Hi guys!
I am tempted to buy a middle priced whistle. I have been looking for Dixon trad for a while now because of good reviews. The same is true with Cillian O’Briains feadog.
So for those of you who have played both, how would you compare them?
Thanks, Ivo
O’Briain improved is the nicer one if you ask me. By several country miles.
I’ll second Mr. Gumby’s motion.
Eric
I wouldn’t say either whistle is middle priced. YMMV
I have both whistles and yes O’Briain is my preference.
The O’Briain Improved Faedog is probably my favorite whistle. That said, it requires a lot of breath control and isn’t very loud. It has the lowest air requirements of the whistles I’ve played. You can not really ‘lean into it’ if you like that in a whistle. But it has the most beautiful tone.
Just mentioning these so your expectations are met. I bought one without seeing much info on them. It probably isn’t going to be loud enough in any but the smallest sessions if are looking for volume. I haven’t played the Dixon Trad so I can’t compare but I would be shocked if it wasn’t louder than the O’Briain.
I haven’t played the Dixon Trad so I can’t compare but I would be shocked if it wasn’t louder than the O’Briain.
The trad isn’t significantly louder.
To be honest, I wouldn’t really want a whistle louder than the general O’Briain-Generation-Killarney-Sindt range. They carry well, even if you don’t realise while playing. Whistles, as used in traditional Irish music, are by their nature not very loud instruments.
The Trad is in a similar range of breath requirement but I found something odd/off in the way it took the wind and didn’t like the way it played for that reason. The O’Briain plays freely and effortlessly.
My Dixon trads play differently than my Gens or Feadog, for sure, but it just takes a little bit of practice with them - I know I’m only a newbie to whistles, but I really like my Trads. 
I’ve played both you mentioned. I like them both, but I tend to grab the Dixon Nickel Trad the most. You’ll probably end up with both anyway, in due time. Problem solved. In fact , your stable will shrink and swell for years.
Agreed. And thanks for that info Mr.Gumby! As I said I hadn’t played the Dixon so I wasn’t sure how it compared. It’s nice to have a definitive, comparative answer. I was just providing what info I could about the O’Briain and people seem to use “is it loud enough for a large session” as a benchmark when talking about whistles. I agree that they don’t need to be very loud to be heard. I think the combination of the (comparative) quietness of the O’Briain along with it’s required breath control makes it more difficult for me to play in the excitement of a session. I have a tendency to over-blow it out of excitement when trying to play with others, whereas something like the Killarney is much more forgiving and easier to control for me. That’s definitely MY shortcoming though and not the whistle’s!
Since we’re on whistles that are not overly loud, and priced in the middle range, allow me to mention my three favorites.
I don’t care for very loud whistles. It makes me self conscious in an odd sort of way, kind of like talking too loud at a nice restaurant.
Yes, Timothy Potter whistles worth the mention.
I got a few Dixons. The DX001, the nickel trad and the DX204 (also a few alto and low models). The DX001 has the sweetest, purest and most quiet sound of the 3 but the plastic feels a bit flimsy. The nickel trad is louder and the DX204 louder still. The DX204 was my favorite for some time but nowadays I think it is too loud (my ears are not getting any better it seems, just more sensitive over the years). They are all good whistles. Another nice one and rather cheap is the Feadog Pro. When I got it I didn’t like it. I thought it was too “squeaky”. But now that my playing has improved (somewhat) it sounds much nicer. The thicker barrel gives a nice heft to it. It takes little air. I quite like it now.
Edit: just played both the Feadog Pro and the Dixon trad again and the Feadog pro is more balanced through the octaves (similar to a Killarney or Clarke Sweetone). The Dixon gets quit loud starting from the 2nd octave G onward. And it is louder overall.
The brass is thicker. The pro high D is heavier than the standard C Feadog.
I’m interested but I’m put off by the religiosity.
It’s a bit hard to get past that.
He seems OK in email contact though. The whistle is nice enough, quiet-ish and light to the touch. It’s well balanced but as a by product of achieving that there’s not a lot of life left in it. I have in the past compared it to whistles that have been tweaked to within an inch of their life. Or a whistle made to sound like a recorded whistle, heavily equalised and compressed. It plays well and does everything right enough but after playing it for a while you want to put it away and play an off the shelf Generation for a bit, or an O’Briain ‘improved’, just to play unconstrained music.
I once asked Martin Rochford how he liked the new house his son had built him, just after he moved into it. He quipped ‘you can’t even throw a dirty look in it’. It’s that sort of feeling.
So, when talking about a high D whistle, what is everybody talking about when they talk about its loudness or if it is loud or not?
And what would be the example of a high D whistle that is “loud” and yet has a good tonal quality, is not easily *overblown and easily or smoothly moves between octaves, for under $40?
I know, I should probably just ask what is the perfect whistle?
But I guess what I’m asking is how close can you come to what I described for under $40, including offerings “off the shelf” and tweaked ones.
*and by “easily overblown” I will give the example of my Clark Sweetone, which sounds in the first octave basically if I just exhale a normal breath and doesn’t take much more to jump into the second.
I’m just returning to whistling after a Hiatus and in the past I had some 13 whistles. Four of which were in C the rest were D. Now I only have three. An original Clarke; a Clarke Sweetone and my Susato Dublin D ( the non tunable series they made out of white plastic and have since discontinued)
Of those three my favorite is the Susato. And with that in mind I have just ordered a plastic Dixon D. I’m interested in expanding a little bit, but I’m not a big connoisseur and I’m now looking for a little bit better bang for my buck this time around, as opposed to willie nellie acquiring a Generations or Fear of or whatever just to have on of that brand for the hevk of it.
But if the Feadog Pro really is a good whistle off-the-shelf I might go for it, unless somebody convinces me that the basic Feadog tweaked by mr. O’Brien is even better. But then again I thought somebody above said that was easier over blow, so that wouldn’t be as great an interest to me.
Anyway, the main question revolves around loudness and how that is defined. I look forward to your thoughts. Thank you in advance
Your Susato is probably as close as you’ll get. But ‘not easily overblown’ and ‘easily or smoothly moves between octaves’ are basically opposite characteristics when nimble octave switches depend on easy overblowing, at least when slurred and upwards.
But if the Feadog Pro really is a good whistle off-the-shelf I might go for it, unless somebody convinces me that the basic Feadog tweaked by mr. O’Brien is even better.
Feadógs are variable, it’s a feature of how they are made. The Feadóg pro I got was no good at all, it had a raspy second octave that was unpleasant. I ditched the head and put a different one on the tube. The last batch of Cillian O’Brain’s I went through was surprisingly consistent. Previously I had gone through boxes of them to pick the nicest one (they were all fine but not in quite the same way) but the last time I tried there was surprising little variation. Better by several country miles, as I said.
Do note however these whistles are very different in character from Clarkes, Sweetones and Susatos.
I’m no expert. I have a Feadóg pro and a standard Feadóg. The Feadóg pro is louder sounding, but it might just be because it’s harsh sounding. The standard Feadóg, after a bit of sanding and a bit of putty, became a nice whistle with a light and lively tone, but I prefer the Killarney whistles.
I think Mr. Gumby nailed it in that there is a balance going on between loose and lively and tight and consistent, and also between “loud” and “sweet.” I hear good music being made on all kinds of whistles but lean towards whistles that don’t sound like recorders or flutes.