I have a chance to purchase a Burke AL Pro made in 2001 or a aluminum Viper Pro made in 2009. Both in Low D. Looking for some opinions from someone who has played both. Thanks.
I’ve played both, but may not really recall the ALPro properly. My recollection is that with the Viper, Michael Burke introduced the rotating section at the bottom to allow comfortable positioning of the lowest hole. Much like being able to rotate the foot of a flute. The Viper probably also likely has the Delrin Black Tip on the mouthpiece (certainly they do now) for comfort in the mouth (and no taste of aluminum). As to playability, I didn’t care for either.
It should be noted, however, that only the lowest hole on a Burke Viper can be rotated, unlike a flute, where the bottom three holes can usually be rotated. I always leave the holes inline on my whistles with this feature, but I suppose it could be a benefit for some who prefer offset holes, or someone who wants to try offset holes and/or inline holes without having to a make a commitment to either.
As for the whistle itself, I own a Brass Burke Viper (the brass ones do not have the aforementioned rotating foot), and I think it is a very nice whistle. Nice honkin’ bell note, but with a mellow top end. Some don’t like the tone of them, some do. They do consume a great deal more air than any other whistle I’ve played, and are very free blowing, which may be a deal-breaker for some.
Haven’t played an “Al Pro”, but I assume it is somewhere along the same lines as a Viper. I was under the assumption that it is really just an older version of the same whistle.
Sorry I haven’t played the early pre-Viper model.
I did play a 2006 Pro Viper for a number of years, it’s a great instrument.
Powerful Bottom D, strong low octave, fairly civilised 2nd octave. What impressed me when I first got it was the smoothness of the voicing over the whole gamut.
As far a tone goes, Burkes get the knock for being bland, but in comparing Low Ds from 20 or so makers I found the Burke to actually be more or less in the middle of the road in that regard. Certainly there are Low Ds with a more complex and/or dirtier and/or more NAF-like tone, but there are also Low Ds with a blander tone.
What got me to switch from the Burke to the MK was tone and efficiency. The MK has a far more beefier dirtier more complex tone, has significantly less air consumption, and a lighter/easier/more nimble 2nd octave. What the MK doesn’t have is that fantastic booming bell-note.
About the rotating foot, I found it useless, because I also am accustomed to having in-line holes. Actually the feature was annoying, because more than once the foot somehow got accidentally rotated and I picked up the whistle and got a surprise when I started playing!
I’ve got a Burke ALPRO Low D, and the bottom section (three lowest holes) rotates, not just the lowest hole. The tip is not delrin on that model (as someone mentioned already).
Those are the only differences I can tell you for sure as I’ve not played any of the newer models.
Edit: Looks like someone already mentioned the three-hole rotation as well. Oops.
Now THAT is something I would find very useful!
Because for some reason my two hands want to come at the whistle from slightly different angles.
So it’s starting to sound like other than cosmetic design changes with the full derlin mouthpiece and the rotating lower hole(s), they pretty much play the same.
Both are free-blowing whistles. The Viper does have a bit more back-pressure and I could barely keep up with the air demand. The older model takes even more air and hardly has any back-pressure at all. I found it almost unplayable for me. The Viper is a definite improvement in play-ability IMO.