I too tested these reeds, but better I stay with Rico.

 

I too tested Gonzalez, but better I continue with Rico.

 

The Gonzalez are working great for me.
If I can't get them I would go to a Rico Jazz Select unfiled
as my second choice.

 

Well, I only have tried one gonzales reed so far, a Tenor 3, and I thought the sound was decent and somewhat comparable to a Vandoren Trad more or less. Unfortunately, after not that much play, the reed split right down the middle from nothing more than me running my thumb over it to soften it slightly when it was on the mouthpiece. I have never had that happen to any Rico, Van Doren, La Voz, or Hemke reed, and it really pissed me off considering what they cost here. I decided to stick with Java as a result.

 

Well, I only have tried one gonzales reed so far, a Tenor 3, and I thought the sound was decent and somewhat comparable to a Vandoren Trad more or less. . . .

I've had great success with Gonzalez, but with reeds, it's almost like asking "What's the best shoe size?" Ultimately, you have to go with what fits you. I also found the Gonzalez were similar to the Vandoren Traditional. If I wanted a brighter sound, I would use something else.

 

Gonzalez reeds are my #1 reeds for tenor and soprano saxes - For me, over VanDorens, Ricos, Grand Concerts ... you name it. They are harder than other reeds so, typically, if you are playing 3.0 in Ricos, go down to 2.5 or 2.25 strength on the Gonzalez reeds.

Having said the above, your mpc dictates your reed. Despite my comments above, there are some mpcs that just don't "do" Gonzalez reeds.

W.

 

After playing Gonzalez reeds for a while then switching to RJS, I found myself switching back about two weeks ago... Gonzalez is my first choice reed on Tenor. I get fairly long life out of them. For me they are a little more consistent then some of the others, and I just cant seem to get the fullness and richness out of any other reed like I can out of one of these... Think I am going to pay a visit to my tech tomorrow and get as many boxes of these as I possibly can. Not saying that they are all going to play or be good, but out of the two boxes I bought a few weeks back, I only got one dud out of both boxes. Cant remember the last time I got nine great playing reeds right out of the box. I think if I would compare them to anything, I would say it would be Rico Reserve. Reserves have the same kind of sound I think, but something about the Gonzalez that rings out just a little bit more... Until I find this kind of consistency, I think I am staying right here

 

Due to my more than positive experience with Gonzalez on clarinet, I decided to try them out on my saxophones... but haven't had much luck.

Several players here, including me, have said they like Gonzales on sax; but some people have had exactly the reverse of your experience:

I hope the sax reeds are as great as evryone here claims because they have to be the worst clarinet reeds I've ever tried.

Ended up giving some to other clarinet players and a few students to try and they all found the same thing. Really unbalanced reeds. Work ok if you go to town balancing them but even so, nowhere near as good as a vandoren on clarinet. ymmv

That's interesting. A clarinet player at the local music shop, although not as vehemently as you, also gave them a negative review.

 

A while back as I was going through some old reeds I had lying around,I came upon a couple of Gonzales 2.5's. I tried them and found them to be far better than any reed I had ever played on that particular mouthpiece (Ponzol M2 100).Taking into consideration that these reeds were a couple of years old and had been broken in,I decided to order some 2.25's. I tried them and they played just slightly harder than a blue box 2. So now I'm thinking I should have gone with the 2.5's. I get the 2.5's and think I've got it made. The 2.5's play almost as hard as a blue box 3. From this somewhat limited experience it seems to me that there is in reality .75 difference in strength between reeds that are labeled only .25 different. The good news(not for me-I won't be buying any more Gonzales) is that 4 out of five in each box are players,but just not the proper strength. I thought that the purpose for having quarter strengths was to be able to really nail down the perfect strength,but that does not seem to be the case with gonzales.

 

. . . The 2.5's play almost as hard as a blue box 3. From this somewhat limited experience it seems to me that there is in reality .75 difference in strength between reeds that are labeled only .25 different. The good news(not for me-I won't be buying any more Gonzales) is that 4 out of five in each box are players,but just not the proper strength. I thought that the purpose for having quarter strengths was to be able to really nail down the perfect strength,but that does not seem to be the case with gonzales.

I've had a similar experience to Bozman, although I have a somewhat different take on it. I find the Gonzalez reeds to be about 1/4 strength harder than the Vandoren Traditional. But the Gonzalez are very consistent. I get 4 to 5 players out of a box of five, and I love the tone and response. So I just dial in the strength I want for a particular mouthpiece and go.

Admittedly, this can be an expensive process of trial and error to get started. The Gonzalez people could probably do themselves and everyone else a big favor by publishing a reed strength comparison chart, as some of their competitors do (e.g., Rico, Fibracell).

 

I also switched a while ago to gonzales 2.25 reeds on tenor. I came from Vandoren V16s 2.5 and ZZs. Never looked back since. Before the Vandorens I played Rico Royals for years until they went down in quality.
The gonzales reeds last forever. I´m rotating 5 reeds since almost a year and I play alot.

 

In my experience, Gonzalez reeds are consistent, durable, and have a good sound. I use them on alto, bari and clarinet, but rarely on tenor. For me they are very smooth and on the darker side.

 

It's nice to see a fair amount of users with some good results on these reeds. I tried them on clarinet also, but this was going back a few yrs.. I did not like them on clarinet and share the same opinion with a few other users that have played them on clarinet too.. Very hard, unfocused sound, lots of resistance, and I had to work these reeds to really get them to play. Even when I did find a half way decent reed, I still had to put too much prep work into making them play... Not so with the Tenor reeds... I usually play 3.5 with any other brand, or if I am on RJS then it's a 3M or 3 H... With Gonzalez I reintroduced myself with a 3 and I like the 3's a lot.. They seem just slightly hard and I find they take a while to break in. I will probably be using 2 3/4 or 3.. I do as I stated earlier, love their playability and the richness of sound I get out of them. I dont remember why I stopped using them when I did

 

I use the 2.5 on alto or tenor and clarinet. They produce a good sound and are a decent price. I know people paying a lot more for reeds and they are struggling to find consistency and/or the tone doesn't last. Gonzalez last very well and the odd reed that doesn't blow too well usually just needs a little scraping to make it good.

I don't know if they are the best reed, but for me they are the best compromise.

 

Moved up to 3.5 Gonzales on alto and they play fine. Also got the tenor reeds working - I noticed they're just a little wide for my C* so I filed down the sides and it gave it the focus and resonance that was missing before. Easily the best reeds I've played on sax.

 

Hey All,
Count me in as a Gonzalez fan. I made the switch from synthetics and I'm glad I did. There is truth in that there is a certain sweetness from cane that you just can't get from a synthetic. Fellow band mates have noticed the difference and have noted how full my sound has become since I made the switch. As others have noted, these seem to last a lot longer than other brands and also the consistency in each box and between boxes has so far been outstanding. Out of 8 boxes that I have purchased (both alto and tenor), there might have been 2 reeds that I would consider sub par. But with a little work they fall right in line. I can't argue with that rate of success.
Here's hoping it continues!
Oscar

 

Maybe we should'nt be sharing our "secret" about how outstanding these reeds are.. Soon enough with everyone playing on them, there is bound to be a shortage of them somewhere down the line.... SHHHHHH !

 

2 choices in life. Give or Not? Give!

 

Does anyone know how they compare to a Java or Rico Select Jazz? I play 3.5 and 3H of each, respectively. Should I buy a 3 1/4, or 3 even?
Thank you!

 

A Gonzo 2.5 reed is similar to a RSJ 3S.

 

I came off 3 H with RJS and have been using Gonzalez 3's for now... I might work my way up just a little more, but then again, not sure.. These reeds just dont seem to soften too much in time like everything else does...

 

just to make sure I wasn't jumping the gun,I have played some more on both the 2.25 and 2.5 Gonzales tenor reeds since my previous post on this thread. I stand by my original conclusion that at least for these two boxes of reeds that I have,there is much more than a quarter of a strength difference. Bottom line-I can't use any of these reeds. The 2.25's are just a little too soft(but still too soft to make them usable for me) and the 2.5's are way too hard. I will agree that they don't soften up very much at all after quite a bit of playing. I really had high hopes for these reeds based on how well a couple of 2.5's that I had lying around that led me to want to try these reeds again. I can tell that these are really good reeds but even with quarter strength increments,I can't nail down a strength that's right for me. It actually has me wondering if one or the other of the boxes was mislabeled. Not sure if I want to spend another $15 to find out.

btw,at least from my experience a 2.25 Gonzales is much softer than a RJS 3S or even a 2H. Not much harder than a 2M. The 2.5's with 4 hrs playing time on them are still considerably harder than a Vandoren 2.5 straight out of the box.

 

Man I just had my first blow on a Gonzalez 2.5, coming from RJS 2H/3S....the Gonzalez KICKS BUTT! I feel WAY more comfortable pushing them than the RJS's. And the sound is much easier to control, more centered, and a little "buzzier", but it a good jazz way. Plus these reeds aren't all that expensive compared to some of the others. Count me in as a fan, these are awesome.

 

The Gonzales cane is fabulous!

They don't play out of the box for me, it has to do purely with the cut. I buy #3 soprano reeds and adjust them to somewhere around a 2.5. But I don't like the 2.5s much... I tweak them to get the best out of them.

Its sad how many millions of reeds get thrown out each year that would be perfectly great if they were just gently tweaked. You simply can't depend on some reed manufacturer to make you the ideal reed, no matter how fine the sizes get (3S, 3M, 3H, etc).

 

...
Its sad how many millions of reeds get thrown out each year that would be perfectly great if they were just gently tweaked. You simply can't depend on some reed manufacturer to make you the ideal reed, no matter how fine the sizes get (3S, 3M, 3H, etc).

Amen! Taking the time to learn how to adjust your reeds is a much more sustainable approach...although I'd encourage more than gentle tweaking. How do you know the limits of what adjustments can do unless you go too far and ruin a few reeds? Teal's charts are a great starting point and Larry Guy's Selection, Adjustment, and Care of Single Reeds is great for additional techniques. My "keepah" rate is 4-out-of-5 for any manufacturer's reed that I buy.

You just need a little determination to get through the first few catastrophes, then you can learn how to get the most out of your reeds from any manufacturer. :bluewink2:

 

I was using Vandoren 2.5 on a Selmer S80 E soprano mouthpiece.
Now I am trying a new mouthpiece (Selmer metal C**), and today I bought a box of Gonzalez #2.75 and another of #3, just to try a harder reed.
Today I was playing #3 and the results were far better than expected. I liked the reeds a lot. My next box will be a little harder than #3, just to push a little more, but I think #3 is perfect.
Thumbs up to Gonzalez Reeds!.

 

Here is something I have noticed.

Vandoren reeds tend to have smaller individual strands which I think are more tightly bunched together. Rico, particularly the Royals and the orange box tend to have larger individual strands which seem to be a little more loosely bunched.

Try this:

When a reed is brand new take the butt end of the reed (yeah I know) into your mouth, close your mouth like a double lip embouchere around it and try to blow air through the strands. Try this on both a Rico and a Vandoren back to back and tell me your findings. Which is more resistant?

 

On Tenor, I didn't like them, actually, I was a bit disappointed. It is true that every reed in the box plays differently. Out of the 5, only one was good for a concert, one was too hard maybe and was stuffy, one was bright and had a nasty buzz like a synthetic, one was just a complete dud, another sounded okay, but it wasn't rich and full and had a buzz like a synthetic. But the price is really good for it. Maybe I had a bad box or so, but I'm not trying these again since they are a tad too bright for my tastes.

 

I have had the reverse expierience, gonzalez now showcases a reed strength chart on their site which is very accurate. I switched from Vandoren Traditionals which were all over the place in sound, also the strengths would vary dramatically from reed to reed.

Although everyone has their brand that is best for them, the consistency I have gotten from Gonzalez reeds have been the best so far.

 

My first box of Gonzalez 2.5's were perfect, strength right on and 5 of 5 playable. The subsequent boxes have been harder, more like a VD Trad. 3, and need to be tweeked. Once broken in and adjusted they play very well. I get a long life out of them. I'm wondering if they've changed or recalibrated their strength gauges since the last 15 or 20 reeds are at least a 1/2 strength harder than my first boxes?

 

Of all the worthless reed comparison charts I've seen,I must say the one on the Gonzalez site is the most worthless of them all. Complete misinformation from top to bottom. Why did they even bother?