Pearl Travel Conga - first impressions

[studio7conga]

Was pretty on-the-fence about needing one of these, but with the weather warming up, the portability seemed really tempting. Got my Pearl 11" Travel Conga from Musician's Friend today. Simple packaging with the solid feeling conga in plastic wrap. Played it next to my 11 3/4" and 12 1/2" LP classics and found a noticeable difference in tone that was about what I expected. Noticeably less bass tone (obviously) as the PTC has a closed backside. I've never played a synthetic head before and playing the PTC sure makes me want to try a Fiberskyn head on my LP's. Warmth of wood with presence of the synthetics would be nice, I'd imagine.
All in all, I'm impressed. Would've liked to have the chance to try the drum next to the LP Compact Conga. Anyone have any thoughts on those? I went with the Pearl mainly because of the head.
Before I received the PTC, I was sure I'd want to explore mounting options - snare stand works apparently, but now that I have the drum, I'm not so sure. It fits really nicely on my lap, even when integrated into my full setup. I wonder how the LP Compacts fit on the lap since they are open-bottom design.
Any who - that's all for now.

[Psych1]

Good buy! I've been impressed with the PTC too. Not like the big boys but a pretty full sound. Much bigger than the LP's. I've only played them in showrooms and music stores tho. Pearl also makes a very nice heavy-duty snare stand with lots of adjustment - stand makes a big difference. I'm getting a set to travel with.

[onile]

Alafia Abures Mi!
I hope that you are well and abundantly blessed!

I actually have four PTCs (Pearl Travel Congas) and as far as mounting systems go, I tried the "snare stand" option, didn't like it when playing out with them....the stands danced too much. I wound up creating this stand you see here in my video, which is the only one of its kind to my knowledge, but you could get creative and make one of your own. As for sound, I only use this set on my corporate gigs (mainly background music), there's nothing like the full bodied sound of my Matthew Smith's.

You'll grow to enjoy the sound and the feel of the synthetic heads on your PTCs!

Suave!
Onile!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXquHyj80xk

[Jerry Bembe]

I have a set of 3 of these PTCs and a 10" Daniel los Reys practice conga.

I customized these and they sound phat and very tonal. I added a rubber backing to all of these so the shell would resonate freely. I tuned the fiberskyn heads with weather stripping and duct tape on the bottom side in the shell. I bent a strip of paneling inside the Los Reys to seal the shell. I tuned the 12 1/2" and 10" to C an octave apart and the 11 3/4" to E and the 11" to G. It is great.

Still they ain't the real thing but the modifcations help a great deal with the tone.

Try it out and let me know what you think. I discovered the rubber pad concept because I found the PTCs sounded better on a towel and I did not want to bother with towels all the time.

[onile]

I know that there of those of us on here who are "die-hard" traditionalists, and that may not like the sound of the Pearl Travel Congas (PTCs), so with your forgiveness......I submit the following development that I've been working on for a while.

I use my PTCs for mainly my Corporate Gigs, background music mainly. As many of you might remember, I designed a stand that incorporated all 4, or even 3 PTCs on one stand, but it was still a bit heavy and somewhat costly to put together. This concerned me, especially the weight, so I looked for a lighter material to use, and came up with the aluminum tubing which Roland V-drums use. Very lightweight, and somewhat reasonably priced if you can find a used set on Ebay, which is what I did. I DID have to order a special item which allowed me to use the proper shafts on top of the verticle tubes, it's called a "Cymbal Arm Assembly" and it attaches to the end (end cap) on the verticle tubes. I did have to bore out the hole with a 1/2" bore, the CAA came with a slightly smaller hole. Once all of this was completed, it works like it was made to.....perfect, and is considerably lighter in weight, sturdy and realtively good looking.......

I'm waiting to recieve the 4th CAA which I ordered last week, that's why the 4th tube is without one.

here are a couple of pics....

(BTW!) The center (vortex) of the stand which the main drum is mounted to has butterfly like connectors which allow me to loosen and tighten the attachemts for the two side drum of the stand. I loosen them and fold the outer two legs inward for storing or hauling to a gig, once on the gig, I fold them out to the desired angle, and tighten them for the gig.

[Gallichio]

Onile, Great stand!

I have played Jerry Bembe's PTC with his modification and they sound awesome. A pleasure and fun to play.

[congamyk]

(BTW!) The center (vortex) of the stand which the main drum is mounted to has butterfly like connectors which allow me to loosen and tighten the attachemts for the two side drum of the stand. I loosen them and fold the outer two legs inward for storing or hauling to a gig, once on the gig, I fold them out to the desired angle, and tighten them for the gig.

Very cool!

I have a set of 3 of these PTCs and a 10" Daniel los Reys practice conga.

Jerry do you have photos of the modifications you did?

Also, I have seen the ads for the Daniel los Reys practice conga, but can't find a video or one for sale anywhere.
What do you think of it? I wish I could see it played and hear the sound.
I don't know if these were cancelled due to poor sales or if nobody carries them anymore.

[Jerry Bembe]

I have a set of 3 of these PTCs and a 10" Daniel los Reys practice conga.

Jerry do you have photos of the modifications you did?

Yes, I can do this sometime soon.

Also, I have seen the ads for the Daniel los Reys practice conga, but can't find a video or one for sale anywhere.
What do you think of it? I wish I could see it played and hear the sound.
I don't know if these were cancelled due to poor sales or if nobody carries them anymore.[/quote]

I noticed that the Travel Congas were more resonant when I played them on top of a towel on a table. I attached round rubber padding to promote the resonance. I also used duct tape under the Remo heads inside to muffle the plastic tone.

The Reys drum is 10", so it makes a nic Requinto for the Pearl set. The metal frame has several holes so I cut and bent a piece of wood paneling to line the inside of the drum. This made a nice resonant body like the Pearls.

I am a better drum technician than conguero though. I am not bad but not great either so I am a bit shy with posting my playing online.

[burke]

Found this in the UK - seems to be the only place though
http://www.musicradar.com/gear/all/drum ... 215/review

Interesting idea to be able to flip them and use them as practice timbales - but worth the money being asked in that ad - not for me. You could but practice drum pads for your PTC's for a lot cheaper if thats what you wanted to do.

[burke]

MY BAD! When I looked closer I saw it wasn't an ad but a review - the price at the top made it look like an ad.

Sorry bout that

[burke]

Looks like this is the manufacturer
http://www.dwdrums.com/smartpractice/signature.asp

and they have a lot of dealers in the US - maybe find a local dealer and see if its in the DW's catalog?