Vandorens getting unbearable... solution: La Voz

[Razzy]

I have been having troubles over the past year with Vandoren tenor reeds getting significantly brighter than I remember them. I had been using blue box, ZZ, Java (not as much: tips go soft REAL fast) and V16 on tenor in 3 and 3.5 for about a year on my slant Tenney/Brian Powell 7* Link tone edge. I always struggled with the response and brightness of the reeds but it's been getting really bad lately and for the past three months or so I haven't been at all happy with my tenor sound. I also play on a Phil Tone 7* and have recently added a Ponzol M1 110 to the mix for the funkier/louder side of things. Same deal with these mouthpieces too.

I decided to buy some La Voz which I haven't played on tenor in years. I picked up a box of medium hards and played them on all three mouthpieces. HOLY KAZOW. This is the tenor sound I've been going for! Nice and dark and the reeds don't feel unduly hard regardless of the strength. I even got the Vandorens in 2.5 and 2 a few times with the same result: a reed that just felt too hard and stuffy. The La Voz have been serving me well for the past two weeks solid and I don't foresee it getting worse. I'm apt to pick up a bunch of boxes just in case this is a fluke harvest.

The Java 3's I've been using on alto for five or six years are still working fine, however. Still, I'm tempted to try them out on alto too just for the hell of it.

[gary]

Razzy, I play Vandoren blue box for classical but that's it with Vandorens. I haven't played the others for quite some time - I've been playing pretty much Rico products, with an ocassional Hemke or LaVoz. However, I just bought a box of LaVoz for alto; we'll see how it goes.

[tenor71363]

I have been having success(knock on wood) with Vandoren ZZ #3's with my metal V16 77 for about 4 months. I have no complaints. One thing I noticed is that the #3 ZZ alto reeds are stronger than the #3 ZZ tenor reeds.

[Paulsax]

Hi there i know what you mean with vandorens and i haven't used them for ten years because they were bad then aswell!!!! i use La Voz reed's on all four saxes and they are great and it's not often you get a non responsive one in the box, if you liked the tenor sound you'll like your alto sound as well, i use them on cluade lakeys with sop alto and tenor with a berg larsen bari.

[martysax]

I use V16s on my Dukoffs and LaVoz on my Links and Meyers. Lately I've switched to LaVoz on my Runyon Alto as well.

[SaxJazz12]

Hi Razzy--I've had the same experience. For the longest time, I played different varieties of Vandoren on tenor--V16, Java, ZZ. For the past year, I haven't been able to get them to work the way I'd like at all. There's something about them that is different, I can't quite put my finger on it. It's almost like the cane is different, or something.

Glad you've found success with the LaVoz.

[MM]

My solution has been Rico Select Jazz. They're not as good as good Vandorens have been in the past. But I haven't found good Vandoren reeds lately. LaVoz reeds wimp out too quickly for me. It could be difficulty finding the proper strength.

[Agent27]

I can't use Vandoren either, even on a Vandoren mouthpiece. On alto I use RJS for jazz and Hemke for Classical. I use LaVoz on tenor and Mitchell Lurie on clarinet.

Rico reeds FTW.

[Spongebob Saxpants]

I'm pretty much the opposite of what's been posted above. I've always used Vandorens for alto and soprano (ZZ's for both, with no bad reeds so far on soprano). On both alto and soprano, almost every reed from the box works first try very well. On clarinet, I also use Vandorens, but it is a lot harder to find reeds that work.

[Carl H.]

MH lavoz on everything except Eb Clar, unless I use synthetic.

[Rackety Sax]

Razzy, well done on the title of this thread.

What about RSJs?