I second the Vandoren M13. It makes such a beautiful sound with a good embouchure. I have used so many ligatures in my life. I do like the Rovner but,not the fakes.

In HS I used a Bonade in 9th grade, moved to a Harrison Gold (that one can be stepped on rather well), tried a Harrison Silver, and ended up with a Charles Bay mouthpiece and Bay ligature. I went through the same with reeds- Vandoren, More', and ended with Oliveri' - I really liked the last one.
(excuse my spelling errors)

The Vandoren Rue Lepic size 3.5+ remind me of the Oliveri. I have no earthly idea why I had to change so much.

My Arkansas beginning clarinet teacher had the best set up- Vandoren 2RV (yes,I am older) and Bonade. I was happy with that.


---->>> ALL of this switching was made by my teacher at the time- high school private lesson teacher. He went to school at North Texas but, geez ...

Got to college and little did I know that I would have to go through this again with even weirder setups ... Barbeck mouthpiece and a velcro ligature. Yikes, and a dozen more combos.

Find something you like and stay with it.

Sometimes you might be able to come across used M13's. If beginners return instrument the mouthpiece usually goes with it, Just make sure you speak to a music vendor early in the spring to get pricing. And make sure that all of those mouthpieces are disinfected.

Happy Tooting