Posted:
Thu Sep 20, 2007 1:33 pmby jmdriscoll
soulvacation, here is a link to artdrum which sells "LP hand select" heads... The page doesn't specifically say for LP performers, but they will probably work out. call the guy up.. he's pretty personable and is very willing to talk to you. If you are already going to spend money on heads though, you might want to consider getting flat mule skins from Fat congas, Latin Rhythm Traders, or somewhere like that. They will give you optimal sound in regards to heads anyway.. A link to the art drum site:
http://artdrum.com/LP_HEADS_CONGAS_X_SERIES_CONGA_DRUMS.htm
Another question... You say that you are a beginner.. How much of a beginner? You can practice for years and still be considered a beginner to a lot of people. Certain things like nice round open tones, crisp slaps, heel/toe movement, closed opens or muted hits, touches, bass hits... all of this stuff takes a LOT of practice before you can accurately execute these hits. The slap by itself provides a great struggle to many before being able to consistently produce the nice dry, crisp pop that an open slap should sound like. So depending on where you are coming from, your answer can vary. New heads might be what you need... Practice might be what need as well. I can buy the nicest drums on the planet and still only play to whatever my ability level will allow me to play at. I used to do a bit of amateur MC racing, and we would say that your speed consists of the following equation... 2% bike, 98% rider. Same can hold true fopr a lot of things in life.
MD
Edited By jmdriscoll on 1190295590
Posted:
Thu Sep 20, 2007 2:28 pmby tfunk
welcome to the forum bro,
I have a set of 3 LP performers I got about 4 years ago. As is common knowledge, the heads are sub-standard, but the shells and hardware are pretty OK. I got in touch with Isaac at funky tradition on ebay. I got some great mule skins form him. Luckily, I live in NYC, so he came by and got and custom mounted them for me. What a difference, I giged and recorded with those and they did great. Still use them for practice, but have upgraded to some used Classics, that I also got from Isaac...awsome drums. I'll be in the studio this weekend with those! Get in touch with him at [email]funkytradition@yahoo.com.[/email]
Peace, and good luck
Theo
myspace.com/urbansun
urbansun.net
Posted:
Thu Sep 20, 2007 5:11 pmby soulvacation
Thanks everyone for the helpful insights...I will do some more research, and keep you posted. I'm excited to have found CongaBoard...it seems like at invaluable resource!
MM
Posted:
Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:37 pmby otto
Hello SV
I have the same Performer Series drums I got them a little over two years ago.
I had rthe same problem as you are having.
I did what Johnny Conga suggested and I loosened the skins way down then I took a little LARD (Manteca) and using the tips of my fingers I rubbed it into the skins and left the drums out in the sun on a really warm day(85-90 degrees) for about 4-5 hours. Then I took a clean soft cloth and wiped them down.
I tuned the drums up and I noticed a big improvement.
And as was stated he before the more I practiced the more I heard the improvement. I have done this about 6-7 times in the last 2 or so years.
Getting new skins or a better set of drums is great if you can afford it but this is a cheap way that you can use now.
I have noticed that having to work hard at getting the right tones on these drums helped me when I played ny friends LP Classics I was able to get a better tone then he was, I think it was because it's harder on a low end drum then a good drum so my efforts translated to a much better sound on a better drum.
Peace be with you drum on
Otto
. When I did a bit of research, I found that other folks have had similar problems - and replaced the heads with Lp hand select heads. I'm not sure exactly where I can find these (I did an Internet search with no luck)...or how much it will cost to replace them?
