which vandaron is more consistant.

benjamin1979 · 04-21-2003, 04:53 AM

which one do u guys think is more consistant ? java, trad or v16?
i get 2 to 4 good reeds per ten. is vandoran really that bad or i always bad luck?

Buster · 04-21-2003, 11:29 AM

I have never had a bad reed in a box of Vandorens. Every now and then one is a little stuffy(hard) but a little scrape with a blade sorts that out. I prefer the blue box reeds as I use a bright mouthpiece and both Javas and V16s are a bit bright. I tend to switch between Vandoren 3 and RJS 3M.

singlereed · 04-21-2003, 01:28 PM

I have found the V16s and Traditionals to be consistent. I've had a few bad Javas in the couple of boxes I've bought, but then I don't like them much

Cameron Wigmore · 04-21-2003, 02:38 PM

There seems to be a common misconception that when a reed doesn't play it's the reeds fault and the reed alone is to blame. The thing is, if your mouth doesn't interact with your mouthpiece in the right way for that mouthpiece, you'll get a lot of "bad reeds". Some mouthpieces are what I would call 'picky'. Others are better made, and most reeds will work just fine. Not a lot of people are aware of this situation. While there are some reeds that just plain suck out of the box, you should not be getting half of your reeds unplayable. It's your mouthpiece and/or the mouthpiece/reed interface.

woodwindmaster06 · 04-21-2003, 03:12 PM

ZZs are the most consistent

benjamin1979 · 04-21-2003, 04:50 PM

is the vandoran zz really that good? i hard alot of bad comments for that reed. today i got a box of v16 2.5. i tried 2 piece luckily is fine for me. i'm playing with my yani metal #7 alto. i heard this mpc not picky for reed.

normally those reed which dont work for me is the strenght consistancy. but i tried to shave or cut but it make it worse. any tips??

woodwindmaster06 · 04-21-2003, 04:52 PM

I love ZZ's

MB-913 · 07-11-2003, 06:06 PM

For me, ZZ sounds between traditional & Java (but not same with V-16).

If your MPC has a dark sound, wants to add some edge & brilliance tone. Then Z should be a nice choice.

benjamin1979 · 07-13-2003, 06:37 PM

ok, i might give it a try.

MM · 07-14-2003, 06:25 AM

Does anyone play the ZZ on alto? They don't seem to work for me. Bu I've had some great ones for tenor.

colibri · 07-14-2003, 06:55 AM

I never liked them on alto. They were very good when they first came out. However the last box that I bought a couple of weeks ago only had 3 that worked. The rest of them were either too buzzy or too stuffy.

MB-913 · 07-17-2003, 06:43 AM

It's strange for me to use ZZ reed because I found this problem:

1) On alto - Beechler Beelite Metal #6 + ZZ reed 2.5
It spend me much more air when using ZZ reed. I feel the reed very hard (I tried one box already)

2) On tenor - Vandoren V-16 (T-75) + ZZ reed 2.5
I feel much comfortable & less air than alto.

Can anybody give me some idea, why does it happen because my V-16 is more open than my Beechler Metal. Means it should spend more air.

It it because V-16 is more width than the Beechler - When the tip is narrow, it need to focus more air. If so, if I switch to #7 Beechler, will it be help?

colibri · 07-17-2003, 06:55 AM

Because tenor has less resistance than alto.

MM · 07-21-2003, 08:00 AM

Well, there's no reason to assume the ZZ #2.5 reeds are the same equivalent strength, say compared to a Java or a Rico Royal, for both alto and tenor sax.

Also, to me and some others, the alto ZZ reeds seem unresponsive and hard to blow--maybe Vandoren's alto ZZ cut is just not a good one.

No Clever Name · 07-25-2003, 07:23 AM

I, for one, love ZZ's on my alto (Beechler S7S). Kinda buzzy like la voz's, but richer like vandorens... perfect. And, they are much more consistant than La Voz or Java's.

Razzy · 07-25-2003, 09:06 PM

Agreed, I play ZZ 3's on both alto and tenor (meyer 5m and 6m respectively) and find them to play great and be very consistent. The BIG sound I've always been looking for. To me they seem to run a bit softer than the other Vandorens.

Big Nick · 07-25-2003, 09:21 PM

Perhaps it's just me but I've always found all Vandorens to be completely crap.
So, yes, they're very consistent.

Razzy · 07-26-2003, 01:12 AM

My experience is that they're unforgiving when it comes to embouchure, thus as my embouchure improved, they sounded a lot better for me. But the real issue is that we get all the bad ones over here. Actual French vandorens are amazing.