Humes & Berg 113 Stonelined Trixie Plunger Rubber Trumpet Mute, Original version

Spot on. I've used this in a few musicals and the sound is unique, and very clean. Super easy to get the ring in the sound!

Solid mute. Doesn't sacrifice intonation when ins use. Heavier than I expected, but I the heft sure helps with retention in the bell and a full cupped sound. Even in the pedal register, it sounds great!Get it! You will not be disappointed!

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).

Switched to a larger bell trombone and needed new mutes. I think this is a little heavier than the aluminum mutes, but I have used Humes & Berg before and liked them, so I got this one. I fits an Olds S22 well and has a good sound. None of the competing metes were reasonable priced, but that's the way it is.

Good mute for certain sounds

I have used a practice mute for years and replaced my old one with this one. It works quite well. It is important to note that a practice mute has a lot of resistance and does distort the sound quite a bit. It also makes it more difficult to hit the partials due to the physics of shortening the horn as much as it does. My first teacher had all of her students use one with a tuner to help us become more accurate players and I believe that it helped. It also forces you to use a lot of air support while playing throughout the range and I find that my projection is better when I have been using the mute regularly. Plus the added bonus of being able to practice in my house at odd hours of the day without waking anyone up.

One would think that a mute from Humes & Berg would be one of the better mutes a person could buy. Well this one isn't . I've tried using this several times, each time I have to keep myself from tossing it in the trash it's so bad. The tone I get can't even be called a note, it's so airy, weak, fluctuates in pitch, sounds like crap. The only positive thing I can say is that it looks pretty. I purchased the Pro Tec ML203 Liberty practice mute the same time I purchased the Humes & Berg. No competition, the Pro Tec is 100% better, and that's the one I go to when I need a practice mute.