Vandoren Alto Saxophone Reeds

When it comes to Vandoren reeds, when they are good, they play great and last a long time. When you have bad reeds, it is hard to play. Each box is very inconsistent when it comes to how many playable reeds there are in a box of 10. As a recent college saxophone graduate, I became more noticeable as to how unbalanced one reed might be. One side would be thicker than the other. In college, I learned how to adjust reeds with a reed knife and reed rush. I would suggest everyone learn this technique with Vandoren reeds. When I adjusted my reeds, I could get almost every reed in a box to play. Some reeds are still going to be hopeless. For the price, they are high quality reeds, but not all playable out of the box. I recommend these reeds to my students.

Ok, I have experienced all kinds of reeds: Chinese, Ricos, Vandorens, plastics, etc. So far, I found Vandoren Traditional to be the most consistent and reliable out of most reeds. The other Vandorens are more like specialties; traditional is just for everything. I lived with this reed (brand, of course) for my entire career of sax playing, and it helped me develop a thick embouchure (I use 4's now). This reed doesn't go too well with marching bands, since it doesn't produce a loud sound if your embouchure is in sync with the thickness. However, this reed is seriously recommended, because no reed is like it.

I tried the traditional Vandoren Alto Sax reeds about a year ago after doing research on different brands of reeds a couple of years ago and since then, I have played on this reed. It's reliable and the sound it gives me is excellent. I use them in combination with a Selmer Goldentone mouthpiece. Although the mouthpiece is made of plastic the sound I get out of this combination is amazing. The only thing I didn't like about the reeds is the fact that they are individually wrapped, not allowing me to pick out the good reeds from the bad ones.

These reeds are the best value for your money. It's true that not every reed will play right out of the box; I've yet to find a brand where I can play every reed right from the start. But these reeds are consistantly the best of any that I've tried. They have a very complete sound and a quick response that makes them easy to play and appealing to listen to. I reccomend these reeeds to all of my friends and play on them myself.

I first bought 100 Vandoren alto sax reeds last August for my son to use. He is now on his last 3 reeds,and I'm ordering again. Vandoren makes the best sax reed, and with the free shipping, I can provide my son with reeds for an entire year. It's a great deal.