Customer Reviews

Vandoren Java Alto Saxophone Reeds #3, Box of 10

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I tried a JAVA reed for the first time nearly a month ago. Before, I was using blue box Vandoren reeds, and let me tell you now that there is a world of difference between the two. The JAVA reeds are brighter in overall sound, and responsive nature, due to the larger area of vibration, is remarkable. These reeds will produce a full sound that you can control with ease. Due to their bright sound, they are definitely more suited for jazz, but I use them in our symphonic band as well. I find that the size 3 is also remarkable in itself. The size allows for great tone, and control. Altissimo comes out nicely as well as the lows. If you are looking for a brighter sound that is void of all airiness and responds immediately, this is the reed for you.

On a side note, the mouthpiece that is most likely suited for this reed is, first off, the Vandoren JAVA line of mouthpieces, but another brand that works astoundingly well is the JodyJazz Classic (7). It's jazzy tone with a jazz mouthpiece is only defined by its own sound.

I hope this review helped you, and once again, these reeds are great!

Conventional wisdom is that Vandoren's Java reeds are strictly for jazz playing; however, that's not really the case. I play a Yamaha YAS-62 and use old, refaced 1950s and 1960s, big round-chamber King and Conn mouthpieces. And that's for jazz and classical playing. On that type of mouthpiece, I find the more conventional Vandoren reeds to be too bright sounding, and actually greatly prefer the Javas for classical playing. There's a roundness and depth and lack of sizzle that, in my experience, is far more flexible than what is possible with Vandoren's other styles of saxophone reeds.