I approached the Otto Link LA expecting a variation on a theme. Every other piece in the current JJ Babbitt (JJB) lineup, the Tone Edge, the FL Tone Edge, the FL STM, carries an explicit lineage back to a historical Otto Link. The LA does not. After exchanging emails directly with JJB President Steve Rorie, I can say with confidence that the LA was never meant to continue Otto Link history. It was built to depart from it.
What the Otto Link LA Is
The LA is the most focused, most cutting, and perhaps the most brilliant piece in the current Tone Edge and STM lines. It plays with real energy at the top end without losing the low register warmth that defines the Link core. Relative to a standard Otto Link, the chamber is smaller, sized medium rather than the larger chambers typical of the Tone Edge and STM lines, and the baffle sits higher. That combination is what gives the LA its cut. The defining feature on top of that is a two-baffle geometry, one rollover close to the tip rail and a second roughly half an inch back. This is a deliberate departure from the single clam-shell baffle found in earlier Babbitt designs like the Early Babbitt. It gives the player access to brightness and projection on demand, while the piece still settles into a familiar Link character at soft to medium dynamics.
Where the Design Came From
Mr. Rorie conceived the LA in response to years of player requests for something brighter, bolder, and louder than anything in the standard JJB catalog. He worked through the concept with Chris French and Mike Smith, the two players who ultimately provided prototype feedback as the design took shape. The goal from the outset was narrow. The team wanted extra energy and focus available when a player wanted it without abandoning the core identity of an Otto Link.
Rorie’s own musical references for the sound were Tower of Power and Earth, Wind and Fire. He describes that as a west coast sound, and it is the source of the name. His son Trace came up with LA in support of that goal.
This detail matters because it settles a question I could not answer from marketing alone. The LA is not an homage to a specific historical mouthpiece or era. Rorie was direct about this. He views the LA as a departure from the known historical performance and character of legacy Otto Links.
From Rubber Core to Metal Piece
The rubber LA core was CNC made and then hand perfected by Chris French, well before JJB’s partnership with Theo Wanne existed. That original core, along with a CT scan of a finished piece, was provided to Matt Ambrose and Theo Wanne during early discussions. It was this piece, not a new concept pitched from scratch, that sparked the conversation that eventually became the full JJB and Theo Wanne partnership.
The LA STM’s internal geometry was created from a 3D scan of that same LA Tone Edge core. Fine tuning of the metal piece was left to Theo and Matt, but the stated goal across both materials was reasonable continuity between the rubber and metal versions. Rorie credits the metal piece’s design specifically to Theo and Matt, not to JJB. The LA STM is not a separate design wearing the same name. It is the same core concept translated into metal, with adjustments made by the people who built it.
What Changed and What Did Not
Early units of the rubber LA drew some inconsistency concerns. It would be easy to assume the current version fixed this through manufacturing precision alone. That is only part of the story.
One real design change did happen, deliberately. The original core carried a concave table, sometimes called the belly, long treated as central to Meyer and Otto Link heritage. Theo Wanne understood that history but disagreed that the concave table meaningfully improved the piece’s playing character. Rorie and his son were nervous about removing a feature carrying that much weight in the vintage Link identity, but they trusted Theo’s expertise. The table on the current LA is flat. Rorie says Theo’s judgment proved correct, and JJB no longer has to defend the concave table as essential. He counts the flat table among the real upgrades in the current piece, not a manufacturing correction.
Beyond the table, the underlying core geometry carries forward from the original. What changed is who machines the facing curve, the tip, the tip rail, and the blending from baffle to floor. JJB’s tip line technicians now perform that work after direct training from Theo Wanne, and Matt Ambrose has personally reviewed their technique, measurement, and repeatability in the JJB shop. Rorie credits the resulting accuracy and repeatability directly to Theo and Matt. The gain is that every piece now reaches a higher, more consistent ceiling than the original molded pieces achieved.
My Own Time With It
I have played the LA STM extensively. It sits beyond the FL Tone Edge and the FL STM in this lineup, more focused than either, without drifting into a one-dimensional brightness. It is versatile enough for any jazz player in any situation, delivering more energy and cut without losing the Link identity underneath it.
Human hearing is most sensitive in the upper-midrange, well above where the tenor saxophone’s fundamental pitches sit. A brighter, higher-baffle mouthpiece pushes more energy into that upper range, which is part of why it cuts through in a way a darker piece does not. Electronic amplification solves a related problem, raising volume overall, but it does not change that underlying tonal balance. Working saxophonists without amplification lean on the first approach, and the Otto Link LA is built for exactly that.
A Clean Break, Stated Plainly
The LA does not ask to be measured against the Slant Signature or the Florida Super Tone Master. It was never trying to be either. Rorie’s own framing is the most useful lens available. The history of the Otto Link name does not carry the same weight for many of the players the LA is built for, and JJB built it for the cut and projection those players are actually asking for, which goes beyond the tonal characteristics the brand has historically been known for. That is a rare thing for a company managing a legacy this significant to say plainly, and it is the reason the LA plays differently than everything else in the current lineup.
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