would have on my sax during a live performance playing wailing Top 40, Funk or R&B type tenor sax solos. I open up the clip with a louder, more aggressive line up in the altissimo, so be prepared for that when you listen.
After that, I play a bunch of my standard jazz lines including “Moose the Mooche” and a medium “Donna Lee” (which I try to play in all of my sound clips as a way to compare the different clips).
The Chameleon sounds great on the jazz lines and has a tone that is fat and focused but with loads of character and warmth. It does have brightness to the tone but not enough brightness that it sounds out of place playing jazz. The lines and evenness between notes is smooth and the intonation is really great in my opinion.
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
I also let myself go into the altissimo with more volume on some bluesy R&B type lines at numerous times in the clip. The tone gets brighter as the power and volume increases but it is still fat and round to my ear. It doesn’t get thin and frail like many high baffle mouthpiece can sound up high. You can hear this even more clearly on the second “dry” sound clip which has no reverb or added effects on the clip. Many high baffle mouthpiece sound really harsh and almost brittle with no effects added but the Chameleon still sounds really good to my ear on a “dry” recording.
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
The 10mFan Chameleon tenor mouthpiece has a great focus and core to the sound that I loved. It also had a lot of volume and power to it when you push it without getting too bright, edgy and thin sounding. At the same time, the tone has enough highs, brightness and power in those lines to carry the sound through the mix when playing a solo.
This is a great tenor sax mouthpiece for those of you looking for an all-round mouthpiece that can cover many different types of gigs and genres of music. I would have no problem playing a jazz set on this tenor mouthpiece and then ripping into a solo on “Respect” or “Mustang Sally” immediately afterwards.
10mFan Chameleon Hard Rubber Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece
If you like the sound and look of the 10mfan Chameleon hard rubber tenor saxophone mouthpiece, you can order one of them from Mark Sepinuck at connsaxman@comcast.net . You can also check out his site at 10mFan.com for more information and order a mouthpiece right there on his website.
If you have played or end up playing a 10mFan Chameleon Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece or have any other thoughts or comments about this review, I would love to hear what you think in the comments below. Thanks, Steve
*To hear the most detail from these clips it is best to listen to them from a computer with nice audio speakers or headphones rather than from an iPhone or laptop speakers. It makes a world of difference!
10mFan Chameleon Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-Reverb Added
10mFan Chameleon Tenor Saxophone Mouthpiece-Rigotti Gold 2 1/2 Strong Reed-Dry Recording (No Reverb)
Disclosure: I received the sample mouthpiece reviewed above for free in the hope that I would try it and perhaps review it on my blog. Regardless, I only review sax mouthpieces that I enjoy playing and believe will be good for other saxophone players to try also. Steve
