TromboneChat

Just some observations. I have a Jo-Ral copper bottom straight, an aluminum Tom-Crown, copper bottom Tom-Crown. The Tom-Crowns come with insanely large corks that you need to shave down for it to play right. You have to mod them to prevent mute dings. We all know that Jo-Ral is supposed to be the best. Surprisingly, it's not. The solid aluminum Tom-Crown is hands down the winner. What a sound. The copper Tom-Crown is a close second, and it's the best of everyone else is playing heavy mutes.

I've had all three for a long time, and never really thought about it. But after some lengthy rehearsals on Bernstein's MASS and some other pieces, along with recordings, I just gave away my Jo-Ral straight mute yesterday. I was really surprised.

The Jo-Ral was muddy and starting around Bb in the staff it chokes up the blow on the horn. The other tom crowns let you go a little lower and have brilliance to their sound

This current group I play with basically guarantees that no matter what the concert is, I have to bring my tenor and at least one other trombone, and at least three if not four mutes. I'm making all kinds of improvements to my mute lineup and how I lug my horns around. It's great.

I have an old Jo-Ral that I love. Way better than my other mutes (wick, tc, windy city, etc). I’ve tried the newer Jo-Rals and don’t like them at all.

Apparently it's not too important that the entire section use the same mutes.
See the trumpets (starting at ~0:35) in this video of the Chicago Symphony Brass:


By the way, pretty nice brass playing!