Customer Reviews

Vandoren Traditional Bb Clarinet Reeds #2.5, Box of 10

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought these reeds with a brand new Selmer prelude clarinet hoping I could teach myself to play the clarinet and get the nice tone I wanted.

BUT then I was afraid that I made a wrong purchase because I've been hearing that Vandorens are harder to play on and that they're actually half a strength harder than the other brands so I also purchased 2.5 and 2.0 Rico Royal reeds. 2.0 just sounded so buzzy. 2.5 was okay but it felt too soft on my mouth and looking at my tuner, the notes came out a bit flat. I finally decided to open my 2.5 strength Vandorens (and it is true that it is thicker and stiffer by a very very veeeery small margin) and after wetting the reed for about a minute in my mouth, it sounded so great! I played a perfectly pitched full scale the very very first time I tried it! I've had the clarinet for an hour and the Vandorens on for 15 minutes and I've picked up basic tunes already.

These reeds are very easy to work with, and they also maintain a good quality sound. For beginners this is an excellent purchase, though as time goes on of course you have to switch to higher reeds.

These are $34.00+tax here where I live. Can't beat this price, even on ebay. I will continue to buy them here for my daughter. These are a big upgrade from the Rico's she started with last year. Thank you Amazon for making music affordable.

My son is now an intermediate clarinet player, and we have been using the Vandorens for a while, and we will most likely stick with them. The unfortunate thing is that the quality of the reeds vary greatly from one reed to another, even within the same box of 10 reeds. This is not unique to Vandorens but with all the other reeds too, from what I hear from expert level players. To deal with varying quality of the reeds, what we have been doing is opening up several reeds at a time, then putting them in a cup of warm water, then having my son play with them for several minutes at a time. Inevitably he can pick out which reeds play the best immediately. Then we label these reeds by marking the back of the reed with a sharpee 1, 2, 3 or 4 stars. We would do this over time with all 10 reeds until all the reeds are categorized. What we have also learned is that over time, some reeds take a bit of "breaking in" period, so it may have to be upgraded from a 2* to 3* or 4*, and other previously highly rated reed may be downgraded over time. Hope this helps.

I have played clarinet for 7 years and these are the best reeds I have ever used. I have played several brands and types but this is MY REED. I will never use any other reed again. I have a few people that I tutor and these are the reeds I start them on. These are the best reeds I have found in regards to response and playability!

slightly softer reed great for the beginner ombuchure. Once your ombuchure has developed then you can move on the the V-12's . good value and good consistant sound.

These are half the price on Amazon as they are in our local music shop. Great for the beginning of the school year!

thanks so much for the fast service and quality product. always a pleasure