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My congas have finally arrived. They are Pearl Primero Pro congas 11 3/4 and 12 1/2 in natural finish. I am still working on tuning them, but I have been playing them ever since they got here at 12:30 p.m. They've been long awaited and long anticipated. I am really happy with them and I know they'll sound even better when the skins break in. I think that they're a great beginner set especially if you're on a tight budget like I was. There just isn't anything else out there where you get two traditional sized congas for $350. They're good drums and a good value. I can't wait to start practicing with Tomas Cruz tomorrow. Here they are

Congratulations Conguera2!

They look much nicer than anticipated, and the sizes you mentioned are great at that price. You seem to have landed a smokin' deal Chica!
Great Job!

Now, get back to practicing............

Many blessings!

Onile!

Excellent choice of drums.
Keep it up!

Thanks Onile and BND,

They are a lot nicer than I thought they would be and with the 10% off coupon I used they only cost me $323.10 with free shipping. I'm very happy with them. I have never heard of or met anyone who's played them or owned them, but I took a chance and I'm very glad I did. I don't have a lot to compare them to because the only other congas I've played were a set of LP Aspire's 10" and 11", Sonor Champion's 10"and 11'", Meinl Headliner's 10" and 11" and a set of LP Performer Series congas. All of the drums I listed were display models at two music stores near me and none of them were really tuned, but my congas out of the box sounded better than all the drums I listed. I've also played a set of LP Palisades Park fiberglass congas that have sat in my church for the last 20-30 years. However they're not tuned either and both heads are long past dead. Also the conga head is busted open from the seam. Even with all of that wrong I can still tell that those LP's are some really good drums. One of these days I might buy some heads for them.

I still haven't gotten a hang of the tuning and I'm pretty sure my congas would sound better if I did. I have a pitch pipe around here somewhere I'll just have to look for it. Has anyone ever used a guitar tuner on congas before ? I'm just curious. I better go look for my pitch pipe and get back to practicing. I hope everyone is having a great day.

Nice set!

Enjoy your babies and try not get too hung up about tuning, you will know when they sound good as you play two drum patterns.

The great sound coming out of a set of Congas has a lot more to do with the player's technique rather than the tuning (IMHO)

Enjoy your new Congas and have Fun.

Congratulations Sweet looking drums, good luck in your drum quest.

conguera2,

Congratulations! Great-looking congas for the price and great sizes to start with!

Derbeno is right. Develop, polish and (to the best of your abilities) perfect your technique first before you even consider adding a 3rd drum, upgrading your factory-supplied skins or upgrading to more expensive drums. Your Pearl Primero Pro congas should serve you well for many years to come.

All the best,

I just spent over 30 minutes searching the data base here for a topic on tuning congas.. Unbelievable! I must be an idiot! I couldn't find one! Not one!
Anybody want to help with where we did all our hints on how to tune congas? Thanks,

Dave

Those are nice drums and a great value.

your congas look like my pearl elite... am curious how they're different

JC quality of this video you posted is amazing when compare to last one I saw Congrats!

Thank you everybody for the congratulations. I am loving this. It's like getting my new keyboard all over again. I don't know it might be better than that. I didn't realize I would love playing the congas so much. I didn't even want to go to bed last night. After only one day my skins already look a little better.

Victorious,
On Pearl's website it states that the Primero Pro congas have the same hardware, are made out of the same wood, and have the same heads on them as the Elites. So I'm not sure what warrants them to be $250 cheaper than the Elites. Johnny conga had Elite congas before not Primero Pro. I've never played the Elites, but seeing as both drums are made out of the same materials I can't imagine them sounding much different. The only difference I could find is that the Elites have a handle. I'm not planning on giggling anytime soon, so a handle wasn't important for me.

I've been practicing like crazy the last two days and I surprised myself because my slap is actually starting to sound like a slap almost every time I attempt it. I thought it would be much harder for me to produce a sound that sounded anything like a slap. I gave up on tuning them last night when I just couldn't hear it, but I'm going to try again today. I thought tuning would be easier since I can tune my bass and a guitar by ear quite well, but it's just so different with a drum. At least for me it is.

P.S.
Is the little container of stuff that came with my congas lug lube ? Also how and when should I apply it ? Thanks again everyone.

Here is a tuning thread - again the main thing being the interval between - a fourth (not so much a specific note)

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=4135&p=41816&hilit=tuning#p41816

JConga wrote:there isn't a conga that ANYONE owns here that can stand up to or compare to Volcano's

JC I don't personally know you but what I have learned about you is that you are one of the moderators of this forum and that you are a very experienced and respected conguero, I've read some of your awesome post, I've seen your instructional videos, thank you for sharing your wonderful talent with us, that having been said, I have to say that I am really surprised and disappointed that someone like you, of your caliber would make such a bold and degrading statement to the rest of us who are not privileged to own a set of Volcanos, I must say that I feel somewhat offended by it, if anything, this attitude, especially from someone who is endorsing Volcano, discourages me from ever wanting to own a set of Volcanos, I mean, man if you have a beef with someone on this site deal with it, I believe that that is one of the reason why this site offers PM's, It's not fair that you would make such a statement and take it out on all the rest of us. JC I'm sorry but I don't know how else to put it. Peace & respect.