[jd9542]

I'm looking for reeds to play on my bari sax. I have a yamaha mouthpiece and would like to have a good compromise between dark and bright since i play both jazz band and concert band. Any suggestions?

 

[guido]

Rico Jazz Selects un-filed might be a place to start.

 

[bandmommy]

I have 2 favorites to use on my 5C. Hemke or Rico orange box in a 2/2.5.
Both are good 'all around' reeds.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Rico are very good.

 

[pc1234]

Another vote for plain old Ricos in the orange box - great all-around reed for bari in particular.

 

[Metalflake]

I'm using Vandoren ZZ 3's, which work very well for concert band and would be killer for jazz too.

 

[retread]

No matter what reeds I try, I always come back to LaVoz. Good consistency and playability, and the sound I'm looking for on my Link HR.

 

[Finnerski]

I found some old Rico brown box 3's on ebay a while ago for a really cheap price and they are incredible. I too like the La Voz for the modern reeds.

 

[jd9542]

Thanks for the tips. Every sax player in my high school band and my director swear by vandorens and hate ricos. Are the Ricos better quality with the bari reeds? Also does anyone know about the primos by selmer?

 

[retread]

Rico's various brands are good reeds for any size sax or clarinet. Vandoren reeds are good, as are Gonzalez, Alexander and many others. For some reason there seems to be a legend among school-age players that Vandoren is the only reed to play. I guess that's easier than trying reeds and making their own individual judgement -- kind of like teen fashion trends.

 

[bandmommy]

In my opinion Vandoren reeds are almost crap.
I used them for a while on clarinet and sax but went back to Rico Orange box for bari, Hemke for alto and tenor, and Mitchel Lurie for clarinet. I believe Hemke and Lurie are both distributed by Rico Reeds.
Basically I got sick and tired of having to adjust nearly every reed in the box to get it to play the way I wanted.

 

[SveinJo]

I have played Vandoren, LaVoz and Rico, but mostly they start to choke after one hour of band practice. Thus, I mostly use Fibracell in band practice sessions. Concerts are usually short enough for cane...

 

[DJ Mix]

Thanks for the tips. Every sax player in my high school band and my director swear by vandorens and hate ricos. Are the Ricos better quality with the bari reeds? Also does anyone know about the primos by selmer?

The Vandoren over Rico is one of those weird dogmatic saxophone fallacies, especially among students and band directors.
In my experience on baritone, I prefer plastic BARI over cane, believe it or not. It works well with my set up, and sounds much clearer.
Your mileage may vary.

 

[MyMartinTenor]

I use Rico reeds exclusively these days. Students and band directors are not the final judges of quality.

On bari, I'm using 3H Rico Jazz Select. I play baritone reeds on tenor also, Rico Orange Box 4's. 'course I'm just a blues player, so what do I know?

 

[Little Sax]

I use Legere on Bari and I'm very happy with them.

 

[PaulGH]

I'm using Legere right now, but I'm going back to cane once the bari is off of the repair bench. Legere is a great way for me to practice, and I suspect I'll still use it for 1/2 of my playtime, but now that I can hear the difference in my sound between that and rico orange box, I know that I wouldn't perform with the legere. Consistent though it is, it is consistently 80% of the sound I want. Cane varies from 20% to 95% out of the box (approximately unifromly distributed), but that means that 20% of the reeds will outperform my legere, and I want that for performing, even if it is just for my wife and family.

 

[spike421]

It's interesting, about Band Directors and Van Doren. I play with a retired band director (he plays alto & clarinet). He is continually praising and recommending Van Doren reeds and mouthpieces. Obviously, Van Doren does a really good marketing job to those folks. As far as my choice, Rico Royals. They seem more flexible and better on the bottom end than Orange Box, or anything else I've tried, possibly because they are a "french cut."

 

[KristenMarieMcKeon]

(From Rico's Product Specialist)--

Rico's have come quite a long way in the past 8 years. Rico Reeds (including, Orange Box, Rico Royal, Hemke, Lurie, Select Jazz, Reserve, Reserve Classic, Plasticover, Grand Concert Select, and La Voz) are all better now then you may have ever remembered. D'Addario purchased Rico in 2004 and invested millions in our CA facility. Though many are still quite dogmatic about Vandoren being superior to Rico, it simply isn't the case anymore. You have options! It can be confusing because there are so many; however, it's really a matter of what cut feels and sounds the best to you! Let that be the guiding decision making factor...sound and feel....not the name.

I will say that from a consistency standpoint (this coming from a player who used Vandoren for 10 years, and now loves Rico), Rico is unmatched.

 

[Dagvei]

Hahn Reeds (synthetic) are said to be perhaps the most used synth reed for bari sax.............

 

[kfoster]

Give a LaVoz medium or medium hard a try. I've used these on Bari in situations from university chamber music through electric funk group with different mouthpieces and baritone saxophones. mouthpieces have ranged from old style pickle barrel types - Selmer c* - Berg Larsons, both metal and hard rubber - Meyers - and Rico Metalites. For me, it has been a simple solution that seems to get the job done. It is also quite easy to source the reeds when needed.