Hi Kyle On my side, I personally knew Bruce since 1984 when he came in Britanny for a competing contest So, when I heard he made drone reeds, in the 2000, I rushed to get these reeds from him when he still dwelled in scotland, these reeds are steady and full of harmonics, As a piping teacher I provide balance tone reeds to all my students In my opinion, these reeds are of the most reliable and have a low air consumption

Great video Kyle! I just finished up a slew of St. Patrick's Day events with the Balance Tone High Resonance Bass and Canning Blue tenors. Great sound and held up well with moisture. I have yet to try out the tenors though. After watching this, definitely going to give it a try!!

Great video!! I love your reviews and these reeds sound great too! Thanks for doing this video.

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

My pleasure!

you should also try the High Harmonic model from Balance Tone. Same overall design, but a bit better for tone and harmonics. Also, when hemping these up, the wide flange of the base is supposed to seat right up against the wood of the drone with no gap

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

Interesting, I’ll have to try them in the future.

Thank you for your explanation, your video is exactly what I was looking for. Have a great day !

@KyleBantaMusic

10 ай бұрын

Glad it helped!

I love your videos Kyle. I plan on buying the B flat 466 balanced tone drone reeds. I’ve got an old chanter with a Bflat reed that sounds great just needs some drones 😊

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

Thank you! B flat reeds will be in the future for me as well.

I originally started out with the Ezeedrone reeds with inverted Bass, but was having lots of issues striking in and maintaining the drones. My teacher said to get these and what a difference! they were easy to strike in and keep going. In July, when I went to the Jim Thompson Piping School in Flagstaff, Bruce Hitchings was the Director of the school and I was able to buy a set of the USA, ( Red, White and Blue!!), High resonance reeds which I LOVE!!! You HAVE to get the stop up against the botto of the drone.

@KyleBantaMusic

8 ай бұрын

Happy to hear they work well! Can you please clarify "stop up against the bottom of the drone"?

@phildemarest

8 ай бұрын

@KyleBantaMusic What I mean is the portion that goes into the drone base has to be pushed all the way in so the Reed is butted completely up against the drone base

@KyleBantaMusic

8 ай бұрын

Interesting… wouldn’t that prevent the reed from vibrating properly/fully?

@phildemarest

8 ай бұрын

@@KyleBantaMusic nope, I'm talking about the part that goes into the drone. There is a "wall" that keeps you from pushing the Reed too far in

Hi, Kyle. Thanks for all your videos over the years. I’ve got a vintage set of MacPhee’s that are quite subdued, almost like a Glen sound. They might work for indoor competition, but, at this stage, not for outdoor. Which drone reeds would you recommend to boost volume without losing harmonics? Thanks!

@KyleBantaMusic

8 ай бұрын

I would personally go with Ezeedrone or MG reeds.

@rabidrooster6525

3 ай бұрын

I would try Kinnairds or Selbies, in my experience Ezees are quieter, more subdued and if you want more volume, the Kinnairds, Selbies or even these Balance Tones will probably be better

I will eventually try other drone reeds, I started out with Ezee drone reeds, and they're about the least expensive synthetic reeds, but they sound good and are reliable so I've bought more than one set, I also have more than one bagpipe and I have a couple of sets of cane drone reeds but I haven't been using them, they take more care in setting up. I am anxious to try some new reeds, I like these in this video and also the last drone reed video you did recently.

@maxwellfan55

Жыл бұрын

I would recommend Balance Tone reeds, they're all I use, once you get used to the adjustments. Well designed for tone and simplicity, also take a fair amount of moisture without going out of tune (I only use a bottle trap). You can also blow out the moisture easily.

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

Good to know, thanks for mentioning those points!

Is there a break in time? One of my tenors kept shutting off was very quiet bridle at bottom position. Now after some playing it is better

@KyleBantaMusic

9 ай бұрын

Drone reeds will open up a bit after a few minutes of playing as the tongues warm up. How high is the drone tuning on the pin?

...also my 1st choice, although they do tune high on my pipes.

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

Is that after adjusting the pitch of the reeds?

@maxwellfan55

Жыл бұрын

@@KyleBantaMusic Generally, yes. I often need to add extra hemp so the reeds project clear of the seats to compensate. I noticed your reeds projected slightly also, rather than sitting flush to the seats. With continues use these reeds tend to gradually lower slightly in pitch. This is common with the three sets of pipes I own.

@KyleBantaMusic

Жыл бұрын

Hmm interesting, I’ll have to pay attention to how the reeds do after some playing time.