Author: qualitycontrol
Date: 2015-03-12 07:39
They are all really apples and oranges.
The closest comparison to be made between the D'Addario offerings and Vandoren would be with the Vandoren Blue Box. The cut of the Reserve reed is fairly similar, with a regular thickness blank, regular length vamp and medium tip, as well as rounded tip corners and a french file cut.
The Reserve Classic in some ways edges towards a V12, with a squarer tip, a longer vamp (I think the cut is even longer than the V12) and a thick blank, but the RC tapers to a thick tip, whereas the V12 has a thin tip, making them very different reeds in the higher registers.
The V21 is simply the 56 rue Lepic blank (extremely thick, conical blank, regular cut) run through with a V12 profile (a longer vamp and a thinner tip.) This makes it very different than any of the D'Addario products. I haven't tried the V21s and I haven't used the 56s in a long time, but I'm guessing they sound fairly similar, maybe comparable to a Gonzales FOF.
I can attest to the consistency of the Reserve products, but sadly I found they were consistently mediocre. I found the cane waterlogged a lot easier, and I like thick blanks but hate the thick tip of the RCs. There is more variance in a Vandoren box, but I found they overall sound a lot nicer with a bit of work and a proper break-in, plus I don't really mind having some reeds harder than others in my cycle depending on how my chops are feeling any way.
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The Clarinet BBoard
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