No more Rico reserves for me!

[zxcvbnm]

I'm off of Rico reserves now, permanently. Why? Basically, if you take a new pack of Rico Reserves, 4 out of 5 of them will respond and sound fantastic immediately. But play those 4 reeds for a while and they will rapidly deteriorate much faster than a good vandoren. They are built to respond quickly and that's about it. Still, Rico is improving, as these Reserves are a huge leap from their old reeds. Just wanted to share that with you guyes

(BTW this is for alto. My teacher has a bunch of prototype soprano Reserve reeds that are apparently absolutely amazing)

[themacintrasher]

I'm off of Rico reserves now, permanently. Why? Basically, if you take a new pack of Rico Reserves, 4 out of 5 of them will respond and sound fantastic immediately. But play those 4 reeds for a while and they will rapidly deteriorate much faster than a good vandoren. They are built to respond quickly and that's about it. Still, Rico is improving, as these Reserves are a huge leap from their old reeds. Just wanted to share that with you guyes

(BTW this is for alto. My teacher has a bunch of prototype soprano Reserve reeds that are apparently absolutely amazing)
What are you moving to?

[cfbugsbunny]

Alexanders did that for me...and all for a very expensive price. I am back to Lavoz.

[Twombles62]

Well, the reserves are even more expensive than alexanders, so they should be good!

[Hammertime]

I also stopped using Rico, they didn't come with good reedguards and I just didn't like 'em.
Now using Vandoren, and they last so damn long...

[saintsday]

I would feel happy if 4 of 5 of the Reserves I bought played. Most La Voz play fine for me. The price differential makes it a no brainer.

[zxcvbnm]

Moved back to the old vandoren blue box 3's... classic.

[Jonathan C.]

those Blue Box 3's are my bread in butter (reed wise), Tenor/Alto they just get the job done. Kinda expensive though, ohh well isn't everything?

[3 Olives]

If anyone wants to sell their Alto Reserves in 2.5 LMK as I'll be happy to take them off your hands. Put one of these on a modern Meyer refaced by EZ and you won't care how long they last. It could be mostly the mouthpiece - but they produce a Fat, Round Sound!

[HSkid]

when i got my pack of rico reserves i did a visual inspection and found that one wasn't even cut properly, it was cut off center so i just put them away in some dark drawer.

[CooolJazzz]

Interesting....I've been using Rico Reserves on my alto for some time now and have yet to come across a reed that wasn't near perfect. I've been more than happy with them. I finally got my hands on a couple of boxes of Reserves for my soprano last week and the cut and finish on every reed was beautiful.
I'm not saying that they'll never let a few reeds slip through quality control that shouldn't have...but it hasn't happened to me yet. So far...Rico Reserves have been the best reeds I've ever used in my 30+ years of playing.

[zxcvbnm]

No, they are perfect out of the box, I agree. Like I said 4/5 played beautifully right out of the box, which was amazing. It's just that they deteriorate too fast for me. A 3.5 soon feels like a 3, and gains a thin buzzy quality I hate in my sound.

[SuperAction80]

No, they are perfect out of the box, I agree. Like I said 4/5 played beautifully right out of the box, which was amazing. It's just that they deteriorate too fast for me. A 3.5 soon feels like a 3, and gains a thin buzzy quality I hate in my sound.

I was going to tell you to go to the next step in reed strength, but if you're already using 3.5's...:shock:

I still use the Jazz Selects for alto, but I fell in love with the Alexander DC's for tenor. Then consistency issues with the DC's made me go to Vandorans. The Vandorans are like the best of the DC's, and last a long time. Their only downside is that it takes a while to break them in.

[SaxyJ]

Wow, really? When I was using the Rico Reserves, they had a similar life span to the Vandoren Classical reeds I used before them (6-7 months with 7 hrs of use a week). If you play them "right out of the box" without properly breaking them in, that could be the reason to why they may not be lasting as long as they should be.

[zxcvbnm]

Hey, 3.5 isn't too hard. I'm a classical player. I use 5's on my other mouthpiece, a metal goldbeck. I have tried 4's on my buescher piece, and they are much too hard, so I would play them to wear them down, but that would consist of me blowing just air through my horn for 3 days until I got them soft enough to make some kind of tone.

[zxcvbnm]

I used to do all that whatnot to break my reeds in, but eventually I got lazy and forgot to do it. I play the vandorens without breaking them in too.

[zxcvbnm]

But hey, my teacher agrees with me too, and he is a well known classical saxophonist and he helped design the Rico Reserves!

(that's how he has all the prototype soprano reeds)

[kerry]

I cant get my current plasticovers to last much over a week. I dont get it. I know have been playing everyday, but no more then 30min-2hr. They just feel thin after a weeks time and not stiff enough for good response and range. Maybe its time to step up on reed size.

Im thinking of going with some blue box vandorens myself, Im hearing some great things about them lately. Got me interested.

[zxcvbnm]

If you like the plasticover sound you might not like the Blue box very much. You've never tried a blue box :shock:???

[themacintrasher]

If you like the plasticover sound you might not like the Blue box very much. You've never tried a blue box :shock:???
Agreed, I don't play classical, and use La Voz for concert, band, because I have to use the same setup for jazz band. I use plasticovers on tenor, but not alto. Blue ox are bracingly the polar opposite of plasticovers.

[kerry]

I started on blue box nine years ago,played for the first 2 months and moved right to Alexander Dc's, used these for about 2 years after that, been on plasticover ever since. The plasticovers worked great, but it seams like there just not consistant like they used to be. Also, because I have developed over the years, I have become extremely loud with the plasticovers. Its a little rediculous, and Id like to back off a little. I also wouldnt mind the benifits of a nice warm sounding cane reed as my sound can be just a bit edgy and bright at times.

I liked the Alexanders, amazing tone, but every once in a while they sqeek for me. No other reed causes this.Ive heard others say the same about the Alexanders.

I guess I need to reed hunt some more, but the plasticovers were working, so I just stayed with them. They do produce some incredible altissimo's though. Just wish they were more consistant. I dont rmember this being a issue in the past, just kind of more and more every month. Even looking at them, a whole box can contain 5 reeds that all are cut bad. The hearts of the reed are very uneven, often off to one side, crazy! They also seam stuffy the first 1.5 days on 3/5 reeds!

[SuperAction80]

Hey, 3.5 isn't too hard. I'm a classical player. I use 5's on my other mouthpiece, a metal goldbeck. I have tried 4's on my buescher piece, and they are much too hard, so I would play them to wear them down, but that would consist of me blowing just air through my horn for 3 days until I got them soft enough to make some kind of tone.

I take it that your mouthpieces have fairly closed tips? If that's the case, then your stiffer reeds would make sense, especially for a classical player. My tip openings are decently open (6* or 7* Links), but not extreme. I'm pushing it whenever I use size 3 reeds with my setup. If I went to a 3.5 or 4, I'd probably pass out.:shock:

Very cool that you have a teacher who is that knowledgeable about reeds.

[zxcvbnm]

My metal goldbeck measures 0.0475

[Qsquared3]

what I'm wondering is how fast are these reserves deteriorating? because 4 out of 5 reserves are good and with Vandoren, I get on average 1.5 out of 5 that are good. I figure that if, in rotation, the reserves deteriorated twice as fast as Vandorens, the benefits would still outweigh the costs.

[matsuo]

I played Blue box's for a few years and got a box of reserves and I think the reserves are well worth it. I haven't gotten a single good vandoren in the last few boxes of blue box, and for jazz the same thing with Javas. I'm off vandoren now using reserves for classical and RJS for jazz. The reserves project better for me and keep a darker but focused tone, which I found blue box to lack.

[artursz]

I' ve used vandoren v16 reeds no. 3,5 on vandoren v16 piece A6. Suposed to be good but.... only one out of 5 played at all. It was wonderfull sound I must say, but only one.... The rest of the gang was a crap.
Now wanna try them rico reserve. What number do you suggest to buy? I have always used them blue boxed vandoren for a clasical music. Was preaty good. Now I play jazz, r&b, blues, soul I like Canonball Aderley kinda sound. Bought myself V 16 piece and with the lucky one V16 reed I loved my sound.
Are rico ok?
Are rico reserve briliant? They are dear sure.

[KevinSax]

man, I love the rico reserve. I feel like they are the improved vandoren blue box. A greater % are good too. I can find 1 killer vandoren reed in a box of but I'll find 3 in a reserve box. Reserves seem to last a good long while too, as if they age well