Phil-Tone Equinox Tenor Mouthpiece Reviewed

Today I'd like to present a lesser known brand of mouthpiece, Phil-Tone. I recently heard about the brand, and now I've had the opportunity to try their newest model for tenor, the Equinox. The best introduction I can give this piece is that it is one of the extremely few hand crafted mouthpieces with a very reasonable price.

The Equinox' warmth, brightness, and power make it a flexible and usable piece. Most importantly it has a well balanced and unique tone with its own mix of dark and bright tone qualities. While having an overall round sound the piece has plenty of volume which results in a healthy projection and definition of sound.

The great construction and design of the mouthpiece give it a consistent playability throughout the range of the horn extending up into the altissimo register. The Equinox has a certain free blowing feel which is a great balance between power and expression. You can really push the piece without any distortion in the sound, and at the same time inflection and expression come easily. I will warn that the mouthpiece does have such an expressive ability that it could be easily exaggerated. Someone coming from a less easily inflected mouthpiece should expect a transition period in this respect.

Overall, this is a great mouthpiece. I'd like to add that I had a noticeable transition while my embouchure got use to this mouthpiece. This piece most likely has a slightly longer facing than my Otto Link which resulted in my adjustment period. Transitions and adjustments are necessary and expected with almost any new piece of equipment so no surprise there.

Here is a sound clip on the Equinox:
Blues Excerpt on the Phil-Tone Equinox

Conclusion: This is an affordable handmade mouthpiece with a flexible and unique tone.