did I screw up?

[vinnieL]

Ok I posted on another thread that I ended up buying a matador set. Well now i'm reading elsewhere that the initial best set up is the quinto and the tumbadora. I have the 11" quinto and the 11 3/4 conga as they describe on lp's website. Should I have bought the quinto and the tumbadora? The tumbadora is 12 1/2. But don't get me wrong i love the set just wondering about the sizes.



Edited By vinnieL on 1184560458

[bongosnotbombs]

I've heard it is best two have the drums that are next to each other,
quinto-conga or conga-tumba, quinto-tumba sets are kind of far apart in their interval tuning...conga-tumba sets are most typical.
But some people have that kind of set and tune them to where they match, but for sure, you did'nt screw up, although the tumba is the typical starter drum...that was my first conga, a matador tumba.



Edited By bongosnotbombs on 1184560803

[vinnieL]

The reason I ask all this is because i can still exchange one or the other and they have the tumba in the same color in stock.

[Charangaman]

Conga and Tumba is the way forward in my humble opinion... It depends what sound you want though..

[caballoballo]

Down here in the eastern Caribbean (Puerto Rico)Congueros are using two 12.5 as their set up in the Salsa bands. I do not see Quintos too much other than in rumba jammings.

[CongaTick]

Vinnie,

I picked up an Ardiente quinto/conga set and (with new mules) love em. The quinto punches nicely through rock/pop and can be tuned town if prefered. It's really a question of personal taste but bongosnot is right-- it's usual to have them paired (quinto/conga, conga/tumba). Congrats and enjoy the hell out of them

[pcastag]

For salsa you're definitely better off with the bigger tubs, conga and tumba, I've seen some timba players use quinto and tumba, but the timba ride is very distinct from salsa.It's usually better to learn on bigger drums anyways, more space for your hands, etc. for pop music , funk etc. the quinto is nice to have as percussion adds more of an embellishment than providong the main groove as in salsa.

PC

[Derbeno]

You will get as many opinion re the preferred combination as there are replies. The consistent factor is that you need a Tumba. So if at all possible change one of your tubs to a Tumba

For what it's worth I prefer the quinto/tumba combination and will add the conga to my left for the more melodic stuff.

[bongosnotbombs]

If you can still exchange them I would recommend replacing the quinto for the tumba.
Quintos are also usually cheaper, so it is easier to add them later, if you have the cash now get the tumba, they usually cost the most.

[109-1176549166]

Hi VinnieL,

First of all, big congratulations on getting your Matadors!

Although, personally, the Matadors are not my first choice (the Meinl Luis Conte is), they're still an excellent choice for starter congas. There are just too many positive testimonials about the Matadors; you simply can't go wrong with them.

I happen to have a copy of the classic video of the great Cuban percussionist, Jose Luis "Changuito" Quintana entitled, "Evolution Of The Tumbadoras". He's pretty firm about this:

Conga and tumba are for grooving and rhythm, even with riffs. Quinto is for soloing, as in rumba playing.

I agree. I happen to have all 3 drums but I follow Changuito's rule.

My humble recommendation to you is to return the quinto and replace it with the Matador tumba, for now. You can get the quinto later if you become good enough to be playing solo. IMO, you'll be happier in the long run.

Hope this helps,



Edited By mjtuazon on 1184609585

[taikonoatama]

Segundo/Tumba vs. Quinto/Tumba: Pros and Cons:

Segundo/Tumba:
The tonal characterics of this combination are the standard for most of the 2-drum rhythms you'll play. The sizes and designs of these drums are optimized for these tones, and it's ideal if the tonal qualities are related - i.e., a matched set of drums of the same maker. It's not as important for the quinto to be matched, especially for something like rumba, so you can always add a quinto later more easily than finding a segundo to match your tumba.

As mentioned, quintos are mostly for soloing, which is not something you should really be working on for quite awhile yet. Of course, there are folkloric rhythms where the tumba and not the quinto is the lead drum, such as bembe, but that doesn't really figure into the segundo vs. quinto debate so much.

Quinto/Tumba:
The only good reason I can think of for quinto/tumba is related to tuning a conga beyond its normal tonal range. Generally speaking, you can tune down and still have a halfway reasonable tone, but when you push a drum, and tighten it up much beyond the frequency for which it's made, it often starts to sound really bad - ringy and without any depth to the tone. Depends on the drum, but this is a common issue with a lot of drums - they have a very narrow sweet spot in their tuning range, with the degradation in tonal quality falling off much faster going up past the sweet spot than down.

So, what that means for this discussion is that if you had a quinto, you could tune down to a segundo level and get by for now (especially as a beginner), but if you had a segundo, you might not be able to crank it up to quinto level without it sounding bad. A lot depends on the type of music you're playing. This is especially true for rumba, where you'd have to seriously crank up a segundo to get anywhere close to the high tone you need, and it could get very ugly. Whether or not your segundo can sound good as a quinto really depends so much on the drum and how high you crank it.

My vote: Segundo/Tumba (especially thinking long term).



Edited By taikonoatama on 1184638411

[OLSONGO]

conga and tumba,way to go. I can tune my conga to sound like a quinto , my third drum is a super tumba. At times I add a quinto.

Paz OLSONGO

[109-1176549166]

I've read that Luis Conte uses 2 congas (instead of a quinto and conga) and 1 tumba. But, this is "light years" ahead for most beginners.

His main conga ("macho") is tuned 4 steps higher than his tumba ("hembra"). His 2nd conga (or "segunda") is tuned 1 step below the main conga or 3 steps above the tumba.

BTW, it's Changuito who's one among many, who calls the conga as "macho" and the tumba as "hembra", similar to how the smaller and bigger drums of the bongos are called, respectively.

[ozrivera]

Saludos Hermanos
go with the bigger set, youll harldy ever see a quinto set up on stage. i also like the space on the playing surface. i have big hands and playing on the quinto can be a bit cumbersome sometimes.

good luck

Oz

[vinnieL]

I have returned the quinto and now have the 11 3/4 conga with a 12.5 tumba. Thank you all for your input.