Légère Reeds - Bb Clarinet Reed, European Cut, Strength 4.00 (BBES4.00) - Premium Synthetic Woodwind Reed

Full disclosure: I am not a professional clarinet player but this Euro Cut Légère reed had good reviews here and also was recommended to me by several people. My personal experience is that, ironic as it sounds, it needs a little breaking in and so does the player, to get used to it. It vibrates pretty easily in low register but I am struggling with it in the high register. I do not struggle with cane reeds (Gonzalez being my favorite cane reeds). The Légère lacks warmth...very noticeable. It plays louder and sharper which for me translates to “cold.” I will keep this reed and continue to work with it. I bought a ligature recommended to me for this reed, a BG Flex, but not sure it allows enough vibration...had better luck with the old standard Rico everyone has. I have purchased two more ligatures and will try them both with this reed. I may also purchase a Légère Signature Classic to see if I like it better than the Euro Cut. I don’t know one clarinet player who has not gone through multiple reeds, mouthpieces, and ligatures before settling on a set-up they find consistently reliable for their music. I am no exception to that! UPDATE! I bought and am using a Bambu ligature with a metal plate...it works fantastic with this reed. Every note is sounding a lot better now and it’s easy to play altissimo with the new ligature (Bambu Nova). THIRD UPDATE: I now love the Légère Reed EuroCut. I needed to get used to it. Furthermore, I am using the BG Flex ligature and find it is an excellent set up and works well in all registers. I still maintain that the synthetic reeds lack the warmth of cane reeds but it’s a welcome tradeoff, considering how reliable and easy these reeds are to play. I still use a cane reed at beginning of my practice to make myself work but then I switch to Légère to play music so I can focus on the music and not as much on working out my air support!

I have been playing in a concert band for over 40 years. 40 years of struggling with cane reeds with everything from easy breakage and warpage to not getting any sound out of them or getting squeaks.I have tried many brands with many ligatures and mouthpieces without complete satisfaction until now.Seriously, this is a game changer. I put the reed on the mouthpiece and that's all there is to it. Barely have to make any adjustments. No more squeaks, nice volume and really makes playing more enjoyable. I am grateful!

I’m still getting accustomed to synthetic reeds. I haven’t tried adjusting yet but may have to experiment to get them to sound more easily. They seem a hair slower than natural cane. Sound is strong and bright, and maybe a little bit less clear in mid tones. At this point most of the perceived differences I can attribute to the musician rather than to reed. I’ll know more later.

I purchased this for my daughter as she is in her high school marching band. This reed makes it possible to march in hot, dry conditions without having to wet your clarinet reed repeatedly. This has been a game changer for clarinet players in the marching band. As others have mentioned, a traditional reed makes a better quality sound for concert playing. So my daughter switching between her traditional and synthetic reeds based upon the performance venue.

I started to play just a few years ago, had a really good teacher but did not practice. Took a 5 years break and am now back to this wonderful instrument, teaching myself and enjoying it tremendously. What qualifies me to write a review given my so-totally weak credentials as a clarinet player, is several years of frustration with producing good sound consistently with cane reeds (I mostly used Vandoren). I know that it is more my fault but - as a hobbyist that can only spend an hour here and there to practice, and need to take frequent breaks to look up fingerings, keeping the reeds moist is a challenge, as is getting a nice good sound consistently. The Legere, which I’ve been practicing for almost a week now, mostly on my Buffet B10 (I also tried it with my Buffet R13 which I ‘save’ for when I’m a better player and have time to take care of a wooden instrument) - Produces great sound (I may not be much of a player, but I can tell the quality of good sound). It is forgiving an no maintenance - No need to moisten it before you start playing, or worrying about it get dry, or too wet, and of course - wear our. It fits perfectly both the B10 mouthpiece, and the Vandoren M30 mouthpiece. I now look forward to practicing because it looks like I’ll be able to produce good notes and not worry about the reed variable. I will update here if something changes to the worse in a short time (which I don’t expect to happen).

Cain sounds better and is easier to play on for me. However, I thought this was pretty close and does sound nice. Articulation is different and even sounds diferent, not just feel different when tonguing.It does seem to work better when wetted alightly in the mouth, much like cain. The rule of thumb seems to be that you need a half size up from what you play on cain. I played this on a Buffet E12fl and Buffet B12 and the Backun Alpha clarinet while using the same mouthpiece. Each clarinet sounded very similar to when played with cain. So for those who don't know those clarinets. The Buffet E12fl is wood. The Buffet B12 is ebonite and the Backun is made of a rubbered plastic. So each has its own tonal quality sounding voice. With this reed their voices were pretty close to with the cain reed.

First class product

Wuau...che bomba...ero molto scettico sull'acquisto ma ho deciso di provarle stanco delle continue selezioni delle canne vandoren..ogni dieci forse una o due buone..e che dopo poco calavano di prestazioni...basta...deciso ho compratonprima una signature european nr.3 come le vandoren che usavo ma ê risultata troppo debole allora sono salito di mezza misura ossia 3.5 e wuau ragazzi una bomba...risulta molto veloce nello staccato e forse pecca un pó di colore del suono ma chissenefrega dopo due ore di studio era li..come quando l'avevo messa..perfetta...ora proverò le 3.75 per avere un pancia un po più forte e vedere se ci guadagno in colore del suono..altrimenti fa niente...va comunque da dio..

He usado esta caña por 2 meses y medio. El sonido es estable y redondo. Cambié porque cuando compraba cañas de madera, al menos 2 de cada 5 cañas venían de mala calidad, aunque fueran de buena marca. En Van Doren uso 3 y decidí comprar 3 en Legere. Al principio la sentí más blanca, pero me adapté fácilmente. Pienso comprar una segunda para tener respaldo.Sin duda una buena inversión.Edición: La compré el 10 de julio y ayer ya no vibró. La uso diario ya que trabajo como clarinetista. Muy recomendable, una duración de 4 meses con buen sonido. Un amigo me dijo que iba a recortarla para extender su vida útil.

Premetto che suono solo per hobby. Dopo due pacchi di Vandoren tradizionali e Vandoren V12 con tutte le ance praticamente inutilizzabili, ero passato alle Légère classiche 2.0. Ultimamente però facevo sempre più fatica a suonare: suono piccolissimo, nessuna potenza, nessuna proiezione, difficoltà a variare il timbro. Ho provato queste European Cut (un po' più dure) e devo dire che mi sto trovando veramente bene.