Can anyone tell me the difference between the Burke session bore and narrow bore? Is there really that much difference in loudness? I don’t mind a loud whistle, as long as it’s not shrill or shreaky. I’m planning on getting a Burke in the next few months, and was wondering if I should get a narrow bore or session bore, but I need some guidance so I can make a choice between the two. The aluminum looks nicer, but I heard the brass sounds better. Any thoughts on that either? Anyways, any advice is welcomed.
I have the Brass Pro Sessioner in D instead of the Narrow-bore mainly because I needed a bit of extra volume for playing outdoors. The whistle has a great transition from low to high octave, but you do need quite a bit of air (and with that comes volume) for the D above high D (not too common in whistle tunes), but outside of that, the Burkes are very pure sounding.
My personal opinion is if I was doing indoor solo or small ensembles, go with the narrow bore. If you wanna a bit more volume in a session every now and then, grab the other whistle.
I have a session brass and it’s not really a loud whistle, in overall terms. But I find myself wishing I had a narrow bore for practicing because in a small room it gets a teensy loud for the good of my hearing. So I guess it depends on where you’ll be playing it. If you’re just using it to practice and learn, I’d recommend the narrow bore.
When I play my session out in a group, I find I can hear myself a little better than I can with my Oak.
I have a narrow bore Alum D with the blacktip. I don’t like it but I bought it used and its tough @#$%. . It’s not sweet and as open as my ProSession Alum, or Brass D, for that matter. And to me, it’s not enough quieter to justify as a practice whistle. It’s in tune, in fact, better in tune than the Session, but it’s very unexciting.
Stick with Session. Buy directly from Mike and return it if you don’t like it.
I don’t consider either my AlPro session D or my narrow bore brass D a particularly loud whistle.
They are both on the soft side, the session perhaps a bit louder, but the brass narrow bore making up for it by having a sound that really cuts through.
Both are playable in large sessions if you play it out of the corner of your mouth (so that it’s closer to your ear). Both can be heard quite well by folks listening to the session…better, I think, then by the musician actually playing it.
Now, you don’t have to be nasty! I know that a lot of people love Burke whistles, and that some of them will show up at sessions and go on and on about how great Burke whistles are, but there’s still no reason to be calling them “Burke Session bores.” That’s just plain rude! I mean…
I have both the Al-pro and the black tip brass Burke D whistles, both wide bore. Both are terrific whistles and both have sweet pure strong absolutely not shrill high ends. I prefer the brass because the low end is a bit darker. Both can be played at moderate volume and both can be pushed nicely - good for airs and responsive enough for quicker tunes. The Al-pro is physically very light.
I couldn’t tell much of a difference in loudness when I played both. I own the Session Pro and played someone elses narrow bore. If you are accustomed to playing on a generation or similar type whistle the narrow bore will “feel” the same because of the the bore size.
In my very limited experience with a burke aluminum session bore, It had a very sweet tone and it was loud enough for a session (that’s actually where I got to try it). I played Carolan’s Welcome on it (which means took it all the way up) and the high notes were not shrill at all, again, they were loud but sweet. I can’t speak of the narrow bore, as I haven’t played one but based on your question, I think you might as well go for the session bore if the shrillness was your only concern. The aluminum was nice and lightweight too… as are most aluminum whistles.
I’ll probably be getting one soon as well… I don’t know how long the wait is for a Burke, but hopefully I’ll have it in the next month or so. I’ll let you try mine and maybe that will help make your decision making easier.
I own a narrow bore alluminum. It’s a nice whistle, but I wish I had gotten it in session bore. It just feels too small. But then I’m accostumed to playing either conical, large bore, or thick walled whistles. It feels about the same size as a feadog that I own. If it were a little larger, I’ld probably play it a lot more.
I have the DBSBT session bore brass and an AlPro A (aluminum). I like the the brass high D better between the two. The AlPro is actually quieter for some reason, and the tone lacks the roundness of the brass d which I happen to enjoy. Both are very nice, but that’s my opinion between the two I own
