HOME | COMMUNITY | CONGAVIDEOS | CONGAMP3 | CONGASCORES | CONGAGALLERY | STORE

by **korman** » Mon May 22, 2006 9:48 am

Hi all,

I am a beginning player from Riga, Latvia. Recently one of the music stores has started carrying drums by Sonor, a german company.

Has anyone of you any experience with their bongos (or congas)? They are moderately priced, so I'm considering them, but the brand is unknown.

I'm thinking about these ones http://tinyurl.com/jjgxg
what do you think about this rim style?

Kristaps

by **Smejmoon** » Mon May 22, 2006 11:03 am

korman wrote:I am a beginning player from Riga, Latvia. Recently one of the music stores has started carrying drums by Sonor, a german company.

Sveiks Kristap!

Which shop is selling Sonor bongos?

I'd suggest you tuning them, playing them, and then going down to "Tava Skaņa", taking different Meinl bongos, tuning them, playing them..

Ģirts

http://www.yoursound.lv/cont.php?n=1

Mūzikas preču veikals "Tava Skaņa"

Dzirnavu iela 113 (Upīša Pasāža)
Rīga LV-1011 Latvia

tālr.7504499 (Mūzikas Instrumenti)
tālr.7502507 (Skaņa un Gaisma)
fax. 7504498

e-mail sales@yoursound.lv

by **korman** » Tue May 30, 2006 11:51 am

"Muzikas centrs" on Blaumaņa str have Sonor drums.

I've tested Meinls, but am not satisfied with them, or at least the ones that shop has.
Models with comfort curves are actually not as comfortable to play traditionally (bewtween legs), but the trad-rim FWB500 is too heavy (and expensive!). Furthermore, free ride system does not allow for rotation of drum hardware.
They all ring no matter how I try to tune them, so stock heads would need to be changed, and that again is harder to do with comfort rims.

K

by **tjaderized** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:21 pm

The Meinl Woodcraft feature traditional rims and cowhide and are okay. But they are heavy! They had a traditionally built series made from different types of wood a few years ago, which almost sounded like my beloved old Gon Bops bongos, but it seems they are sold out.
Comfort curves do not allow for proper tuning: the rim is so strong it is not elastic enough to allow a little bending to balance uneven portions of the head. To me comfort curves is just a marketing idea for selling bongos to players with bad technique.

by **tjaderized** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:36 pm

The Meinl WB300SNT-M is about the closest to traditional you can get with them.

by **tjaderized** » Tue May 30, 2006 1:53 pm

I would try the Sonor GBW 7850 Global Bongo if they have it - seems to be simple and Cuban style. But it looks a little frail ....

by **tjaderized** » Tue May 30, 2006 2:14 pm

I would try the Sonor GBW 7850 Global Bongo if they have it - seems to be simple and Cuban style. But it looks a little frail ....

by **Smejmoon** » Wed May 31, 2006 1:34 am

Those FWB500 are the best I've seen for sale in Latvia; eventhough I have not seen Sonors. I personaly own FWB400 and they are second best here.

Seems that you have more experience than I do in bongos. Anyway feel free to contact me if I can be of any help. I'm not a real bongo player now, I use them as substitue for congas and timbales in live gigs.

by **korman** » Wed May 31, 2006 6:32 am

tjaderized wrote:I would try the Sonor GBW 7850 Global Bongo if they have it - seems to be simple and Cuban style. But it looks a little frail ....

Yes, those were also the best sounding. Hardware seems to be good and fits well, the wood (hevea brasiliensis) is the same as Meinl use, but the shells are thinner than on Meinls.

So I'm afraid how those thinner shells would behave in longer term, because I like to tune bongos high. I guess if I bought them I would have to be very careful about even tuning so as not to warp the wood. How do you think, would fiberglassing help?

by **franc** » Thu Jun 01, 2006 2:51 am

at least i saw a pair of Sonor brass timbales in the music store that i go to and was impressed. they looked awsome and well made. they were not tune, I tried the cascara and loved the sound. i reviewed them as ahead of the ''matador timbales'' a humble opinion, ache to all, franc :rock:

by **Firebrand** » Tue Aug 08, 2006 3:23 pm

My only experience with Sonor have been Sonor Cubano congas.

They look sturdy and a little skinnier than Fiberglass models from LP.

Their sound was very "dead"...not a lot of high pitch, but it could be the Water Buffalo skins on t hem. I can't tell if better heads will change the sound.

The depth of their tone was less than a Matador's, though...they didn't have a deep tone.

So...I didn't like Sonors too much.

Hope that helps.

HOME | COMMUNITY | CONGAVIDEOS | CONGAMP3 | CONGASCORES | CONGAGALLERY | STORE

congaplace.com

Sonor percussion? - Any opinions, experience?

Who is online