If you aren't doing that then you don't need harder reeds. * The point at which I had to go up a size in reed strength is when I started to play noticeably flat. * I won 42 auditions in 6 years and for 2/3 of that time I play a Yamaha 4C mouthpiece and a 2.5 Hemke Tenor Sax Reed. Your setup is vital to your success, but it does not have to be fancy. The size and shape of the bell, the placement of the Eb Pad (on or off the bell), the presence or lack of an extension all combine to produce the specific tonal profile of Eb on your instrument. Some instruments sound Low Eb differently than others. That depends on the instrument, brand, the placement of the keys, placement of the register mechanism, etc, etc, etc, etc. Some instruments sound Middle B and Middle C differently than others. Some things that individual instruments may tend to do: If the upper register is unresponsive it's because you aren't very good at playing in the upper register or you have a broken instrument. An instrument is stuffy when it is badly out of adjustment or you happen to be playing the wrong mouthpiece/reed combination for your embouchure and air flow level. Anyone who is complaining about this problem either has a badly broken instrument or an inability to play in the upper register consistently. Now I must point out some things that neither of these horns are: The keys are plated multiple times and the wood is thicker, making the instrument quite heavy. I'm what you would call, a professional) and still pick it up and play it. You could throw a Leblanc off a building(in theory, do not try this at home. The cupped plateau keys provide a slightly lower key level and produce a slightly slower key action than a Leblanc. The bore is slightly smaller than a Leblanc. These two titans tangled for many a year dominating the Bass Clarinet landscape while Buffet killed them with the R13 Soprano. So, I've got the polar opposites in the Bass Clarinet world in my studio. I play this instrument different than my others. After, backing a couple pads everything was fine and I began to do a little warm-up just to check the horn out. So, the other day I was getting my things ready for the beginning of the school year and I pulled out my plastic Bass to make sure everything was still in order.

Selmer bundy bass clarinet bell