 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-11-06 03:53
Anyone here been using these long enough to have a strong idea of how consistent and durable they are? I recently bought a box each of Classic Reserve reeds for clarinet and Select Jazz reeds for alto sax and am impressed so far. Nearly all the reeds play and most play quite well. The last box of V12 clarinet reeds I bought, only 2-3 reeds played at all. I also like the way the D'Addario reeds play, perhaps even better than Vandoren. They seem to have more body, while retaining good focus and response. Certainly, the tonal quality seems a bit different than Vandoren, which comes down to personal taste, but they seem to work for me so far. But I have hardly used them enough to know if they can be a reliable and affordable option long-term.
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Author: SecondTry
Date: 2024-11-06 04:41
David:
I think your true answer here is that D'Addario reeds lie somewhere "in the middle of the road."
I'll explain what I mean by that.
I don't think this brand is just so fabulous that players are gravitating to it from other brands as if it had the reliability of a Legere synthetic, with all the best features of cane, and conversely I don't think the brand anywhere near a level below decent in quality that would find you results some miraculous event or not concurred by some.
There are people who like D'Addario reeds a lot and that certainly is by no means an outlandish thing: I understand much work went into their design. And there are those whose tried them but just haven't found them their match made in heaven though certainly don't find them unplayable (e.g. me.)
So this really boils down to personal taste. I'm glad for your results and hope they continue, and that's coming more from a Vandy guy, but one who considers reed adjustment essential, where out of the box miracle untouched reeds don't exist.
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-11-06 05:16
SecondTry wrote:
> David:
>
> I think your true answer here is that D'Addario reeds lie
> somewhere "in the middle of the road."
>
> I'll explain what I mean by that.
>
> I don't think this brand is just so fabulous that players are
> gravitating to it from other brands as if it had the
> reliability of a Legere synthetic, with all the best features
> of cane, and conversely I don't think the brand anywhere near a
> level below decent in quality that would find you results some
> miraculous event or not concurred by some.
>
> There are people who like D'Addario reeds a lot and that
> certainly is by no means an outlandish thing: I understand much
> work went into their design. And there are those whose tried
> them but just haven't found them their match made in heaven
> though certainly don't find them unplayable (e.g. me.)
>
> So this really boils down to personal taste. I'm glad for your
> results and hope they continue, and that's coming more from a
> Vandy guy, but one who considers reed adjustment essential,
> where out of the box miracle untouched reeds don't exist.
From my limited experience with these reeds so far, when they do need adjustment, it is relatively minor, for modest improvement of response and tone, not major surgery. I have yet to find one that is unbalanced side to side or far too hard. The very few that didn't work were too weak and collapsed easily. Of course the ultimate sound is personal, and I have played a range of different brands while always sticking with Vandoren so far, and I think I can fairly say that these reeds play really well and sound very good, regardless of whether they are the best choice for someone's personal sound. I will say that I am also using Legere reeds part of the time on both instruments and especially like the new French Cut on clarinet.
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Author: Ed
Date: 2024-11-06 06:55
I have used D'Addario reeds for years and have had good success with them. They have been very consistent and have held up very well. But, it all depends on your taste, your set up, what kind of playing you do, etc.
D'Addario work well, but I have also like using Vandoren and have recently had some positive results with Woodstone reeds. We are fortunate that there are many good choices out there.
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Author: lydian
Date: 2024-11-06 09:38
Same. Played them for 50 years on sax. Don't care for them on clarinet though. I average the same ~7 out of 10 duds per box no matter the brand. I can usually make the duds playable with a little work.
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Author: David Eichler
Date: 2024-11-06 11:41
lydian wrote:
> Same. Played them for 50 years on sax. Don't care for them on
> clarinet though. I average the same ~7 out of 10 duds per box
> no matter the brand. I can usually make the duds playable with
> a little work.
I was not aware that D'Addario had been making reeds for anywhere close to 50 years. If you are talking about Rico, which D'Addario acquired, the current D'Addario reeds are really a different animal, at least in terms of the cuts, and maybe the cane too. I have played Rico Select and Grand Concert Reeds, and various Rico saxophone reeds.
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