New whistle: stepping up from Dixon Trad

[ecohawk]

You've received some good advice here. Particularly from MTGuru and Ted. Whistles are not necessarily better depending on price. I own damn near every D whistle that I'm aware of including Burke and Copeland. I play my Freeman Mellow Dog and Freeman Nickel Generation D or Blackbird as much as any of the others. They're not better nor worse, just different. If I want clean I pick up the Burke. If I want a universally playable whistle that does most things well, I pick up the Mellow Dog. The tweaked Generation is pretty hard to beat and I carry a Parks just for fun. Except for the Burke and Copeland all these are under $60, some of them are half that.

I own the Dixon Trad. I don't play it much. Not because I don't like it. It's a nice whistle. I just like the others more for what I play. It's a personal choice. And that's what yours should be as well.

Don't spend more money hoping you'll get a "better" whistle. Spend more money because the whistle is the one you want.

[buddhu]

Get a plain old wooden-fipple Clarke. Best whistle on the planet, don't let the reasonable price scare you away. Be authentic, and play a REAL tin whistle!

Yes, there's a place for the Clarke original, too. But it just doesn't have the bite and clarity that many people prefer.

Takes too much air for me. The windway-mash never works quite as well as I'd like on the Original, and for some slow airs with loooooooooooong notes an untweaked one takes more puff than I can fit inside me.

[BlackFire_]

Get a plain old wooden-fipple Clarke. Best whistle on the planet, don't let the reasonable price scare you away. Be authentic, and play a REAL tin whistle!

I love my Clarke, I have it in C though. It's very different from all my other whistles, I call it my "owl" whistle when I play with my buds cause it doesn't have the same bite when you hit a note.

You've received some good advice here. Particularly from MTGuru and Ted. Whistles are not necessarily better depending on price. I own damn near every D whistle that I'm aware of including Burke and Copeland. I play my Freeman Mellow Dog and Freeman Nickel Generation D or Blackbird as much as any of the others. They're not better nor worse, just different. If I want clean I pick up the Burke. If I want a universally playable whistle that does most things well, I pick up the Mellow Dog. The tweaked Generation is pretty hard to beat and I carry a Parks just for fun. Except for the Burke and Copeland all these are under $60, some of them are half that.

I own the Dixon Trad. I don't play it much. Not because I don't like it. It's a nice whistle. I just like the others more for what I play. It's a personal choice. And that's what yours should be as well.

Don't spend more money hoping you'll get a "better" whistle. Spend more money because the whistle is the one you want.

I've been playing electric guitar for around 5-6 years now, and with that 90% of the time better = more expensive as long as you're buying stuff to suit your tone. Sometimes I forget that whistles are different aha

[apack]

I started with a Dixon Trad, and still play that a lot. If you want to step up to a louder whistle with a more mellow tone at a reasonable price, then I'd strongly suggest an Impempe whistle.

http://impempewhistles.co.za/

Here is a link to a review on C&F, which includes some clips (not from me!)

viewtopic.php?t=42593

The Impempe is $60 plus shipping, and for just a little more money you an get a D/C set as a custom order (same mouthpiece with an extra tube) -- which is what I got.

I think the Dixon Trad and the Impempe are definitely the best value whistles out there -- though I haven't nearly tried them all! I have around 8 whistles now, including some much more expensive than this, but I still mainly play the Dixon when I'm looking for a traditional, chiffy sound and the Impempe when I want something with more of a pure and resonant tone.

[chef Paul]

Hiya fellow tooters,

I've been lurking mainly & posting sparsly to this board over the years. I must say that I'm impressed by the comments made here. After nearly seven years of trying new "expensive" aka "high end" whistles, I still find myself reaching for my Freeman whistles and the Dixon trad. in particular. For all around play and particullary in sessions (the sound stands out and I hear it better making it easier to play) I'll take the tweaked cheapies and the Dxon any day. My view is if you want to upgrade your whistle the only way to do it is to upgrade your whistle playing...IE practice more.

Chef P