Asymmetric Lead 342 Trumpet Mouthpiece

This mouthpiece gives you a potent lead sound, in tone, but is a little bit difficult to produce soft sound, and the embochure position changes using this mouthpiece. If you uses traditional mouthpieces for other music styles it will be difficult to switch to the Asymmetric.

When I'm already able to routinely hit high concert C's and D's , raising my range by 1/2 an octave seemed highly improbable and as I suspected it didn't improve anything about my playing or change my range. I tried out this mouthpiece with my Chicago Benge. Even though I have an extended range, playing high notes isn't my main interest. I bought this mouthpiece out of a general interest in the trumpet. If you want to play high notes get a dog whistle.This mouthpiece might get those who now use a big diameter mouthpiece to higher octaves but so will any smaller diameter mouthpiece (Like maybe a Schilke 5A4 or a Parduba double cup). I also happen to be very interested in the lower range of the trumpet and this mouthpiece really has no quality low range capability. I hate to use the word but this mouthpiece (for me)really seems like a gimmick. This is just my opinion. That being said it might be a great mouthpiece for someone else.Anyway ....thats the data that I gleaned from an extended tryout of this product.I'm putting mine on Ebay.

Pro:My endurance on picc,, or anything north of the J. Haydn, is double with the Lead. Marvelous!I does not have the hard and bright sound normally produced by other high-note mouthpiecesLead has a larger cup diameter than the other two asymmetrics, which makes it much more playable for me.Con:Since I can't get enough of my embouchure into the mouthpiece, lows are colorless and very weak. With a normal high mouthpiece (Schilke 15A4A) on the first movement of the Haydn I work for the high notes and rest on the low notes. But with the Lead the high notes are easy but I worry as I approach the low Gs (on an Eb trumpet).Midrange (within the staff on a Bb) is playable but colorless, and fortissimos are weak.Bottom line: Indispensable for piccolo, useful for F and Eb trumpets,not useful below that.

I've been playing the Lead 342 for over 3 years. I researched it through the studies by John Lynch. it has a great feel. I get a great tone and strength in the upper range, without straining and that's most important!I find that my endurance has doubled. I can play a 3-4 hr gig without a problem. John's studies have helped me reform my embouchure to be efficient finally after 35 years of playing!Kudos to John and to the Asymmetric Lead 342!!!!!Bill Crawford

Have been using the 342 for about 10 years now--nothing else I have tried can compare to the range, stamina, and most of all tone that it produces. The learning curve is slow at first, it takes months to get your embouchure trained for the low register but with work and practice it is possible to master. Search Steve Iverson on youtube, there are 3 videos of performances using this mouthpiece. Enjoy.

Very good trumpet mouthpiece excellent for upper register notes.

I rate this mouthpiece with 5 stars -- but in reality I can't get the thing to work for me very well. BUT for trumpet players looking for a better mouthpiece for endurance I highly recommend Asymmetric. The caveat here is that this mpc. led me to another Asymmetric mouthpiece (3C+544) which is my main mouthpiece now -- and is easier for me to play, and gives greater range and endurance than I ever had. So I highly recommend anything that leads you to play your trumpet better -- Asymmetric( I am 46, and comeback to the trumpet after a decade off -- but people you still have to practice --- that is the bottome line --- take a mouthpiece (in my case a 3C+544) and use it, and develop it, and play and be happy.

Its all right