The Best Sax Reeds? Vandoren, D'Addario, Rico and More!

Dr. Wally and Tyler Anderson explore the best reeds available and recommend 3 sure fire winners! Vandoren, Rico, Royal, D'Addario, Boston Sax Shop, which do YOU love?

0:00 Doing Science
0:40 Picking Three, the criteria
1:40 Vandoren Traditional
4:09 D'Addario Royal
7:17 Reed Fun Facts
8:02 Boston Sax Shop

[ryanc]

After a 20 year hiatus, I've recently started playing again. Cracked open my unused Blue Box and V16s (predating flow packs released in 2005). They were stored in a standard indoor temp and humidity environment. Yeah, 4 gigs so far on 20 year old reeds. I feel like I'm missing out on all this French bagged air.

[tfsushi]

I like the Boston black box, but am now using - and enjoying - the Legere American cut on my tenor.🎷

[billpatterson]

On my Selmer Series III tenor I use a Theo Wanne Slant Sig 8 and found that the D'Addario Select Jazz filed 3S works best for me. I rarely have to adjust a reed, as they consistently play out of the box. I agree with you that now that I have stopped chasing different mouthpieces, ligatures and reeds and concentrated on my embouchure, my tone and the playability of the reeds have improved.

[joeblankenship]

Last cane reeds that I really liked were a brand called Lupifaro--tried them on a whim after seeing them recommended in a video. They were impressive. Back in my college days, I was a big fan of Alexander DC reeds. And La Voz was pretty dependable on bari, if I couldn't order the Alexanders. But nowadays, the convenience, consistency, and longevity of synthetic reeds has won me over.

[markwhite-what-da-jazz]

I loved your sound with the Boston black reeds, Dr. Wally. I play the Custom 875 Yamaha alto EXII and the Custom 875 Yamaha tenor. I love the Boston black with my brighter sounding neck (VI) on both saxes. I use the Gaia 4 mouthpiece on alto and tenor. With my warmer sounding neck (EI) I like to use Roberto's Winds reeds (another cut of the Rigotti reeds) on both alto and tenor. Sometimes I will use Rigotti Gold reeds on tenor with the warmer sounding neck (E1).... the bright sounding reeds pair well with the warm sounding neck. I play the P Mauriat System 76 2nd edition soprano with a Gaia 4 mouthpiece. I love the D'Addario Reserve reeds on my soprano... these reeds are great for getting a pure warm sound with no edge. On Bari, I've been loving the D'Addario Jazz Select reeds on my Lawton (Plain chamber) and Burnin' mouthpieces... oh yeah, I also love these same reeds on my Brancher metal E bari mouthpiece.

[LarryKatz]

On tenor I just tried a Better Sax reed (2.5) for the first time. I like it very much. Playability is a close tie with the Boston Sax Shop (Black box) for tone and facility across the horn's range. Maybe it's a slight edge better. Low end could be articulated softly without a bark, overtones were easy to control, and altissimo (other than G#) came smoothly (no donkeys today). Other than taking my reed geek to the facing surface to assure flat opposition to mpc, no other adjustments needed. I like that they have moved away from plastic reed holders to paper ones. I store my reeds in a reed holder box anyway, so the plastic was simply going into the waste stream. Well done Better Sax!

[andriivodolazov]

I like D'addario Jazz Select the most. Sometimes I want to try something new and I think "Oh, this new reed pretty good" but when I return to Select Jazz I always stay with it. It gives me all I want.
I play on 8 opening mouthpieces and I pick 2H for tenor and 2M for alto.

[davidplatt]

Playing Vandoren 2.0 Tenor - and I am a loyal customer because of their fantastic customer service. They sent me some free reeds when I mistakenly followed another YouTube instructor said unequivocally I should be using a 1.0 reed, wrong! So I’m very impressed. They play great and much better than the cheapest reeds I could buy on Amazon (lesson learned).

[GetYourSaxTogether]

Gotta say, not a brand that you mentioned, but I’m totally team Nexus at this point. Man I love those reeds. I even pay more in shipping than the reeds cost themselves to get them in the UK. I’d go as far as to say they’ve added an extra level of enjoyment to playing saxophone for me. ❤

[joezilla]

Thanks for this video; affirmed my enjoyment of Royals, and now I can buy more without any doubts! :)

[TravisTLK]

I'm ordering some new reeds for my son for the first time. This video really helped. Went with the Vandoren 2.5 for his alto sax. Thank you!

[jorge_oliveira]

I have played my first 12 years with vandoren traditional. Then, in a degree Vandoren V12, and in master degree with Daddario Reserve. Now, 6 years later, I still play with reserve but I am falling love with Legere french cut honestly

[StephenB_LE]

I use Boston Sax Shop 2.5 on a Jody Jazz HR* 7 mouthpiece on alto ( and the same set up on Bari).
Playing 20 hrs / week a reed lasts about 6 weeks, which I’m happy with.

[zacarias]

My fellow saxophonist, a hug from Brazil. I'm also a saxophonist, I play tenor. I use Rico reeds from the orange box. I use Gonzalez Local Jazz and Vandoren Java green. I use a mouthpiece with a raised baffle, because I like playing Latin music, and rock too. ❤

[marcodioguardi]

Great comparison Dr. Wally. I play tenor and found that the Boston Sax are very consistent and play all good out of the box. I will try the Better Sax new ones that are made also in France

[ntxmt]

Interesting video. I like Vandoren red javas, the Royals, and Fibracell synthetics.

[EricPalmerBlog]

Channeling an old Saturday Night Live skit, Caveman Lawyer.
I'm just a simple caveman, anyway, using Rico. When it goes to buzztown I chuck it and draw another one.(caveman: "fresh reed, feel good") Variable on that endurance. So right now the least of my issues. Came back in June after a 43 year pause, doing well, daily practice and cleaning up other items.

[bostonsaxshop]

Awesome video as per usual Wally!! 👍 ❤ 🎷

[EricTorreborre]

I gave up on cane reeds but just came here to say that I enjoyed your playing ❤

[dksax]

I have found that the Vandoren green box javas have been very consistent for me and are my preferred jazz/pop reed. Vandoren blue box 3s so far have been my favorite classical reed.