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Hello everybody my first post and what a great site it is.
Mambo Bell or Timbale Bell? Could someone please tell me the difference or are they one & the same?
Many thanks been scratching my head too long on this.
John

Welcome John,

do you refer to the instrument or the rhythm played on it?

If you referred to the instrument, the name would not really matter. In Spanish, it's either cencerro or campana. The denominations "Mambo Bell" or "Timbale Bell" are probably being suggested in a commercial percussion catalogue. If you want to differentiate it from the smaller bell on a timbal set, you could just say "large bell" as well. Both bells are "timbale bells". The sound of the bigger bell became first associated with bigger orchestras that played Mambo-style Afro-Cuban Jazz, but was used in all styles ever since (Salsa, Timba etc.). The smaller bell is typical for charanga orchestrations, where it was first used in the mambo section of the Danzón, which later became the Cha Cha Chá. But the bell that Guillermo Barreto plays on the famous Panart Descarga recordings is also a relatively small bell, apparently the model sold by the Ludwig drum company at that time. So the nomenclature of "Chacha Bell" as opposed to "Charanga Bell" would be equally obsolete, and simply and exclusively a marketing device of a big percussion company. You could call the small bell a "Mambo Bell", too!

Thomas

As above stated above by Thomas, its very common amongst Latino/Afro Cuban percussionists or Timbaleros/Timbale players to refer to the small bell as the chacha bell, and the large bell as the mambo bell or campana de mambo or campana de montuno/montuno bell.

In answer to your question, Mambo bell is referred to as the large one. Timbale bell does not specify any particular bell, both Chacha bell and mambo bell (etc) are modern Timbale bells. Artists such as Rlaph Irizarry commonly use many bells in their set ups (primarilly in Latin Jazz or Descarga settings)

Thank You Guys,
Thats why this forum is a cut above the rest.
Both really helpful replys.
Sincerely,
John

What the guys have told you is true. However, in the mass producers...there is a difference.

The mambo bell tends to be a high pitch bell and normally its mouth is wider...Is to mirror the bells from the "mambo era"...(Tito Puente?????)

Timbale bell??????? Well, the tone and pitch is lower but not that low, and dryer and its mouth is less opened and is a flat bell.... What is called a timbale bell is as a result of the demand throughout the years a drier sounding timbale bell with overtones. The salsa genre caused this...

Hence, the differene of a timbale bell, that is suppose to follow the "new trend". The mambo is the original sound...

All that I mentioned is not necessarily true but is the sound that makes the difference...The mass producers did this for a marketing purpose. (Timbale bells also because of their dry sound could be used for the bongo bell).

The custom makers make a timbale bell that depending on the pitch could said are more in the "mambo bell" tradition and some in the timbale bell...(Example: I have JCR bells that have the attributes that I mentioned. One big mouth with high pich and lots of flatter, drier sounds).

Is all marketing and preference of sound.....

Saludos!

Thank You Raymond.

It's often the same thing. On Timbales, it's customary to have a clave block, a Cha Cha (smallest bell) and a middle bell (Timbale bell, or Mambo Bell). The biggest one in the family is the Bongo Bell, which bongo players usually carry or a latin-jazz drummer might have on their kit as an attachment (to substitute for a bongo player's role when there is no bongo player).

Within those basic 3 models (chacha, mambo, bongo bell), there are many variations. Some are longer...some are deeper sounding, some are higher sounding....some are designed to complement each other (as in LP's High and Low Timbale bells)...but...the basic structure is the same.

Chacha's are usually used to play quarter note Chacha patterns (and the occassional improvisation or 3 or 4 stroke ruff for effects).

Mambo bells or Timbale Bells are usually used to perform the Mambo bell pattern, or to be used in any of the new creative bell/clave mix patterns that are common in Timba or Mozambique.

Bongo Bells tend to keep their "KiKI-PUM" pattern, though they can also be used in ways imitating the cascara pattern on Timbales or imitating Agogo Bells from Samba, etc.

IF someone screams at you, "play the Mambo Bell", more often than not, they're telling you to play the larger bell on Timbales (the middle one between Chacha and Bongo Bells).

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I will say that I am a fan of JCR's Half-Moon bells. I picked one up for my pops and he is happy with it in his leedy setup.

I do not remember if he replaces a bell or is running three bells...he mostly plays salsa.

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Sent you a private message leedy2.