I am thinking of an M & E because they are less expensive than most other Flutes with a few keys. I need something super loud (I will be playing with a Trumpet and a Sax) and I doubt the R/R model will be loud enough. Can anybody tell me what the volume is like on it?
The M&E R&R and the original model with the split embouchure both produce about the same volume. I think the R&R model actually has a bit of an edge for projection.
The Seery is a bit louder, but I’ve never played any flute like the Hamilton when it comes to pure volume. If you really gotta have major volume, nothing compares.
–James
An R&R would probably be loud enough. I was playing around with my band a few days ago at our new place. We are still getting our stuff together in there and we ran out of mics. We got the fiddle, the accordion and the guitar amplified with good volume on the PA, and obviously the bass and the keyboard goes out trough the speakers as well. I said I’d just push the flute a bit more and I could be heard very well over all that noice. You would have no problem to be heard over a single trumpet and sax mate 
I have just bought a M&E with the split, but it is not here yet. I will come back and let you know what it does for me. This will be my first polymer six hole keyless flute and I can only compare it to my silver flute and the volume of some whistles. My volume test consists of playing an instrument in the kicthen after every one goes to sleep. Then the volume is determined by how many come to the kitchen to tell me to be quiet.
The comparison has been made before between the two, and the Rudall was said to be the winner for sessions. Here’s the link:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=25844&highlight=m+e
By the way, Tommy, did you buy the M&E that was just up for sale for $275? It woud be good to post a note saying it’s sold, if you did in the for sale post. Sometimes people who put up for sale posts aren’t very good at tellling us when something is sold. I was just recommending it to someone last night in a lengthy PM, and had I known it was sold, I could have saved my time and fingers!
I think the original M&E is a great flute-I have a friends on loan. I don’t know about it and sessions, but it has pretty good volume when you push it. With a trumpet and sax, who knows? Get an amp and a mic, and you’ll be set.
I think it would be up to the author of a For Sale thread to post any change in its status. I do understand what you are saying in that it would be a courteous thing to let others know a change in availabilty. I too have gone to sellers in the past only to find it was alwready sold.
I have tried playing my Tipple with them and it was kind of hard to hear I was thinking the M&E mainly because I could get a few keys and not spend too much but I might go for a Seery even though it is more then the M&Eand a bit too expensive for the comparison of when I want the Flute and when I have money what I really want is a Burns Pratten in Boxwood with 4 keys but that is way too expensive I might get a keyless Burns and when I have more money get some keys added. But the M&E is my most realistic choice because I will at a certain point have about $600 to $700 dollars. I am still afraid that it will not be loud enough because I will not always have acces to a mic (meaning I wil not always be practicing with them at my place). I am also thinking the just tuning on the R&R might cause intonation problems as both Saxes and T-pets are played at equal temperment. Unless somebody has a nice Pratten in Blackwood or Boxwood they would like to give to me (yes I mean for free) I think it is the M&E I will have to go with.
Again, I’ll have to say don’t worry about the M&E not being loud enough. If you get one and can’t play it loud enough, what you really need is more practice and not another flute. Same with intonation. Every flute will have little quirks you’ll have to learn to work around. I promise that the M&E will have potential to work just fine, it’s up to you to make it happen, but the same holds true with every flute.
I don’t believe any flute would hold it’s own playing with a sax and a trumpet, except with amplification. That’s a whole different thing than an Irish session, even a loud one!
OK, maybe a real blaster like a Hammy, but how many people can say they played their Hammy against a sax and trumpet?
How about playing a Hammy with 2 electric guitars, an electric bass, keyboards, 2 vocalists, and a drumset?
I do play in a rock band sometimes, too. 
The point of this really isn’t how loud my Hammy is; the point is if you are playing with these sorts of instruments you’re going to me miked anyway and any flute will work.
–James
This is why I made the reference to “not without amplification…except maybe a blaster like a Hammy”. Avery said he wouldn’t always be plugged in. Sure, you could play an amped piccolo if you wanted to, just crank it up!
I’ve played the trumpet so I have an idea of how loud these instruments are, but I still believe that a flute could be heard without amplification, it’s just a feeling I have. And the M&E can be played very loud. As I said, I could be heard very well over fiddle, accordion, guitar, electric bass and keyboards, all amplified and I was playing without any amplification at all. I just don’t think it will be a problem, not with enough practice on the instrument.
Maybe the flute can be heard playing with a trumpet, but add the sax, and I think you’re going to have trouble hearing the flute, just a guess. I haven’t tried it, nor do I want to, for that matter!
I have decided to start a different thread on Flute volume.
It would be more useful if you were to publish a volume on flute thread !