Reeds New Marca American Vintage Reeds.

[TomMapfumo]

Hi Folks!

I've just become aware of a new Marca reed - an American Cut unfiled reed available in Soprano, Alto, Tenor & Baritone. I have ordered both a Soprano and an Alto box direct from Marca in France and will be happy to write a review when they arrive. As several of you know I love Marca Jazz reeds and play them on soprano (3), alto (3) and tenor (2.5) and am interested in trying the American Cut (The Jazz are a special unfiled cut).

Kind regards
Tom

 

[MLoosemore]

Very interested in your opinion having just moved to the Marca Jazz reeds and wishing all my Rico Royals would miraculously transform

 

[DavidUK]

Very interested in your opinion having just moved to the Marca Jazz reeds and wishing all my Rico Royals would miraculously transform

...what he said.

;}

 

[TomMapfumo]

I noticed this earlier today and imagined that I might feel similar, but here goes! http://www.tomastrulsson.com/marca-reeds-2/

The Marca Jazz reeds are just fantastic. I had some Marca Jazz 3 reeds for Alto arrive today - awesomely playable!

 

[TomMapfumo]

I've also ordered some Marca American Vintage reeds for my Tenor Sax, so a fuller review will follow!

 

[TomMapfumo]

Latest Update!

I wrote to Stuart at Howarth about said reeds. His reply was:

"...Sorry for the delay. We have sampled these reeds and really didn’t like them. We found them to be a heavy dull jazz reed.

I won’t be bringing them in as a stock line. If you wanted to special order some I may be able to add some to my next order but this won’t be for a good few weeks.

They don’t play like the other Marca reeds.

All the best
Stuart."

As a result I have decided to cancel my order of said reed and stick with the Marca Jazz reed.

Of course "Heavy and Dull" might actually be the particular sound of American Vintage 1950's music!

 

[Andrew Sanders]

I don't need special reeds to sound heavy and dull. I suppose I'm just a natural.

 

[Jeanette]

I don't need special reeds to sound heavy and dull. I suppose I'm just a natural.

You and me both

Jx

 

[Justin Chune]

How do the Marca numbers compare with Rico Royals.

Jim.

 

[Clivey]

Latest Update!

I wrote to Stuart at Howarth about said reeds. His reply was:

"...Sorry for the delay. We have sampled these reeds and really didn’t like them. We found them to be a heavy dull jazz reed.

I won’t be bringing them in as a stock line. If you wanted to special order some I may be able to add some to my next order but this won’t be for a good few weeks.

They don’t play like the other Marca reeds.

All the best
Stuart."



As a result I have decided to cancel my order of said reed and stick with the Marca Jazz reed.

Of course "Heavy and Dull" might actually be the particular sound of American Vintage 1950's music!

It`s a funny thing but I honestly believe you have a valid point. I went through the 80`s and 90`s with an overly bright sound by choice. and the 60`s and 70`s were all about treble tones and dare I say it shrillness.

What I am now wondering is that perhaps the Internet/Computer recording boom has resulted in a lot more people looking for more variety of tone and less need to " Cut Through " in both the Live setting and also in the Mix due to easily available outstanding recording quality.
I think I`m also hearing a lot more darkness in tone coming from the Latest and greatest new talents. Of course I`m perhaps wrong but I think overly bright may no longer be "where it`s at"

 

[TomMapfumo]

Latest developments: I emailed Marca France to cancel my order based on Howarth's rating of the reeds (Heavy and Dull). They emailed to say that the reeds were already on their way but that I could send them back for a refund. I also had a communication from Reeds Direct to say that the AV reeds were considered to be an expensive version of the Marca Jazz and that they would not be stocking them. I had replied to Marca, (who had claimed that many professionals used them and that they were like a stronger sounding Marca Jazz reed) saying that as no Marca UK supplier stocked the AV reeds then I questioned how good they were. Most recently I received the following reply:

"...Hi Tom,
you should try reeds, and if the reeds is bad, like music shop say, I refund you, the reeds you have order on our MARCA website.
Also for information lot of professional musician switch on it,
Please try it and let me know your opinion,
regards,


Nicolas RIGHI

Sales & Products Manager"

So all the reed are on their way and I will review a couple of each and then decide whether or not to keep them. In the meantime I am using som Alexander NY reeds for a thicker sound, but still prefer the Marca Jazz reed for a more 3-dimensional sound.

 

[rhysonsax]

I am in the midst of bari reed crisis (can't get any brand that I really like) and would like to try something similar to RJS or Rigotti Gold which are great on tenor but not so good for me on baritone.

I see that Reeds Direct has got Marca Classic for baritone but not Marca Jazz. And Howarths have Marca Jazz as well as Marca Superieure. Would they be worth a punt ?

Rhys

 

[TomMapfumo]

Well worth a punt, indeed. The Marca Jazz are great on all the others, certainly, and tend to eclipse the RJS quite easily IMO. Howarth do sell reeds individually at normal box price so 2 reeds = £10.40. I've never yet has a remotely dud reed from Marca so 2 should be a safe buy.

 

[rhysonsax]

Thanks Tom. Just spoken to Howarth's sax department and ordered a couple each of Marca Jazz, La Voz and Alexander Superial. Hopefully I will find the great new reeds amongst them.

Rhys

 

[TomMapfumo]

How do the Marca numbers compare with Rico Royals.

Jim.

Hi Jim!

Virtually identical - see the reed comparison guide here: http://www.saxophon-service.de/shop/z_57.htm

 

[tzadik]

Marca already did (and still does) jazz unfiled reeds for Peter Ponzol... (aka Peter Ponzol reeds).

The Ponzol reeds have the same long vamp of the Marca Jazz, but they are unfiled (while Marca Jazz reed are filed).

I generally use Marca Jazz #3,5, so the first time I'd like to try Ponzols I bought the same strenght, #3,5.
They were good dark and thick sounding reeds, they sounds thicker than LaVoz (my reference for dark thick sound, on tenor) but #3,5 on Ponzols was stiffer than #3,5 on Marca Jazz reeds.
I think this because Ponzols are unfiled.. and due to a different cut: I don't have any too to make measurement of the longitudinal profile/vamp of the reeds... but I feel like there is more material on the Ponzols (slightly thicker heart).

So last time I bought another box of Ponzol, but #3 (instead of #3,5), they are perfect. I play with them quite often and I like them.


Now, I don't know how Ponzol reeds (unfiled) can be compared to Marca "American Vintage" (a sort of Marca Jazz "unfiled")... I guess they can be pretty similar.

Ponzol are hard to find in Europe, I'm looking forward to try Marca "American Vintage".
To me, it's a common error is to consider "heavy and dull" a reed, when it can simply be a little stiffer.


I also tried AW reeds, for tenor both the model "721" (classic reed) and the "722" (jazz model), both #3,5.
Both were on the bright side so "nor heavy neither dull"... but a AW "722" #3,5 compared to a Marca Jazz #3,5, once soaked, was like a wet noodle.

 

[TomMapfumo]

Marca already did (and still does) jazz unfiled reeds for Peter Ponzol... (aka Peter Ponzol reeds).

The Ponzol reeds have the same long vamp of the Marca Jazz, but they are unfiled (while Marca Jazz reed are filed).

I generally use Marca Jazz #3,5, so the first time I'd like to try Ponzols I bought the same strenght, #3,5.
They were good dark and thick sounding reeds, they sounds thicker than LaVoz (my reference for dark thick sound, on tenor) but #3,5 on Ponzols was stiffer than #3,5 on Marca Jazz reeds.
I think this because Ponzols are unfiled.. and due to a different cut: I don't have any too to make measurement of the longitudinal profile/vamp of the reeds... but I feel like there is more material on the Ponzols (slightly thicker heart).

So last time I bought another box of Ponzol, but #3 (instead of #3,5), they are perfect. I play with them quite often and I like them.


Now, I don't know how Ponzol reeds (unfiled) can be compared to Marca "American Vintage" (a sort of Marca Jazz "unfiled")... I guess they can be pretty similar.

Ponzol are hard to find in Europe, I'm looking forward to try Marca "American Vintage".
To me, it's a common error is to consider "heavy and dull" a reed, when it can simply be a little stiffer.


I also tried AW reeds, for tenor both the model "721" (classic reed) and the "722" (jazz model), both #3,5.
Both were on the bright side so "nor heavy neither dull"... but a AW "722" #3,5 compared to a Marca Jazz #3,5, once soaked, was like a wet noodle.

Hi There!

The "Heavy & Dull" comment was made by the members of the Howarth Sax Dept. in London, who do stock the Ponzol reeds - only place in UK that does. As Howarth said they would not stock the AV reeds because they did not rate them it must mean that they do like the Ponzol reeds. I hope to comment on them once they have arrived - I am used to Vandoren V16 and Alexander NY reeds so will do a comparison with these two.

Kind regards
Tom

 

[TomMapfumo]

You may need to check where you got the idea for Marca Jazz reeds being "Filed". This suggests the opposite - http://www.saxplus.com/marca-jazz-reeds.html The Marca website talks about a "Special Cut" and does not mention "filed".
However they look as if they should be "filed".

 

[tzadik]

I've just had a look to the new Marca reeds website. I missed they "upgraded" it.

Never seen that box before.
All Marca Jazz I have came with the old design box, like this one:

And they are all filed, like this:

It's possible, being Marca's guys french ( ) they confused "filed" with "unfiled":

 

[TomMapfumo]

I'll write to Nicolas Righi at Marca for clarification - I thought they were filed but will just check!

Kind regards
Tom