Vandoren Black Diamond HD Family of Bb Clarinet Mouthpieces

I had a few questions a couple of weeks ago, contacted you through your address on your site.

I think this is a great mouthpiece for certain players in certain situations. I added this mouthpiece to my collection and enjoy playing on it quite a bit, although it is considerably more open and has much wider rails than any of my others. So why did I buy it? A number of reasons. Overall, I find the BD4 to be quite user-friendly and forgiving. It produces a big, dark sound with enough focus to be acceptable to me, a descendant of the Marcellus school. I have a large teaching studio comprised of both clarinet and sax students, and this is a mouthpiece I can pick up and play without fussing with reeds. It's incredibly user-friendly. Bonus points for playing well with Legere reeds, both European and French cut. I think for an experienced player ranging from a serious high school to the pro level, this would be an acceptable choice due to it's reliable playability. It does take a considerable amount of air... this is a resistant mouthpiece, not for the faint of heart! I don't think it should be given to the average middle or high school student... too much work. For me, a descendant of the Marcellus school, it's quite out of the box and my former teachers would not approve, but it's fun to have a mouthpiece that plays dark on command. I find it similar to the Johnston mouthpieces from a few decades ago. Cons: less ring than I like. Pros: I can pick it up and get a warm sound, even when my embouchure is tiring. Therefore... recommended. Kudos to Vandoren for not resting on their laurels, for their R&D, and for continuing to introduce great new mouthpieces.

I currently play on BD5 (notHD). I like the ease of production and flexibility of tone and embouchure. But I was looking for a bit more "heft" as well as better response on high notes and articulations. So I got a BD4 HD. I like it and am keeping it. It has a tighter focus that I think is good for orchestra projection. It also articulates really well and the altissimo speaks better. On the other hand it's less "warm" and flexible, which I expected; for me, larger tip openings do that. My BD5 reeds are too hard for the BD4,so maybe going down in strength will also help the flexibility. Im not sure everyone would need to go down in reed strength. What seems a fairly big difference to me may seem less to someone else....so in my case, I have switched both the tip and facing length, AND gone to HD. So two changes. But I feel the same as Earspasm, the HD seems heftier in sound and focus, more than my tip change could account for. My takeaway is that I love the BD5 for chamber playing and the BD4 might be better for large group(with a slightly softer reed). HD-wise I think it will make a difference on orchestral playing and projection.

Compared to my regular BD4, this HD version holds the sound together much better as I play into the higher range of the instrument. Seems to produce a more even scale, and even more focus in the low register as well. Of course everyone’s results may vary, and there was a notable difference between the two that I tried (only bought one) but if you play vandoren mouthpieces and esp if you play BD mouthpieces, the HDs are worth a serious look.