Not the reed. You need to find the right mouthpiece for that. Certain reeds are edgier than others, but it's the mouthpiece that controls the majority of the timbre. Try a vintage goldbeck or other large chamber low baffle mouthpiece. Or just play a euphonium. Treble Clef Baritones play in the treble clef in Bb like tenor saxes so their music is compatible

 

Mouthpiece choice will help more than reed choice. But explore reeds first since they are less $ to try. The synthetic Legere reed is dark.

 

+1 on the Legere. I've recently found that pairing this reed with a Jody Jazz DV and found the nearly perfect mix for me as a soloist.

 

Try Marca Superiore if you can find them. The harder the reed, the better.

 

I agree. The darkest I have tried. And very responding with a full core sound.

 

I love a "dark" sound, and I find it is best to avoid the "jazz" reeds as these tend to be bright, certainly avoid the ZZ reeds Be careful not to confuse a stuffy reed with a dark reed, you still need a bit of edge

I find good old Rico Royals have a nice rich tone, and are cheap enough for you to rifle through for the very best ones (5 out of a box of 10). I have been dissapointed with the Blue Box Vandorens, but the V16's are good, but no more consistent and much more $$$

I normally play on RR 3's, and have been trying a box of Alexander DC's in 3's recently and have a love hate thing with them, too inconsistent for me. I also have a box of Alexander NY's in a 2.5 but these are a big disappointment, the 3 reeds I have tried have died within half an hour, and the initial tone is stuffy. The alexanders seem very prep fussy, and I don't have the time to break them in, in rotation, as they suggest.

I think I will go back to the rico royals, great reeds....

 

The darkest reeds I've seen are Rico Plasticovers, Vandoren Black Master, titanium reeds, and the grape flavoreeds.

 

Very Good

 

Chunsoo,

Darker sounding reeds usually have a thick-cut profile in which there is more "wood" in the heart of the reed. This is typical of reeds that are considered to be for classical playing. If you do a search on classical saxophone reeds you should be able to compile a list of good suggestions. Besides Vandoren Traditional, Alexander Classique is a good choice. Personally, I'm not a fan of Hemke reeds. It's been my experience that they tend to give out faster than other reeds I've used. Gonzales and Marca reeds are made from exceptionally high quality cane. If a synthetic reed can interest you, I've come to like Legere reeds (regular version...not the studio cut). With a well-matched set up, Legere can have a stunningly beautiful dark and resonant sound.

All of that said, I agree with Mojo about mouthpieces having a larger influence on your sound than reeds. For a dark, rich sound, a good mouthpiece to try is one with a large round chamber and a small amount of baffle. I HIGHLY recommend the Morgan 6C. It's a great mouthpiece. The 6C's sound is dark, "ringing", and extremely resonant.

Good luck!

Roger

 

Vandoren Blue Box, Marca (great reeds and very underated), Zonda(I use strength 2B as they tend to come out a bit firmer on average. They also last and seem almost warp proof). Also La Voz for a nice breathy tone.

 

I like Masterpiece from French American Reed Co. Very good finishing,old family business since 1939,20usd for box of 5 shipping inc.

 

I'm surprised no one has suggested working on getting a round classical sound using the current set up.
Thousands of saxophonists have used a 'classical' set up for Jazz, why not try the reverse.
Spend a little extra time trying to 'shape' your sound. With work it CAN be done.

 

It would still have to depend on what jazz setup you have. Try as you might, I'm not sure anyone could get a legit sound out of a high baffled Dukoff. Jody Jazz has (or had) a clip on his site of somebody playing classical music on a DVNY alto piece and while it wasn't bad, it still didn't sound like a traditional classical tone to me. And while I can play "classically" style wise on a jazz setup, if I had ever played that in front of my teacher in college he'd run for the door with his hands cupped over his ears. I was always too bright for his purist tastes even on my darkest classical setup.

 

I highly doubt chunsoo is playing on a Dukoff or DVNY.
I really think that the current set up may be adequate for classical.
What did those old Jazzers use before the invention of the so called "Jazz" mouthpieces and reeds?

Sometimes I think many young players are just to stinkin' lazy to work on refining their sound.
Always asking 'What mouthpiece, What reed has the Ju-Ju for Classical/Jazz?'

Long hours in the shed with your horn, using your ears, experimenting with what you have...
THAT'S how you get that 'Classical' or that 'Jazz' sound you're looking for.
No shortcuts, no miracles, just hard work.

At least that's how I was taught....

 

What did those old Jazzers use before the invention of the so called "Jazz" mouthpieces and reeds?

Sometimes I think many young players are just to stinkin' lazy to work on refining their sound.
Always asking 'What mouthpiece, What reed has the Ju-Ju for Classical/Jazz?'

Long hours in the shed with your horn, using your ears, experimenting with what you have...
THAT'S how you get that 'Classical' or that 'Jazz' sound you're looking for.
No shortcuts, no miracles, just hard work.

At least that's how I was taught....

Amen sister.

 

:shock: As always, Mother's always right...

 

I played my DV NY on a classical tune I had from a while ago, and the one thing that I liked about it more than the old pieces I used (4R and such) was that it had a much quicker response. The 16th note runs on Ireland: Of Legend and Lore sounded a lot better than they used to . Well enough of my side spur on this thread.

Its the style of the player, not the reed/mpc . Gotta control that jazz embouchure.

 

In my experience with an s80 C* in order of dark to bright, legere, vandorin blue, rico reserve, gonzlas, a better question is what kind of sound do you want classical or jazz who do you want to sound similar to. houlik plays Alexander superial, but he's crazy good.

 

Poor Chunsoo. He asked a fairly innocuous question almost a year ago, and now he's getting beat up for it. He didn't even say he wanted it for classical music.

 

Chunsoo is a good kid. I wouldn't beat up on him on purpose.
Someone revived this thread and started the war...

I apologise for going all "Mommy-like".

 

What about LaVoz and Hemeke's?

 

I was just playing Duke's Mood Indigo(Hal Leonard)My Tenor is a beauty Japan 90's yts 23,With a recent pro set-up.I have a great older Berg Larsen 90/2 sms,used to be gold over stainless and I have a 2R rovner lig with my "Masterpiece" 2 1/2.My set up is the start but I also put of lot of concentration into air flow and even change the mouthpiece position as I am playing to put out that dark sound.Bottom line,set up+style+right material(Duke rules!)=A dark sound as nice to play, as it is to listen to.I will put up a video of this on youtube in the next few days-search mranglosaxman for my current videos,all are my old Chinese"Mendini" and a 10m(1937) I briefly owned.

 

I tried the Hemkes at the recommendation of my teacher when I was trying to darken down my YTS-21. They did make it darker, and generally seemed to play well, but I sold the horn before I got a long-term impression.

 

Alexander Classique

 

I play Hemke and they sound really dark (IMO).

 

1) Rico Orange Box
2) Gonzalez

 

A. The reed I had on my mpc Monday night.

 

Vandoren Trad.
Hemke
González

Harder<=>Darker

 

Blue box vandoren reeds are good, dark reeds.
If you get a strong enough embouchure, and you get into the upper strenghts (3 and up) of the Vandoren Blue box, you can get great reeds.
However, though I've enjoyed them greatly, the quality does vary. I'd say about half the reeds they make are good.
The lower strenghts of vandoren are not as impressive.
Rico royals is what a certain friend of mine would recomend. Give them a spin too. I'm going to.

 

Good advice, thank you for posting. I have been extremely dissapointed with Rico Royals after going thru 2 boxs without maybe 1 reed that worked. I have never experienced anything like that that can actually stop notes from sounding altogether. I thought my low end was out on my tenor for 2 months until I put on a Java Red cut 2 and low and behold, the low end returned, the response was incredible, and not with the built in brightness that so many supposed 'pro' reeds are coming with.

In regards to Rico Royal, bad year for cane last year, in combination with the fact that they do not hand select their reeds and use inferior cane. I am done with Rico Royals, so done after twenty years of RR #3 and Lavoz med hard, and I don't know what to think of Lavoz med hard's anymore.

I recently found an old RR 3 1/2 I put away a few years ago that had the stickes on them and it played like a 'hot damn'. Rico sure has went downhill.

I have never been able to play Vandorens in the past but am going to have to start trying other things. And NO, I do not, and hopefully never will play on a synthetic reed again. I can't see how others do and care about their sound. But I guess if you play rock and use a mic, doesn't matter then.

I liked some of the Marcas I tried. Didn't like the built in brightness of Gonzalas or Alexanders.

I have been playing for 25 years and have went through lots of pro mouthpieces, now it is the reeds I am finally starting to look at closely, for response, intonation (esp in the palm key) and, yes, tonal color, which has been thought to only be changed by mouthpieces, horns and the oral cavity.

Oh yeh, you have to break in the Vandoren Reds to get past that 'built in buzzy' sound. Why the add-ons on reeds, can't they just make something that plays and does not try and alter your tone!!! Once I got past the intial break in, the response of the reeed was fantastic. I have only tried one so far, so it could have just been a fluke. The reed lasted along time (with soaking everyime to bring back to life) and stayed dark.

1923 Conn New Wonder tenor, Otto Link metal no USA Florida Link, Vandoren JAVA Red's 2 S, COUF 4* Special (La Voz med hards for the COUF)