Leadpipe material and sound

[Thrawn22]

So I recently got a MK Drawing nickel leadpipe for bassbone. I've always used stock Bach 50 pipes (and stock Bach pipes in general) with my Conn 70 series basses and have been happy. My Elkhart 62H has been a different story.

As much as I didn't want to pull tge 62H pipe, I felt it was a gamble worth taking. It came out in one piece, but wasn't usable. I got a Greenhoe 62 pipe to use with it and I feel it matched better (sound and feel wise) than the Bach pipe. The Bach pipe really put a lot more bark on my 62H than my current 71H (my 70 series horns have always been mellow for me) and I didn't need my 62H to be barkie. Then i got the MK nickel pipe.

I'm really surprised how well it plays in my 62H, Especially in comparison to my 71H. In my 62H, it gives the horn focus without it being overbearing, and gives more clarity to my articulations. The nickel pipe had no real effect on how my 71H played, and if anything, made the overall sound undesirable.

Now, from what i remember (and please correct me if I'm wrong) is that different metal combinations yield different sound and playability results. I seem to remember that nickel or silver leadpipes paired with rose brass bells can help with articulations and sound. And if this is the case (as so far it seems to be with my 62H) I'm curious to try a nickel pipe with my 8H. On the flip side of this equation, what other material combinations work well together? I tried to find a thread on this subject but was unable to find one (not for lack of trying).

Any thoughts are appreciated. For me, i have never really giving much thought to different metal leadpipes but after using my MK pipe I'm now curious.


Thanks