Just tried RSJ and Sup. DC

[saxmanjack]

What's the deal with these DC's? To people actually use these?
Very stuffy, with half the sound. Probably buy the RSJ again, but the DC
were a wasted $15...

[Gregg W. Jackson]

I've used Alexander Superial DC's and I think that a lot of other people have too.

What strength are your DC's and your Rico Select Jazz reeds?

Are your Rico Select Jazz reeds filed or unfiled?

How did you break in the DC's?

[Kosma]

Over the last year or so, I've used several boxes each of RJS, Alexanders, and Zonda. I like all of them, but only get 2 or 3 players per box. Then I bought a box of rico royal and so far every one has played great out of the box. With the "designer" reeds I seem to get quite a few that are too stiff. Often that means stuffy. On the alexanders: the good ones play like a dream.

[Ritchie]

Of course there are variations in strength in any box. If too many reeds in a box are stuffy or too hard, try the next softer size. Or use some sand paper or reed rush, or Bootman's reed drilling process.

From my personal experience, I tried DC reeds on tenor, #3, but prefer the brighter sound of the Superials (still topped by Vandoren V16 at the moment, on a NY Link). On soprano I like the darker sound of the DC reeds very much, playing 2,5 on a hard rubber Otto Link 8*.

For Rico Royals I found, they become soft quite quickly. RJS, Vandoren, Alexander, all last much longer.