[Brother Falldown]

Originally Posted by highland mafia

Sure as hell ain't got the tone of a ross. A guy in our band just got one. It's a really weak dull sound. and pretty sharp on the top hand as well. He's only played around with it at band practice the one night (this monday) but no one could get it to flatten off.

Now for me that is good input, reporting after having heard it live and side by side. The quality of sound on this PC is not that impressive. I used the clanrye for a while and have used Apps ever since.

[Mr. Woolery]

I have one (just came today) and my dad has one (same package). He's playing his as I type this.

Impressions:
-it really has to be sunk in to bring the top hand into balance with the bottom
-easier blowing than I expected (we got 16 strength - medium)
-very responsive feeling when playing
-flips octaves on Low G too easily (especially coming from a high note) - might be overblowing
-great to have someone working on this concept

On the subject of Ross reeds, that's a personal peeve. I've used three so far and they all are hard, dull, unpleasant reeds. I prefer Soutar or Higgins, personally. The band uses Ross and I really don't care for them. They also don't have a very good lifespan. I can play a Soutar for 6 months easily, but some of the most recent Ross batch went south in under two months. About the time they were broken in they were ready for the bin.

This MacLaren reed won't be replacing my cane reeds, but it will probably work as a backup or in my plastic pipes for an all-synthetic setup!

-Patrick