Humes & BergMute New Stone Lined Clear Tone 103 Trumpet, White

I'm currently playing trumpet for The Addams Family musical at the Mercury Theater Chicago which runs there from January through April 2015. The book calls for a "SoloTone" mute in several sections of '20's style jazz music. At first I wanted to find and buy an original Shastock SoloTone mute, but couldn't find one for sale - and even when found in good condition they can cost upwards of $100 (and if totally restored, more like $200). I wanted to avoid the Humes & Berg "Clear Tone" copy of the famous SoloTone because several posters on the Trumpet Herald Website claimed that the H&B mute plays out of tune and is a poor version of the original Shastock. Well, after one lead on a Shastock that dried up, and with the show scheduled to begin just a few weeks later, I went ahead and purchased this Hume & Berg Clear Tone mute here on Amazon. I am completely satisfied with it! It plays perfectly in tune for me. Perhaps it has intonation issues in the extreme low or high register, but where I am using it in the range between A in the Staff and G at the top of the Staff it plays just fine (note that I've never found any issues in the low or high registers but I've never look for such issues either). While I've never had the privilege of playing an original Shastock SoloTone mute, I cannot imagine how it could be any better than this Humes & Berg version.

Humes & Berg is a reputable company that has been making mutes for years. Their mutes are used by beginners to professionals. A little over a year ago these cleartone (solotone) mutes were like hen's teeth. You couldn't buy one. Intonation is pretty good. That being said, its a good value at $42 especially when some are trying to find a Shastock solotone mute,all of which are used, can go for $100 or more (if you can even find one).

I needed a Cleartone mute for the show I was playing. This is the mute you need when the director asks for it. I didn't want to mess around trying to make my own. It paid for itself in the first show anyways and will be ready to help me earn more in future musicals and whenever else I need it.

Great mute, beautiful sound, everyone asks me what it is :) good quality, durable.

It works as advertised, and yes, there is a lot of back pressure. You will get a certain sound from the past, if called for in your music. I bought two to be used for outdoor Christmas music. People liked the effect, particularly in the upper octaves. We haven't found much use for them since, but Christmas will be back again.

I bought this mute to satisfy a piece of music that called for it. It works very well in that music and I am satisfied. It is not the most elegantly made mute in my bag, but it gets the job done at a reasonable price.

This mute is great for that 1920's sound. This is a specialty mute, but it is a lot of fun on the right sort of piece - maybe "Ain't She Nice."

my favorite mute atm