Meinl Headliner vs Gon Bops Tumbao congas? - BEst conga set?

[hillsi]

hi guys,

Im looking for a sub £300 conga set of which i am really keen on the meinl headliner range. I have however just come across the Gon Bops Tumbao series which are roughly the same price? Any opinions/advice on either series would be really appreciated.

many thanks

luke

[bongo]

In my opinion the new Gon Bop Tumbao line is no different from all the other cheap Asian imports.

I'm not a fan of Meinl either, they try to fix them up nice, but at their core are just another Asian import too.

Now to qualify what I say, many of the Asian drums show good craftmanship and can be beautiful and many people love them it seems, so I don't mean to put them down except to say I do not prefer them myself.

The things I have problems with is the thin water buffalo heads which ring too much, and the smooth rubberwood shells which have a hollowness in sound. I do not admire the marketing practices either that lable a rubberwood as 'Siam Oak' and attach a famous name such as Gon Bop to a drum that does not resembles the originals.

[bongosnotbombs]

For this price range, buying new, just about anything you get will be about the same quality.
If possible I would buy a better set that has been used for the same price.

[pcastag]

I agree with buying a better set used, however I have been very impressed with the sound from the gon bops asian produced drums. I've bought a pair of the custom California series and the sound is awesome, however I played their tumbaos that a conguero had at one of our gigs and they sounded just as good as LP matadors for much less the price!
PC

[niallgregory]

hi guys,

Im looking for a sub £300 conga set of which i am really keen on the meinl headliner range. I have however just come across the Gon Bops Tumbao series which are roughly the same price? Any opinions/advice on either series would be really appreciated.

many thanks

luke

If you have £300 sterling to spend go to thommann.de and there are some nice congas in that price range .Avoid headliner bigtime .The next range up from meinl are excellent for the money .

[hillsi]

thanks for the advice guys, much appreciated



Edited By hillsi on 1189931378