When I learned to play clarinet in the late 60's to mid 70's, the predominant reed was made by Rico, but the best were made by Vandoren. Specifically, the Vandorens that came in a purple box. Routinely, 7 or 8 out of 10 of these Purple Box Vandorens would play very well straight out of the box, and 4 or 5 of these would play perfectly, with a full, focused, vibrant and clear tone and excellent response, no sanding or shaving needed, though, like all reeds, they needed to be broken in. Alas, I broke my last Purple Box Vandoren reed in the mid 1990s.

Taking up the clarinet once again after a 34 year layoff, my first lesson was that the Purple Box was long gone. Purchasing the current Vandoren, now called Traditional, I was horrified to find a reed no better than the Ricos of 34 years prior. So I quickly acquired a box of Vandoren V12, allegedly their superior cut. Now I was really worried, because out of 10 V12 reeds, maybe 3 played OK, the rest were decidedly unbalanced and played no better than the Traditionals.

In desperation I tried Gonzales and Rico. The Rico were no better than the Tradional Vandoren, and the Gonzales much worse. Panic.

Then I ran across La Voz, pretty much by accident. Here was a reed that sounded easily, with a clear, vibrant timber and quick response. And every single reed in the box was in perfect balance and worked as well as the next. They're made by Rico and come in 5 strengths, from soft to hard, on a scale somewhat softer than Vandoren. They are marketed to jazz players and I recommend them for the beginning student. They are relatively inexpensive and they allow the weak embouchure to produce a very respectable sound, and a very loud one as well. (I do not recommend the hard strength for the student. if the student is ready for hard, move to a fuller sounding reed.)

La Voz was not the sound I was looking for, but having found success in La Voz, I decided it was time to start exploring the Rico line. First the Grand Concert Select and Evolution. These had a fuller and more focused sound, and made a good place to advance to from La Voz. But they were still not of adequate timber for my use. Mitchell Lurie was very similar. Eventually I tried Rico's Reserve reed, and wha-la, a reed that reminded me of Vandoren Purple. Not quite as full and round and stable as the Purple Vandoren, but in a box of 5, all 5 Rico Reserve sounded richly and clearly, firm and focused, with a very quick response. None of them needed trimming or sanding, and with a careful break-in period, they improved in stability and timber. (My experience is that many of the Reserve Classic reeds are out of balance, and I don’t like having to sand them, and I have not observed an advantage to them over the regular Rico Reserve, which may or may not have something to do with my having to sand them.)

Yet Rico Reserve was not Vandoren Purple. I wanted a fuller sounding reed and one with more stamina. Even with proper breaking in, there is a noticeable weakening of the Rico reeds some 30 minutes into a session. Not long after I tried the V12s, I also tried Vandoren’s 56 Rue Lepic. Unfortunately, every one of these reeds were out of balance and required sanding—lots of sanding. I did my best, but reshaping a badly unbalanced reed is more work than I wanted to take on, and achieving a good balance up and down the entire scale of the clarinet was tricky for me at best. (Tom Ridennour has an excellent on-line article on how to fix a reed.) But a year later I purchased another box of 56 Rue Lepic reeds, and to my shock and amazement, every one of the reeds in the box was in perfect balance. And boy did they play. Like the old Purple Box, with maybe a tad more heft.

I still find a box of V12s to be unbalanced save for a couple, and even the balanced ones don’t respond for me with as clear and focused a tone as the Rico Reserve or the 56 Rue Lepic. Maybe with the growing popularity of synthetic reeds the V12s will experience better quality control, but I don’t know when my next purchase will be to find out.

So far I have not much liked the synthetic reeds, but I haven’t tried one lately either, and maybe they have improved. A good cane reed will last me half a year, and I rotate my reeds, so I tend to have the same box of reeds for years on end.

Reeds respond differently to different mouthpieces and embouchures, but if you’re just starting out on clarinet or having trouble finding a suitable reed, you might want to try the reeds that have worked best for me, if you haven’t already.