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Re: Bravo reeds?

Author: sonicbang
Date: 2016-05-20 13:51

From time to time I buy some synthetic reeds because I'm curious how they evolve. I just play tested a box of 3.5 Bravo reeds.

equipement I used for testing:

Vandoren M15
Vandoren B40
Vandoren B45
Vandoren Perfecta refaced by Brad Behn to 1.04-36
Fobes Europa 2
Behn Vintage D
Behn Epic HCV 1.0-36

sound:

Well for me it was disappointing. The strength was OK, but this is the best I can say. The sound was fuzzy, thin and the higher I go on the scale the this is getting worse. The tip has an unusual shape and doesn't fit well. I tried them on a number of mouthpieces this morning and I couldn't even find a decent match I would use for an outdoor performance.

finish:

I'm not convinced that the back of the reeds are completely flat either. When I put one on the mouthpiece and hold it with thumb, the tip is clearly further from the mouthpiece's tip. Tip width varies between 12.65 to 12.8mm instead of 12.9 or the regular 13.00.

The obvious signs of moulding weren't removed from the edges, this I think can cause problems alone.

consistency:

Sadly all 5 are the same...

to sum:

I have no idea who were the testers during the developing process, but I would really like to ask them if they think what they approved is OK.

Maybe there is a certain mouthpiece with a certain strength which could work decently (let's not outrule this possibility) but I'm not sure this search would worth it. Other synthetic brands I have tried gave much better results. The fact I can get 5 Bravo reeds for the cost of 1 Legere doesn't make it better.

(Disclaimer: I design and make cane reeds, occasonally for sale too)

Mark

quick update:

I decided to try to improve one of those reeds. I removed the mold edges carefully with sandpaper and the response improved a bit but the sound was just as horrible. Then I tried to flat the back on the block I use for cane reeds. It quickly turned out that just under the tip there is some extra material on the back. Geez. And the whole back is concave. No chance to make the back fit to the mouthpiece table.

Post Edited (2016-05-20 14:10)

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