Posted by Jay Bertolet on June 16, 2002 at 11:04:23:
In Reply to: Apperson Mutes vs. H&B Mutes posted by Jim on June 16, 2002 at 09:43:43:
I'm using the Humes & Berg Aluminum Symphonic 206 with my Willson Eb. I've tried some of the mutes that are like the Apperson, the metal ones with the wooden ends, but I haven't had much luck with that type of mute. Of the ones I've tried, some were very stuffy, some buzzed on certain notes, and some had bad intonation issues. I don't think I've tried an Apperson so maybe someone who has can give you more specific info on that particular brand. For me, the H&B has been the best. The bad news, if you decide to buy another 206, is that H&B is dragging their feet about producing more. For the recent ITEC, my quartet needed two 208's and nobody seemed to have them. Everybody I called was out of stock. I even called the H&B factory and tried to convince them to run another batch. They told me they couldn't until they had more orders for new ones. Apparently, they are difficult and time consuming to make. H&B runs a batch off only when they have a sizeable number on order. You might have better luck finding the 206 but I'm not positive of that either. Good luck!
My opinion for what it's worth...