Rico Royal

[MB-913]

May I know who is using Ric Royal for their soprano? How's the sound?

[-j.]

I've been using RR's #2 on my SA80II with a Super Session mpc (J facing) for about 3 years now. Unlike the RR's for tenor and alto, I find the soprano RR's very inconsistent in terms of both sound, response, and playability. When they're good, they're very good, with a big, full, warm sound (not ducky at all), but on average only about 2-3 reeds out of 10 will play well right out of the box; all the others need some tweaking, and most of those end up in the trash can. I am, by the way, one of those guys (and just a hobbyist, not a pro) who doesn't obsess about reeds -- on alto and tenor, I just slap on a RR and play, and almost all of the RR's are at least good enough for practice without tinkering with them. But *I* find that on *my* sop the variation in playability and sound is just too great, so I put in an order of different synthetic sop reeds just today, as a matter of fact.

A while ago, I tried Vandorens (can't remember which ones) and Brancher reeds too, but I stuck with the RR's because the others all gave me that confounded oboe sound. I hasten to add that this was early on in my soprano playing, so more than likely it was my embouchure too, that was at fault.

-j.

[SopranoSue]

I tried Rico Royals and didn't care for them. They didn't do anything for me. I prefer Hempke #2.5 and Fibracells to slap on and play when I don't feel like fussing with reeds...

[Dave Dolson]

MB: I use mostly Rico Royals on soprano (RR 2 on Super Session Js) and have for many years. I agree with -j. about their inconsistency (on all sizes for me) but when I find those 2 or 3 per box, they are worth every penny to me. I've also used Rico JazzSelects and Vandoren Java (I've tried 'em all - those are the brands I prefer most after RRs).

The sound is full - none of that boppish thinness for me. DAVE