congaplace.com

Which one sounds best to you! I welcome critique on my technique, but if you're going to dog my playing please save it for PM's, remember I'm a kit player by trade!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30PSNLSeM1M

PC

All 3 sound good. I had to listen twice. The Remo sound like Remo. As for the other 2 - I'm going to vote for the L&H because I think they sound richer but to be honest - if I didn't know which was which I'm not sure how I would have voted.

I've compared my $35 pawn-shop Mienls to my $500 Junior Tirados a hundred times - It always comes down to the skin for me. With the same heads, I can't tell them apart.

Interesting, I actually like teh new skin hembra, but yeah, to me the cow on those mahoganies sounds the best.
PC

MY CHOICE?
WELL, FIRST ONE MUST REMEMBER THAT EACH BONGO MUST BE OUTFITTED EQUALLY AND THEN TUNED TO IT'S SWEET SPOT IN ORDER TO REALLY APPRECIATE A TRUE COMPARISON. BUT, WITH THAT BEING SAID, AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH WHAT I'VE HEARD ON THE VIDEO, MY CHOICE WOULD HAVE TO BE THE 1985 GARFIELD NEW JERSEY MODEL, WITH THE SYNTHETIC HEADS.

I PERSONALLY OWN A 1984 GARFIELD GEN 2 LP WITH A FYBERSKIN 3 HEAD ON THE MACHO, AND A L&H CALF SKIN ON THE HEMBRA. WITH THIS SET UP, MY LP'S SOUND AS GOOD, AND IN SOME AREAS, BETTER THAN ANY OF MY CUSTOM MADE BONGOS. (YES, I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRIZED!) I DO PLAY EACH OF MY BONGOS OFTEN. I DO HOWEVER, PREFER TO PLAY ONE OVER THE OTHERS, DEPENDING ON WHAT GIG, OR PROJECT I'M WORKING ON. THEY EACH HAVE THEIR STRENGTH'S AND WEAKNESSES.

CHARLIE.

Yeah, to be honest I'm really digging the nuskin on the hembra, nice tight sound, easy to tune. The hembra on the green sparkles actually just came off my gen. II's it'd been on there for years and I just can't get it to tune up correctly, I'm debating whether to tuck new heads or to get a nuskin for it, I was thinking about trying the mule/cow combo or if I could get ahold of some getting some kip or maybe even good goat. Any suggestions on tuning ? I was pretty happy with teh tuning on the mahogs and gen ii, but I can't for the life of me get the bison heads to tune up to where I like it. Cuco suggested I bring the macho down a bit and the hembra up.
PC

FOR ME, BUFFALO HEADS IN GENERAL ARE THE LEAST DESIRABLE. SPECIALLY WHEN USED ON BONGOS. THEY HAVE A DISTINCT RUN OF THE MIL SOUND. THE BEAUTY THOUGH IS THAT YOU CAN ENJOY EXPERIMENTING WITH DIFFERENT COMBINATIONS OF HEADS UNTIL YOU'LL FIND THE PERFECT SET UP.

THANKS FOR POSTING THIS THREAD.

CHARLIE.

I wasn't knocking the sound of the Remos - they sound good. I've been playing around with both Nuskyn and Fiberskyn,mainly on macho, and am liking them both more and more. Haven't tried the Skyndeep yet. But the synthetics do have a different and distinct sound. My hearing might be going but I do think I can hear the difference. I still prefer goat, cow, & mule for sound, feel, and historical reasons.

I DO AGREE WITH YOU.
NATURAL HEADS ARE MY FAVORITE AS WELL.

CHARLIE.

To me the natural cow skins had the richer and more complex sounds on both the macho and hembra, with the most pronounced improvement on the cow hembra.

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

Buffalo sounds fine, it's just the feeling of the heads, they never seem to break in and when you crank them they're very hard. Cow over time seems to break in better and has a softer feel, even when cranked up.
PC

My favourite mix is Remo nuskyn on the macho and a good quality cow on the hembra....gives an outstanding top and that nice rounded bottom.

Mmmmmmm that reminds me of another of my preferences

Dice

POST REMOVED BY THE AUTHOR

What were you using to record this? It sounds nice and uncolored and gives a good basis for comparison.

A sony HDR XR 100 hand cam. nicle little digital model, uploaded straight to the computer.
PC