Vandoren ZZ

No - Unless you're playing an extremely light reed on a closed facing the ZZ's should play altissimo as well as any other reed. You may want to try the V16 - there are supposed to be designed with a thinker tip to enhance altissimo (But this may simply be hype)

Could be but I will try it. Got to see if the reed works for me

I had mostly disliked ZZ's. But they're the best thing so far for a different alto mpc I started playing recently.

ZZ's seem to respond particularly well in the altissimo register for me. They do tend to run softer, so you maybe it's a strength issue?

-Dan

dstack79 said:

ZZ's seem to respond particularly well in the altissimo register for me. They do tend to run softer, so you maybe it's a strength issue?

-Dan

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Well i been using 3 1/2 and nothing comes out. But on a La Voz Meduim it comes perfectly

I'm getting easy altissimo on virtually all of my tenor mouthpieces using ZZ 3.5 reeds. They do run a little soft, however.

texacan said:

Well i been using 3 1/2 and nothing comes out. But on a La Voz Meduim it comes perfectly

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Have you tried several ZZ's or just a few? Do the 3.5's feel too hard? That'd seem to be a lot different than a LaVoz Medium. Sometimes if one overdoes the harder reed thing, altissimo can be harder. You might actually want to try dropping down to a #3 on the ZZ if you decide you really like them.

I too have no problems with altissimo using ZZ's, I play on 3's

I have problems with those too. If they arent positioned exactly right on your mouthpiece, the air won't go through, and the sound becomes awful. You have to really get them moist to make them work too. IT takes forever to break it in, and they are quite frusturating. But if you get the conditions exactily right, then they have a beautiful sound trust me.

I've been playing the ZZ's exclusively on alto for about a year now and really love them for both jazz & contemporary playing on both mouthpieces. Everybody is right, they are a bit softer than the blue box Vandorens. Check a reed strength chart against what worked for you in the past and then try and match it if you're really interested in evaluating the reed's sound against the others.

dstack79 said:

Have you tried several ZZ's or just a few? Do the 3.5's feel too hard? That'd seem to be a lot different than a LaVoz Medium. Sometimes if one overdoes the harder reed thing, altissimo can be harder. You might actually want to try dropping down to a #3 on the ZZ if you decide you really like them.

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According to Rico, a LaVoz Medium is in between a ZZ 2.5 and 3. So it's AT LEAST a half strength softer than a ZZ 3.5.

I've never had any trouble with altissimo using ZZs.

i use 3.5 zz's and i've had no problem with altissimo