congaplace.com

Hello all your congueros out there. Im a leader of a jazz group and i play all the hand percussion... i think all working percussionist should have 2 sets of congas.... when i am working in a small intimate dinner room/cafe environment where there is a wood floor i use a pair of Pearl Elite wood congas.. a conga and a tumbadora. i think that wood congas sounds better with the acoustics . When i am playing more in a larger venue such as an out- door arena or in a cabaret with a carpet stage then i go with my L.P. Patato model fiber-glass congas with the Remo nu-skyn.. my 3 drum setup is 2 congas and a tumbadora. heads .. i tune one conga up a little high and the 2nd conga normal and my tumba low. this drum work very effectively in this particular situation , the sound is bright and they really cut through , i don't have to mic them as well i feel that the Quinto is not needed in a latin jazz or straight ahead jazz setting.. i am very influence by Chano Pozo and later Ray Barreto i tune my drums low to bring more support from the bottom for my bass player and my trap drummer.

mucho ache!
michaelangelo

Thanks for sharing info. I have Remos with NuSkyn, happy with them. After trying various tuning I finally liked the C major tuning for all three. Tumba on low C, Conga on D flat above and Quinto on G. Granted they are all on lower pitches but this way I get more response from the heads slaps, bass etc. NuSkyn responds better when tuned on lower scale and as I use Djembe in my set up as well I have more variations that I can try. I am planning to buy spare Toca heads for all three which I can interchange when I need instead of buying three spare congas.