I recently bought size 3.5 Hemke reeds for my alto & they created a very fat round sound like no other reed I've tried, & I've tried most ricos & vandorens. So I thought I'd get some for my Tenor & go for the maximum hardness seeing as Tenor is so easy to blow. I bought a pack of Hemke tenor size 5 & was surprised at how thin they were. They were easy to blow as I expected but oh my God they were ten times deeper & richer than any other reed I'd ever tried. The sound is unbelieveably rich warm & deep.

In the upper higher register notes they are a little thin & weak sounding for the screaming sax sounds needed for certain types of modern music. But if you're mainly into the lower register & lower notes in the upper register on the tenor then the Tenor Hemke size 5 reeds cannot be beaten for depth, warmth, fullness & richness,  in my opinion. 

With the alto sax the 3.5 Hemke's are superb in the full range of notes on both registers I believe. 

Volume wise the Hemke reeds have more volume than other reeds in the lower notes. They also hit the deepest note with far more gravity & more ease than any other reed I've used. 


All the reeds in the box had good playability & I recommend everyone try Hemke Tenor size 5 reeds if they want to know what bass can really sound like on the tenor sax.

And if you want your alto to have more body & a fatter sound with growl & grunt in the lower notes then try Hemke 3.5.


That's what I have found anyway 


p.s I'm using a metal mouthpiece