LP MATADOR vs MEINL PRO

[bongosnotbombs]

My first conga was a Matador tumba made of wood.
It sounded good and had a water buffalo skin
I sold it because it was too heavy to take on the
trains to my classes all the time.

It was a good drum.

I replaced it with a vintage LP fiberglass drum, and
have built a set of vintage LP fiberglass drums now.
I put some very nice very thick cow skins on those.

The fiberglass drums also sound great. and are much lighter.

That said, none of these drums match the sound of my friends Skin on Skins. My drums sound good, but not as good as the SOS's, thats for sure.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1201034403

[Jongo]

My first conga was an old beat up conga made in Mexico but then when I was ready I did my research and I went for a Matador conga. I think you cannot go wrong with Matador. Since then I have added a tumba and a quinto and I love all three of them. I changed the heads the other day to some really good quality skins and the drums sound even better! With a thicker higher quality skin they sound more full with less ring but still have a good sharp slap. I am still really happy with my Matadors, they are really good quality at an affordable price. Now one thing I will have to say is that I bought mine before LP was owned by Kaman. I don't know if production has changed or anything, I doubt it but I don't know. The fiberglass is the same story, a great drum at a great price. The hardware and shell are great just the heads will need to be upgraded at some point.

Just a thought, I am as guilty of this as anyone. We all debate which is better between LP, Toca, Meinl etc. I suspect they are all made in the same exact factory in Thailand with different hardware and badges. Well, Meinl does have the belly a little higher...

[bongosnotbombs]

A guy I know has an older Matador, pre -Kaman with a traditional rim, I play on this drum frequently..
My old drum was a comfort rim Kaman Matador, and a friend of mine has a set of 3 Matador's with comfort rims.
I couldn't really say there was any difference in the quality that I noticed.
As far as sound they all sounded good, different but thats more of a skin/ tuning thing than anything to do with the build quality of the drum.