 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: pplateau
Date: 2007-07-07 20:29
Tried my first plastic reed, a Legere Quebec cut on a McClune SP mp w/ 1.02 tip ; 3 3/4 strength; pretty nice ; fine for Dixie or doubling etc. What is your experience? how does the Quebec compare to "regular" Legere for ya?
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Author: sfalexi
Date: 2007-07-07 20:41
I just discovered yesterday that I prefer the quebec over the legere. Also, it's slightly softer (or so I thought when switching back and forth between two 3.75s).
i played a clarinet quartet gig on the legere quebec on Friday and loved it. I'd been practicing on the reeds for about a week. And it was a relief to know when I put it on that it was going work. And that I knew HOW it was going to respond in all parts of the clarinet. Right now I'm ordering some 4's of quebec to make sure that I have the correct size (although I think 3.75 is what I need, but just to make sure). And when all is said and done, there's a 99% chance I'll be finishing out the year on legere quebecs. And continuing on from there.
Alexi
US Army Japan Band
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Author: William
Date: 2007-07-07 21:23
During 2005, I played exclusively on Legere tradional Bb reeds of varing strengths, 3.0 to 3.75. I also tried the Quebec cut, which I did not like as well as the Trads. However, last year, I made the switch back to VanDoran cane Traditional cut (blue box) simply because they play and sound better than the Legere--at least on my Chicago Kaspar #14. I do still frequently practice on a Legere, but for my serious playing, it's cane--usually Vandy Trads 3.5.
Bass clarinet?? It's Legere traditional 3.0 or 3.5 exclusively on my Grabner CXBS mouthpiece and Winslow lig.
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Author: JJAlbrecht
Date: 2007-07-08 00:44
I much prefer the Quebec to the traditional cut or Legere reeds. I use the 3.5 QC reeds on my Grabmer K13. Works great for me, and I get compliments on my sound from my section mates.
Jeff
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Author: hans
Date: 2007-07-08 03:19
pplateau,
I switched to Legere from Zonda about a year ago after playing on cane for 47 years, because I was doubling on sax and the reed would dry out while I was playing the sax. It was the right thing to do for me. I have had more compliments on my sound than I ever got before, and I like the consistent performance. I have no desire to go back to cane on the clarinet.
It surprised me that when I tried a Legere on my alto sax the sound suffered noticeably, resulting in a quick return to cane. I plan to try it again with a different strength one of these days.
Hans
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Author: gwie
Date: 2007-07-08 07:39
Picked up a 4.25 QC Legere at the fest. Works and sounds much better than the original I tried a few years ago! Definitely staying in my reed case when I need something that works *right this instant*.
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Author: pplateau
Date: 2007-07-08 12:55
Thanks for the info; I'm only a couple days into using it; may try a tad harder one also. but definitely lilke the idea of keeping one around for when nothing else is working right for me etc. And surprising (to me) good sound from the Quebec cut.
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Author: seafaris
Date: 2007-07-08 13:22
I use the Traditional 2.75 to 3 on a Fobes 4L 1.12 tip opening. I tried the Quebec and found that it a little less resonant than the traditional. I think that most who want a darker sound would ike the Quebec. To play, it seems less responsive to the touch but when I listen to a recording it seems sounds very respsonsive. I still like the way the traditional plays and for now that is the one I use.
...Jim
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2007-07-08 14:08
My experience with Legere is similar to Hans. I initially tried Legere because most of my playing involves doubling and I was sick & tired of my reeds drying out and the associated hassles. I tried various synthetic reeds in the past and all of them went sailing into the trash can. But, I found Legere to be different from them and I quickly saw Legere's potential. It took me several weeks to become used to Legere on clarinet. I found that I very much pefer Quebec...most likely because I only use thick cut reeds. I love the quality of tone that I get with a #3 Quebec on my Grabner K14 with a Vandoren Klassik string ligature.
Using Legere on tenor saxophone was a struggle. I tried both kinds of Legere saxohone reeds (reguar and Studio) in various strengths and they sounded terrible on the set up I was using at the time -- a Morgan 3C on my 1934 Buescher New Aristocrat. After trying different mouthpiece facings including Morgan 5L, 6L, etc. Finally, the ball was hit out of the park with a #2.5 regular Legere on a custom Morgan 6C. BEAUTIFUL sound and playability! It sounds so good that I have no reason to go back to cane.
Similar to William, I get superb results with a Legere #3 bass clarinet reed on my Grabner LB bass clarinet mouthpiece. I tried using Legere tenor saxophone reeds on bass clarinet and I didn't like the results. Whereas, a #3 Legere bass clarinet reed feels like a natural match.
The thing about Legere is they work better on some mouthpiece facings and types of ligatures than others. Several ligatures that worked beautifully for me with cane reeds did not seal Legere reeds properly. Thus, I had to try different things until I found the mouthpiece-reed-ligature combination that was the right match for me. This enabled me to get optimal results with Legere reeds.
Roger
Post Edited (2007-07-08 15:17)
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Author: rtmyth
Date: 2007-07-08 15:58
Legere Quebec with ( my own home-made, twenty five cent) velcro ligature, a beautiful match for me.
richard smith
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2007-07-08 19:02
Koo Young Chung wrote:
> How do you pronounce "Legere"?
The founder's name:
Guy Legere
Gee Leh-jhair
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Author: leonardA
Date: 2007-07-08 19:12
It does very well on my clarinet, but not so good on tenor sax. On the sax it's too flexible and not stable. Perhaps that varies from mouthpiece to mouthpiece, but I don't know. Vandoren traditional is much better on t he clarinet, but it's handy to have the Legere to practice on.
Leonard
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-07-09 18:58
Anyone tried "Ontario cut" yet? I saw them today on the 1stopclarinet site (no affiliation). I didn't find it on the Légère site yet, however.
--
Ben
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Author: Roger Aldridge
Date: 2007-07-09 23:53
I wonder if this is the reed that has been called the "3-dot" prototype? If so, I tried several of the 3-dot reeds two years ago. They had to be ordered from the Legere factory at the time. I remember liking them better than the regular Legere reed but not as much as Quebec.
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Author: sherman
Date: 2007-07-10 19:03
Roger:
I have tried both the three-dot, which I think was called the Ontario-cut, as well as the Quebec cut. The implication was that the Quebec cut was somehow the better. I found this was not the case at all.
Rather, as you have said, it depends completely upon the mouthpiece.
So for me at least, the more premutations of the reed, the more we are drawing a parallel with cane reeds. These are not necessarily improvements, but differences. If one gets a really comfortble mouthpiece, the reeds are totally consistant,(at least this is my latest take on these interesting objects)
Last night we watched "Artificial Intelligence". I couldn't help but think of Legere, which I conclude is a synthetic, though not artificial.
Sherman Friedland
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Author: FrankM
Date: 2007-07-10 19:06
I envy you guys who have found success with these reeds. I've tried them on clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor sax and I don't like the way they sound or feel.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-07-10 19:41
> I don't like the way they sound or feel.
They certainly feel different, agreed.
Last Saturday we had a "Beer Tent Concert" where we humble clarinettists had the choice between f and ff in order to compete with the brass behind us. Anyhow, my more or less fresh reed was played to shreds after an hour, and yesterday I took my old student Légère and - poor neighbours - honked the s**t out of it - pass. I'm gonna use it this weekend, and I don't really care whether it sounds a tad less velvety or feels a little slippier. Tough times call for tough measures. ![[tongue]](http://test.woodwind.org/clarinet/BBoard/smileys/smilie6.gif)
(fixed typo)
--
Ben
Post Edited (2007-07-10 22:17)
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Author: pplateau
Date: 2007-07-10 20:43
3 3/4 is starting to feel too soft for me; going to try a 4.0 QC next
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2007-07-14 12:49
> I wonder if this [the "Ontario Cut" --Ben] is the reed that has been called
> the "3-dot" prototype?
I found mine in the mail today (kudos to 1stopclarinet for their ultra-fast shipping).
The Ontario reed does indeed have three dots on the butt, so I think we're talking of the same thing. It sounds a tad brighter, and comparing the "O" with a "Regular" of the same strength, it looks like its scraped part is a bit shorter, that might explain.
Compared to my "Student" Légère, the flat side is rougher (they explained they skipped some less important manufacturing steps in favour of a cheaper price), and the reed has no tendency to swim on the mouthpiece, something that made the Student work better with my rougher HR mouthpiece than with the Debut/Premieres.
What amazes me most is the effortless altissimo from beat one, something that else only works after some minutes of warm-up.
(I'm in no way affiliated with either company mentioned here)
--
Ben
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Author: hans
Date: 2007-07-15 00:24
Today I tried a Legere (Studio Cut) on my alto sax again, with the same poor result. My wife (who used to play sax) said it sounded awful compared to the cane reed I was using for comparison - one that I first broke in last November.
So for me it's cane (Zonda) for the saxes and Legere for the clarinet. Period.
Hans
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Author: super20dan
Date: 2021-12-13 06:36
i have been dissapointed with the responce of the low bass clarinet register and the legere euro reeds. also they seem to wear out faster than the regular legere. i recently started using the forestone hinoki reeds on bass and get much crisper low note response . ditching the rovner lig for a hite has given me more bottom end grunt and bite also
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