Vandoren V16 Tenor Sax T7-L

A while back, I watched Mike Brown's excellent sax.co.uk video on YouTube in which he compares various tenor mouthpieces. I was impressed by the Vandoren V16 and subsequently bought one - a T6 medium chamber - which I paired with a Vandoren Optimum ligature. It worked really well for me and I've been using it ever since.

I have been thinking about upgrading to a professional level saxophone but wanted to make sure I was getting the best out of the one I already own before spending a lot of money. I remembered that Mike mentioned that Vandoren had just brought out a large chamber version of the V16 and I thought that might be interesting. When I saw one on Thomann's website for £108 I couldn't resist. I also decided to move up to a T7.

What a difference it makes! My tone now has more depth and the upper register particularly sounds much fuller. It's surprisingly easy to play. It needs more air, of course, but the resistance is about the same as the T6. I can hit the palm key notes much more easily and with better tone and the low notes are easier too. Intonation is also better - upper A, B and C have always been a little flat, but now they are pretty much in tune. I don't pretend to understand how all these improvements can be the result of increasing the tip opening and chamber size, but I' very happy about it.