Vandoren SR262 Alto Sax JAVA Reeds Strength 2; Box of 10

Good

I like the Vandoren Java alto reeds for their quality and durability. I'm an adult playing sax for two years. I've tried another brand that does not have the lasting power of the Vandorens. Vandoren's performance and long life are consistent.

My 12 year old daughter has taken up sax at school this year and the rental sax came with a very split and junk reed. I bought these and she's done great. the tone sounds terriffic and she's not killing herself trying to hit the notes.

Se distingue por su sonido de color brillante, excelente

I feel it gives a strong bright sound and plays well for most styles. I use it mainly on faster tempo church jamming.

Love the overall change in timbre that the reed provides. If you don't think a reed can make your sound significantly more mature, try any reed from the JAVA series. This box particularly offers a much warmer sound compared to Vandoren's standard reeds, and they run a little thicker than their strength numbers specify, which I have found to be more of a pleasant surprise than anything. All-in-all great product, and I would certainly buy it again.

I've had good reeds generally from Vandoren. This Reed works best for me

I've been playing jazz sax for over 30 years, and my current set up is a Yanagisawa Alto with a Sysos spark mouthpiece and a Selmer Ref. 54 Tenor with a Syos Spark mouthpiece. I thought I'd give these java greens another try because 5 years ago I gave up on them because of the inconsistencies in each box, and I wanted to see if Vandoren had improved its quality control Unfortunately, things are as bad at Vandoren as they have been for a great many years now. In the box of 10 Alto reeds, only 3 were in playable condition (a 4th was "rescued" after some light sanding on the tip and rails of the reed) and in the box of 5 Tenor reeds, only 1 was playable and the others couldn't be rescued whatsoever. The spine on the reeds had obviously been compromised resulting in awful tone reproduction and squeaking. ALSO, while marked as strength 2.0, these were EASILY a strength 3.0 on the tenor reeds and closer to 3.5 on the alto reeds! 45 years ago I was a clarinetist using the traditional Vandoren "Blue" reeds and when I started to play sax I naturally started using Vandoren Blue sax reeds. However, over the years the quality deteriorated to the point that I was throwing away 4 out of every 5 that I purchased so I was forced to try other manufacturers. That was 10 years ago, and I had HOPED that Vandoren had improved their quality control. Unfortuately I was wrong; these reeds are as disastrous as they were back then, and Vandoren clearly has very poor quality control if they are allowing reeds of this incredibly poor quality get through their manufacturing process, wrapped, sealed, packaged and shipped, and charging amongst the highest prices in the market for cane reeds.