A.N.A. Mendez

That is a crack up!

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(Above) Alexanders ragtime band-circa 1960

"Baby, I'm already the coolest, and the hippist, now you want me to be on time too?" Buddy Love

"We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and our best generals to edit our newspapers." Robert E. Lee

FreshBrewed

I owned one a while back and never used it regularly. As the others have said, it is way to stuffy. Not to mention overpriced.

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Mike
Eclipse MHY Bell
1949 Olds Ambassador

Listening has nothing to do with moving your mouth!

nieuwguyski

I used to use mine on business trips, and liked it for that. I don't travel on business anymore, so it rarely gets used. I know several players who use the Silent Brass mute (mute only) as an ultra-quiet mute for warming up during a gig, if they've been sitting for a while without playing.

I've never understood the complaints about back-pressure with the Silent Brass. Don't blow so hard! Turn the volume up and back off the air.

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John N. Nieuwguyski

tromj

Another good practice mute is the one fromThe Wallace Collection. I use it for re warming up when I get to gigs.

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Bach 37
Yamaha 8310Z
Yamaha 631 Flugel
Getzen 850 Cornet
Yamaha Picc
Yamaha Xeno C 8445
Monette B1-5M, B1-5F, B1-5D cornet, Stork 3P, Monette C1-5M

trpt2345

I bought one, and used it once or twice, and hated the sound. Everything sounds like you're playing through a horrible cup mute. Like Manny said, just practice really softly if necessary. I use a harmon mute a lot late at night, it cuts the volume and it's a sound I use frequently anyway. And hell, before 10 p.m. in Chicago the cops won't respond to a noise complaint. My theory:go until someone complains. And if no one complains, you're OK. I'm very lucky, my neighbors are big supporters and my building has thick walls and floors. In five years I've never gotten a complaint. Plus I can practice at Merit any time and I do frequently. ("Where's McLaughlin?" "Can't you hear, he's practicing again!")

Michael McLaughlin

Well, Art is Art, isn't it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know.
Groucho Marx

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Chicago MM

gglassmeyer

One thing the others didn't mention and a big reason I don't use mine much... the wires. I don't like having wires in the way as you're trying to turn pages. I also agree about the stuffy feeling. I can usually get by with the stem removed from a harmon mute playing softly. I do this as my three children sleep upstairs without waking them.

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Greg Glassmeyer