alto reeds on tenor piece? works pretty good!

[Anonymous]

I am running low on tenor reeds and before I ran out to buy some I decided to try an alto reed.

I've got dozens of boxes of vintage alto reeds from the 70's (Vandoren
and LaVoz) and I just don't play alto enough to ever use them

Anyway I normally play a Rico 3.5 tenor reed so I tried a Med LaVoz alto reed - seems to seal really well and fit the rails just fine. Plays just a bit stiff but has a nice tone. I did a french file and cut back the bark and they play great. I'm starting to think I won't bother buying tenor reeds. They don't subtone quite as easily unless I do the french file to soften them up (they are shorter than tenor reeds after all so a bit stiff right where the facing curve begins).

Anyone else doing this? I know someone was posting that they play bari reeds on tenor, probably to get a darker tone -- I like a bright tone so this seems to work great for me.

[Morry]

Well, that's the opposite of what I'm doing. I'm playing Vandoren #3 bari reeds on tenor, so it's obvious that there isn't one "right" way to do it.

[Anonymous]

I play Rico Jazz Select 4hard on bari so I just tried one on my tenor piece. It plays nicely too. I compared it to the alto reed and I found that the alto (for me anyway) has much more high harmonics - so I find the tone a lot richer in the upper octaves. Harder to subtone though. The bari reed is a joy to subtone and has a much warmer tone in the low octave. Still plays fine in the upper octave but not as much harmonic content as I like.

I have been playing on old/worn tenor reeds for so long now that I don't have any that would be a fair comparison. I suspect a good tenor reed would fall somewhere in between.

[sopsax]

Been using tenor reeds on my Couf Superba II alto since the 1970s, for a dark, resonant, tenor-like voice in the low range. I used to have difficulty singing out in the palm keys, but it didn't matter much since I mostly played rhythm ensemble parts. Now that I'm playing in a more melodic/soloistic vein, I've sought alto mouthpieces that help me ring out up high; haven't found tenor reeds to be any hindrance.

Reeds of choice currently include Fibracell, Daniel's, V16, Java. Somebody on SOTW suggested I try bass clarinet reeds. Experimenting with a V16 and a Rico Royal, I found them almost indistinguishable from tenor reeds... with a bit more lightness and portamento, or is it just the power of suggestion?

When I try alto reeds, they sound wimpy to me. Am addicted to that deep midnight mocha-espresso tenor reed sound on alto.