Four Reed Test

[Anonymous]

recorded using an i-touch, played on a Guardala Alto King mouthpiece,
got a problem with a faulty transformer cable cutting out the power if i move the cable, so the volume
of the backing track may not be the same in different recording, as if the power cuts out, it resets the volume to zero.
That only occurred while i was changing the reeds, and not while i was recording.

Java reed

V21 reed

La Voz reed

Rico Select Jazz

i’ve gone for the rico select jazz, as i’ve got bored with the softer less responsive brand reeds,
i want a quick responding reed, with more bite and kick with edge.

[Anonymous]

All four reeds are brand new yesterday, soaked over night, and roughly the same strength reed.
I tested all four reeds yesterday, and they all played the same as they did yesterday.

for playing slow classical stuff, i would opt for the vandorens v21 & java green,
but for the jazz band music where i want quick stop and starts, i would opt for the Rico & la voz reeds

[Anonymous]

Hi sxpoet, of the four reeds, the Rico Select Jazz reed sounds really good to me.

What happens if you go 1/2 step softer or harder, does the reed’s tone character remain the same?

[Anonymous]

Hi Jeff,
because the chamber size on this metal mouth piece is a lot different to the one on the rubber mouthpiece, which i played using size 3 reeds.

When i tried the same size 3 reeds on the metal mouthpiece, it was just too hard going on the lips – very tiring, harder to control the timing starts and stops, basically i would have only been able to play for 10 mins.

So i then went to the music shop and bought 4 reeds, dropping down to a size 2 & 1/2, to test out if i could play on them, which are a lot easier to play.

When it comes to reeds, the more i drop down in size, the reeds become a lot easier to blow, the down side is

1) i start controlling playing the reed with the air in my mouth and not using my diaphragm to control the air – which is very bad.

2) i find a few pitches on some of the keys start to squeek when jumping around the mid range, usually when playing louder. So i then know i cant work with that reed strength – it would drive me up the wall.

3) The more you drop down the thinner the tone of the pitch gets, its just physically impossible for me to get a rich smooth full bodied tonal pitch.
It also weakens the strength of the higher altissimo pitches.

If i try and play music similar to yakity yak where theres lots of quick starts and stops involving lots of tongue movements – a lower strength is easier to respond quickly.

if i try and play a waltz like blue danube, where the starts and stops are a lot slower – a higher strenght reed is far smoother.

currently i fancy some loud slap in your face raw sound, of the 4 reeds, the rico jazz sellect does the bizz, the la voz has let me down as the tuning sounds warped out of tune in the tone.

the java green sounds the best in terms of being more naturally in tune pitch wise, but theres no raw kick sound i’m looking for.

The v21 on the other hand which is a classical dark sounding reed aimed at clarinet players isn’t suitable.

For reeds, Theres a fine balance in getting depth of pitch, richness of tone, deciding where you want to place your sound between raw and smooth, deciding where you want to place your sound between dark & clear or out-of-foucus & bright. The choice of reed will give what you want, trouble is, change any one of these variables and starts altering all the variables. So the hunt for the perfect all round reed is like knitting fog. lol

[brother cavefish]

i am a java man, rico select unfiled are nice after they get used a few times

[Anonymous]

Hi sxpoet, I find that the reed’s true tone only manifests after playing it for 10 hours or more. It’s like the initial stiffness has to be broken to reveal it’s true tone. I have to buff the rough ‘lip contact area’ of the reed anyway to make it more comfortable to play for longer periods. It may be interesting to record the initial sound when new and compare that to the reed’s tone after 10 hours of play. Like BC I aim for Vandoren Java Green when available, otherwise the more expensive Blue reeds.

[Author]

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