congaplace.com

Hello everynone.

Some months ago I bought a set of Tycoon supremo congas. They are the cheapest 10+11 set from that manufacturer and I got it just to try whether I would enjoy conga playing or not.
Now it's the time to upgrade I think.
I have tried some models in some shops and they all sound much nicer in every way than my supremos. The difficulty is that each shop usually one sometimes two kinds of drums on display. It's not possible to compare.
The brands available to me (mostly by mail order though) are LP matador, classic and galaxy, GB tumbao pro and acuna and Meinl professional and woodcraft.
I live in Finland and the conga scene is here is pretty thin at best.

So the question is what do I get for the money with each of the options?
What I've read here is that matadors are the best buy but the skins need to be changed. For the combined price of matadors+skins I would get classics.
The price of a Galaxy set is not much more than Classics so if there is any advantage I would get those instead.
OTOH I've read here that the skins on the Galaxies are not necessarily that great either.
Do any of the listed brads have more passable skins out of the box?
Another factor is portability. Is Ash (galaxy and acuna) lighter in weight than rubber wood?
Then the conga+tumba or quinto+conga question. I play jazz/groove music in a small band.
The sound I'm after is something like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9KC7uhMY9s (sans the reverb of course).
Does he have a quinto or conga as the high drum or does it really matter?

Thanks in advance for all possible insights!

Buy the matadors and don't sweat the buffalo skin. It'll be perfectly fine if you've got your strokes down.

I reccommend keeping what you have and upgrading your heads. I personally like REMO Fiberskyn but many like skins. If you choose skins L&H can be of great assistance here.

With a new set of heads I believe you will feel much differently about your present set of congas.

Tick is right about the Matadors. Also older CP congas that do not have that cheaper hardware are another good economical choice. These older CP congas are better than most of the new LP congas built today (no disrespect meant for all of you LP players). You do not need to spend alot of money to create a nice set of congas.

Just my opinion.

Keep it fun,

Jerry

I've got the Tumbao Pro bongos, and they're fantastic. I know you're in the market for congas, but same series, same wood etc.

I love these guys. They sound very nice, very clear tone, and very nice sound overall. Nice and warm... yummm...

I've emailed the guys with questions, and they've been nothing but super helpful. The GB customer service is one of the best reasons to go with GB. You won't regret buying from them.

I have matadors at my school, and have tuned them nicely, but the GB's just sound so much nicer.

My 2 cents.

Dont buy entry level junk. Perhaps Sonar brand is available to you ? The pro level models are made in Asia, but smartly designed, great hard wares and heads, equal to simular priced Asian brands. Keep looking online. The shipping will be excessive so shop local European markets.

Jerry Bembe wrote:I reccommend keeping what you have and upgrading your heads. I personally like REMO Fiberskyn but many like skins. If you choose skins L&H can be of great assistance here.

With a new set of heads I believe you will feel much differently about your present set of congas.

Tick is right about the Matadors. Also older CP congas that do not have that cheaper hardware are another good economical choice. These older CP congas are better than most of the new LP congas built today (no disrespect meant for all of you LP players). You do not need to spend alot of money to create a nice set of congas.

Just my opinion.

Keep it fun,

Jerry

Ernesto agrees w/ L & H heads, JCR in Bronx N.Y. also has great cow heads from Colombia & Venezuela.

Thanks everyone for the responses.
Because it was so hard to figure out the real advantages and disadvantages between the different brands I did just what the LP marketing strategy wan't me to do that is I got a LP classic conga.
The classic is not much more expensive than the others in here and it's the most sure bet because everyone seems to have them.
Out of the drums that I tried (not that many) the GB Acuna that has the colored remo skins (special edition?) was my favorite. Even the remo skins felt better to my hands than the ones on the regular Acuna's. The price for the set was relatively so high though that I couldn't justify it (double the price of the LP classics).

Now after playing the classic for a while I can really compare it to the supremos. It's a totally different instrument. Even the actual playing surface on the 11 3/4" classic is about 2" larger than on the 11" supremo.
The classic seems to have a ring in it's sound but at least sound like a echo tail rather than the sustained high pitch note on the supremos. Maybe chaning skins on the supremos would make them a lot better and even valid instruments but they would never be close to the classic beacuse of design differences.
The comfort curve rim is also very comfortable. Maybe not a massive issue for everyone but I welcome any extra comfort that I can get.

Hello jokunen!

My opinion about your set is that Tycoon (I haven't tried it, but my friend recently bought their intermediate drums, don't remember the name, but he is very satisfied with them and my fellows percusionists saw them, try them and they were amazed, since all of them goes with Lp's and Meinl's stuff). I own Meinl's Woodcrafts and Pearl's Bobby Allende's. I bought mule skins fom L&H percussion and they are really great.
So, my advice to you is that maybe you need just one drum (conga or tumba) and skins for better and stronger low tones in your setup; I would try remo fiberskyns and mule. Many don't like remo fiberskyns, cause they are bright... But if i have learned something (besides rhythms, tehnique...) was also that your ears are yours and don't just go with other opinions, be brave and experiment (i mean with different skins on same drum...). Try drums in a shop that have artificial and animal skins... Maybe you will be blown away... ;D
Advice about buying: woodcrafts are great, but with today's financial situation I would go with second hand matadors or new matadors and approx. 120 € for mule skins. IMHO best buy!

A ha, and do try your drums if possible, before buyin', like I said your ears are your ears!

my couple of cents,

PimpS