Leblanc LL v Leblanc L7 "A" clarinets
Initially tested with a Vandoren M13 mouthpiece, this becomes important later on as you will read.
Here I have two vintage Leblanc "A" clarinets that I've tweaked but have not refurbished as of yet. In my background I have loved both the LL Bb and L7 Bb. I've always liked the L7 Bb a bit more than the LL Bb as I've found it more flexible in dynamics with a good tone, though I've also really have liked the tone of the LL just a bit more as it is more colorful. I've always stated the LL is better at chamber music and the L7 at Jazz arena, though of course they can be used for any genre at any time. Just the idiosyncrasies of the two at the same time have me thinking that way. Back in the day when only the LL was around you used it for anything.
Looking at one of those idiosyncrasies, the air pressure balance of the L7 was a bit more stable over the entire instrument versus the LL which is a cylindrical bore and seems to have a variance as one plays down the instrument. This isn't as obvious as say a Selmer Centered Tone which is a large bore and large toneholes but one can still feel this variance with the LL, even if it is slight.
I fully expected a similar result with the sister "A"s, but it actually was a bit opposite.
Using the Vandoren M13 mouthpiece the LL A's tone seemed a bit more full and it was very well balanced from top to bottom. I was able to easily get some good dynamics out of the instrument with the fortissimos requiring a good (though not overwhelming) amount of air support.
The L7 A was a bit disappointing. The dynamics were not quite there. The tone was not as full and robust as the LL A. There was something a bit missing from everything, excluding the dynamic aspect of the characteristics.
Keywork and mechanics for both instruments were superb as normally is with Leblanc clarinets. The keywork is right where most people would expect it, right underneath your fingers. No need for extra finger stretching.
The L7 A did not have any of the problem of it's siblings Bb in regards to the nickel plating. The nickel plating on this A was superb, visually and by feel. In the Bbs it seems as though the nickel playing bubbles at finger touch locations causing an irritation to the fingers, much less the visual oddity and devaluation. Repair people have to spend some significant time sanding down bubbling nickel plating to get it smooth to the touch without making it look like it has plating removal due to the smoothing. But the L7 A has none of these deficiencies.
So in this particular case the LL A won over the L7 A with a fuller more round tone and excellent color. Whereas the L7 A just lacked a bit in all areas to the LL A.
BUT from past testing I've known the L7 A to wanting a bit more airflow. So now I pulled out my Vandoren M13lyre, which is slightly more open than the M13.
The extra air flow makes the L7 A come more alive, more of a full robust and slightly more spread tone than the LL A with the M13. Now the dynamics are an ease for the instrument, and the fortissimmos can be reached much more easily and more of it if needed. This is the way the L7 A should respond to the player.
Now reed response is different between the two clarinets. The LL A bore being a higher pressure and than the L7 A bore with the same reed/mouthpiece combination. This messed up my tonguing on fast passages until I adjusted between the two. The high pressure kept the reed reacting quicker, and thus a faster responding instrument with the M13lyre mpc. We are talking very slightly here but I have played a particular piece (Mozart quintet for strings) numerous times and when I swap between the two on a few fast tonguging runs I have to tongue slightly "before" I normally would on the LL A. This I have found a common problem when I use my long lay (facing) mouthpieces. But in this case we created this issue in relation to how the instrument's bore in relation to the back pressure is related to the mouthpiece/reed vibration. Very interesting science here.
But overall, the LL and L7 "A"s are very evenly matched. with the LL seems slightly better overall as it can handle a wide variety of situations and flexibility a bit better than the L7 while provided a slightly sweeter tone. The L7 is no slouch in this regards but the production run of the L7 was approximately from 1968 to 1978, and the LL's were far before, and after that L7 production (LL harmony clarinets continued even later). The L7 were known to have bad plating issues (L7, L27, L200, LX2000) but for some reason the "A"s were fine and LLs seem to be much better in that time frame too (truthfully I haven't kept track of LLs as the other Ls were more obvious).
So for me, I slightly preferred the LL A as being more mouthpiece friendly while providing a top notch playability and tonal color with the L7 being a slightly brighter instrument preferring the more moderately opened mouthpieces. Two fantastic A clarinets, neither are a loser in my book but both have a particular purpose if played next to each other, otherwise they are both perfect at any scenario the player needs.