Legere reeds (revisited?)

Gheorghe

Does anyone else use the plastic Legere reeds on the taragot?

I've been using the 2.5 signature model, and I love it. But recently I switched back to the soft 1.5 Rico (regular cane), which produces the tone desired in Romanian music. I absolutely love that sound, but the trouble is, as was pointed out much earlier, that with such soft reeds, 2nd octave becomes difficult. Everything is perfect, until the high B, which for me is a good 20 cents flat with the 1.5 reed no matter what. With the Legere Signature 2.5, no problem.

So, back to the plastic reed I go. I was just curious if anyone else uses it. They're about $23 per reed, but so far I see no wear on it and don't expect to break it any time soon.

George
 
I don't use Legere on a taragato but on clarinet.

I have a various sizes and the nice thing is that they are in tune versus a soft cane reed. I find that interesting but never really bothered to figure out why. I do know their 3-1/4 is out of tune up high (not just me, other clarinet players too).

Their "instant on" is the key reason I use them.

They apparently just "die" but luckily I haven't had one go south on me. But I always have cane backup anyways.
 
SteveSklar said:
I don't use Legere on a taragato but on clarinet.

I have a various sizes and the nice thing is that they are in tune versus a soft cane reed. I find that interesting but never really bothered to figure out why. I do know their 3-1/4 is out of tune up high (not just me, other clarinet players too).

Their "instant on" is the key reason I use them.

They apparently just "die" but luckily I haven't had one go south on me. But I always have cane backup anyways.
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Exactly why I like them - I put it on the MPC and it's ready to go right away. I hardly have to do any embouchure adjustments when using them - other than making sure I don't squeeze them too much in the 2nd octave - I have a bad habit of doing that, and then I actually play the 2nd octave too sharp.

I carry the Ricos in the case as well as backup, and I just bought another Legere Signature 2.5 as a backup as well.

Like I mentioned the very soft 1.5 Ricos give me my favorite tone, but the Legere isn't too far off it, and its advantages outweigh that small difference by far.

George
 
George,

How do you like the tone with 1.5s?

I find with soft reeds they tend to close up under too much air pressure for louder dynamics. To compensate I have to bring the clarinet from being pointed down to pushed out. This changes the direction of the airstream on the reed from one that pushes onto the reed to one that goes into the mpc more like a saxophone allows it to vibrate more freely.
 
I feel that they are too expensive. I used them for clarinet when they were around $10 but when they raised the price I stopped buying them.
They were convenient but I honestly think that cane is better. It just takes a little more work.
With my open Vandorn 5JB cane is best. Classical folks with small openings using fairly hard Legere's get a good sound though.

I am surprised the Chinese haven't copied them.
 
Overall I prefer cane too. But with repair testing the "instant on" is perfect.

In Jazz bands the "instant on" is perfect too considering it is mostly sax jumping to clarinet.

When I play in orchestras/bands etc and strictly clarinet then I gravitate towards cane.
 
bobsax said:
I am surprised the Chinese haven't copied them.
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Supposedly the Signature one is made by hand - literally, just like working with cane (or similar process), as opposed to molded. That maybe why the Chinese haven't copied them yet.

George
 
SteveSklar said:
George,

How do you like the tone with 1.5s?

I find with soft reeds they tend to close up under too much air pressure for louder dynamics. To compensate I have to bring the clarinet from being pointed down to pushed out. This changes the direction of the airstream on the reed from one that pushes onto the reed to one that goes into the mpc more like a saxophone allows it to vibrate more freely.
Click to expand...

I love the tone of the 1.5 Rico cane. I play the taragot out like a sax, not down like a clarinet. But yes, starting with the high A, it tends to close up. And if I give it less pressure to prevent it from closing up, I'm 20 cents flat at that point. That is why I'm going back to the Legere - no issues there, but I can't (yet) do the kind of wide vibrato I can with the soft 1.5.

George
 
I've been using Legeres on my bass and contra for a long time. I'm playing a concert with the University of Miami large classical sax ensemble (14 saxes) under the supervision of Dale Underwood this week. For my bass sax I found a great cane reed, but I play one piece (Tchaikovsky's 4th Symphony - Finale) on contrabass sax and the easy way out was to use a Legere bass sax reed.
 
Dale and his students are the nicest group in the world. It's good to have helpful people around when you're out of your element (I'm not a true classical saxophonist) and you're also lugging around bass and contrabass saxes.
 
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