I do try Vandoran. Every day at practice I have 3 reeds. One is a Vandoran and I alternate them during practice sessions. The Vandoran just dosn't work for me at the moment. Don't know why. And I just bought a new Vandoran AT45 MP. But I persevere. Next week I go to the Big Smoke and I gonna get me a box a' dem Gonzalez.

So ... I went to the Big Smoke and purchased the following. Reeds; Rico Grand Concert Select 2's. Rico Reserve 2.5s. And received 2 Zondas 2.5's for free. He said nobody there buys them! A new Ligature from BG France, "Revelation" (Leather style one screw) (www.bgfranckbichon.com) He told me it would give me warm tone ...
Back home I followed the start of the breaking in procedure. Soaking etc. So far so good. Just blew a few low notes, nothing higher than "C" for a minute with the new reeds. These Rico have a fine tone. Yes, and the Lig, I notice already, gives me a warmer tone. My old metal one gives me a brighter/sharper tone.
Will report back in a week when the reeds are ready to play. My clarinet is a Noblet with a new AT45 Vandoran mouthpiece. So now you see my whole setup. And it's sounding good so far... I hope this is helpful to someone.

When you advance in method, you'll learn that you got to bite down to get the high notes, but when your embashure gets stronger you'll murder those weaker wussy reeds. I recently noticed this myself after advising it for years, that I needed a stronger reed

I like a #2. I play Zonda, Grand Concert (put out by Rico), and Vandoren. If you have any chain music stores like Music and Arts, sometimes they have clearance sales. I bought a few boxes of the Zondas and Grand Concerts for like 1 or 2 bucks a box for a box of 5 reeds. It gave me a chance to try out some new reeds I may not have shelled for otherwise. It's great to try new reeds.

i agree w/ music girl