Buffet ICON Bass Clarinet Neck
Buffet ICON Bass Clarinet Neck
The Prestige bore (24mm) fits BC1183 & BC1193 bass clarinets (A.K.A. Prestige Low Eb and Low C), and the Tosca bore (23mm) fits...you guessed it, the BC1195 Tosca bass clarinet.
The Buffet ICON bass clarinet necks are pretty cool. They are lacquered in red copper — but so what? Is it for the looks or is there something under the surface?
Let's talk about MOHS. MOHS (Minerals Of Hardness Scale) is a system used to rank the hardness of materials, graded using numbers from 1 to 10. The higher the number, the harder the material; Pencil-lead is a 1, Diamonds are a 10.
Bass Clarinet necks (and bells and keys) are usually plated with one of three metals: Gold, Silver, or Nickel. Gold is the softest of the three, with a Mohs rating of 2.5. Silver is slightly harder at a 2.75. Nickel is the hardest of the three, at 4.
Now, Copper is in the middle, at 3.15. What does that mean? Well, you'd think "not much" and you would have a lot of people agree with you. But when you're talking about hardness, you're also talking about flexibility to some degree. And the harder the material, the less vibration it will dissipate, which means more energy is directed into the body of the bass clarinet. Copper necks make a difference, and you will immediately feel the difference in response and focus of your sound.
But you may not be convinced, and that's fine. That's why I offer a 7-day trial of all ICON necks for you to compare with your own neck. If you like it, keep it; if you don't, send it back. I charge a 3% restocking fee for neck returns, which amounts to a whopping 25 bucks. Full trial details available here.
Not a bad way to spend a week. Or, if was a betting man, I'd wager you'll spend a lot longer with it! They're pretty amazing.
Thanks for reading.
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I recently tried out the Tosca ICON neck in Michael’s studio. We blind-tested 4 different necks (stock neck, 2 ICONs, and the Blashaus).
As an orchestral and chamber music player I look for dark deep warm velvet sound. The ICON neck performed best, giving a remarkably pure sound in the clarion register. I bought the ICON neck and am able to even extend the pure warm sound in that register further, it gives me a bit of a classic alto sax sound experience in that register (using B50, Optimum, and V21).
The Blashaus gave exact opposite sound of what I was looking for. Heaviest and most expensive neck is not always the best!
The ICON neck has a beautiful and direct sound. Much like the ICON Bb/A barrels, the ICON bass clarinet neck transforms the instrument to a much more direct and free-blowing horn. I'm extremely happy with the change!
I'm not a fan of all of the fancy add-ons to horns. After watching Michael's video review, I decided to take a flyer on this ICON neck, and wow it really is quite different. I immediately heard an improvement to my tone. More responsive to articulation, and a much more focused tone. My trio partners noticed as well.
I approached this neck with skepticism, as it seems to have the same geometry as the standard Prestige neck. What I experienced was interesting. Intonation is identical. The upper chalumeau and altissimo speak easily, with more clarity than on my standard neck. The tone seems to have a bit more depth, too. This probably has more to do with deviations between necks of the same geometry instead of the finish (although the finish is striking). What convinced me to keep it were the positive, unsolicited comments I received from other members of the orchestra during our last concert series. In a nutshell, this thing is great.
I was curious to see what (if any) effect a different neck might have on my bass clarinet. I've heard lots about Blashaus but could not justify paying 2k+ for a neck, it's just not in my budget. I noticed that Michael was carrying the ICON neck AND he was allowing them to go out on trials which is not something every retailer will do. The price was more manageable. Even if I didn't like the neck, I would only be out the cost of the trial and shipping, so maybe around $50 total. The moment I put the ICON neck on I was blown away by the response and feel. My air was much more efficient and the instrument fought me a whole lot less. With regard to sound, my stock neck was pretty darn close. The response was what sealed the deal. In terms of sound, the altissimo does feel more nimble and the low register is slightly rounder and full. Intonation was marginally improved on some of the more problematic notes as well, nice bonus. After I went back to my stock neck, I couldn't believe the difference. Thank you Michael for another great purchase experience!