meinl mongo signature congas - any opinoins on them

[rumbaman]

How's everyone out there . I would like to have some feed back on the mongo signature congas since i am in the market for another set . I own a set of meinl exclusives now but want to up grade.
thanks

[ABAKUA]

Those be them right? Pidoca from here uses these congas, he is more than happy with their sound and quality.
Being from Meinl's top range they are a good quality drum.

Also available in 'special edition' series:




More info available on the MEINL PERCUSSION WEBSITE (click here)

Cheers.

[pidoca]

G'day, as Abukua said I do have a set of these. They are wonderful. Very musical. When it comes to choosing top of the line congas there are only very minor differences from all of the major manufactures. I have used other brands and have come back to the MEINLs. I love the look and feel of them. they are made out of american white ash. the gold hardware sets the wood off. Good enough for mongo; good enough for me.

god bless
pidoca
http://www.cabritamusic.com

[zaragemca]

I just like the idea that it was dedicated to Mongo Santamaria.Dr. Zaragemca

[ABAKUA]

Hey all, I got to test some Meinl Mongo Santamaria series out (thanks to Pidoca) tonight (just got home, its 5am..) in a gig I had with an afro-cuban/hip hop/funk/raggae band...

While impressed with the high quality of the drum, both wood and hardware, I was extremely dissapointed with the white "True Skin" skins.
The Tumba was ok, nice big deep tone, great base tone also.

But the quinto skin left much to be desired for (within marcha context), it lacked the crispyness and warm sound I have become used to with my LP drums. The quinto lacked body and projection, producing a very flat type of sound with almost no definition and open tones could almost not be distinguished from muted tones... No amount of different tuning could help it.

If that is the standard kind of skin Meinl is using on their drums, I can see why they are having popularity problems in cracking the market here, especially amongst latin percussionists.

I was sadly dissapointed, I was expecting big things from this line of Tumbadoras.



Edited By ABAKUA on 1120374967

[gilbert]

hey

i've got the meinl mongo Santamaria signature congas

you're right about the skins but thats the way with all the other brands concerning skins

but i have a little problem with my quinto , there is a big distance between the skin playing area and the Rim (i dont know if thats normal )
i'm just waiting to put the Remo Nuskyn on them to see the difference

other than that i'm quiet satisfied with the finishing and the sound

[zaragemca]

I don't think the distance between the surface and the rims is going to be a problem Gilbert,it is the other way around,in the early design a lot of percussionists had problem hitting the heels of the hands with the Rims becouse it was to close to the surface,the distance,avoid just that,the crispyness of the stroke is going to depends on the diameter of the Quinto,the thickness of the skin,the type of skin,the type of shells,the tuning,and ultimate the skills of the percussionist.Dr. Zaragemca



Edited By zaragemca on 1120339318

[gilbert]

I don't think the distance between the surface and the rims is going to be a problem Gilbert,it is the other way around,in the early design a lot of percussionists had problem hitting the heels of the hands with the Rims becouse it was to close to the surface,the distance,avoid just that,the crispyness of the stroke is going to depends on the diameter of the Quinto,the thickness of the skin,the type of skin,the type of shells,the tuning,and ultimate the skills of the percussionist.Dr. Zaragemca

actually the distance i'm talking about is double the distance of the other congas like giovanni signature or toca

[rumbaman]

Thank you all for your insights on these drums

Thanks rumbaman

[gilbert]

hey guys

i've changed the heads of my mongo santamaria congas i'm using now the Remo Nuskyn
and i have a wonderfull sound
i'm glad i got this sound because i was willing to sell them just because of the skins