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Thread: Pearl Travel Conga

  1. #1

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    Default Pearl Travel Conga

    I would like to share the merits of the Pearl Travel Congas. They are good drums and with modification they become great. They are superior in tone and feel (in my opinion) to the LP Compact Congas.

    First the Pearls have 3 sizes 11, 11 3/4 and 12 1/2 to LP's 2 sizes 11and 11 3/4.

    Second the Pearl is all wood and has a nice warm full bodied tone that the LP lacks with a steel frame.

    Pearl uses a nice Remo Fiberskyn while LP has a Evans heads. (No contest Remo smokes Evans)

    The Pearl lacks a good slap and the LP beats the Pearl only here with a crack. I prefeer open tones to slaps anyway. The LP sounds unnatural and like plastic and steel that it is.

    An ideal set is the 3 Pearls with a 11" LP Compact conga for slaps or the one I use. I use 3 Pearls and a Daniel de los Reyes practice drum that is a hot 10" Requinto with a brighter slap and fuller tone than the LP. This set of Pearls and the Reyes practice drum beats many new full size conga sets for tone.

    I will follow up with my modifcations next.

    Peace and Play that thing!

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Modifcations for the Pearls to make them sing are pretty simple but make a huge difference.

    1) Remove the heads and oil the interior of the shells with Tung Oil.

    2) Add duct tape to the underside of the Fyberskyn heads to dampen the overtones or use your own prefeered method.

    3) On the bolts and nuts of the tuning hardware apply Lithium grease.

    4) Add a rubber bottom to each drum. Glue or otherwise fasten a sound off rubber pad, rubber tread or mouse pad material. This will allow the shell to resonate freely. If this is not done then the shell will be muffled by other surfaces.

    5) The Reyes Practice drum sounds best with the holes in the metal shell closed up to create a resonant chamber. (I will experiment with lining this with an all wood interior to sweeten up the tone soon. I will post the results.)

    I tuned my set a little untradionally but they sing together. I tuned the set to E1 Tumba, B1 Conga, D1 Quinto and E2 Requinto. This is very melodic but tune to your own taste if you like.

    Afterwards play that thing. It will make you smile.

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    I have seen vids of the travel congas and they seem to be very nice. I remember one of the members on here a while ago saying how nice they were too.

    At one time I was keeping my eye on a set for myself but never went thru with the purchase.
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  4. #4

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Gone fishin',

    Thanks for the comment.

    I have a friend of mine that is switching over to these compact congas exclusively. He previously had several different sets (Volcano, Gon Bops, Isla, LP Paladium, and many others) and after playing my customized set he was sold. He has some future space issues and these will do the trick.

    This set is the percussionist's opportunity to pack up for a gig like a horn player. A set of 4 takes up the same amount of space as one conga but packs the punch of a full set of congas.

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Sweet. And you should get in touch with this guy for the frame:
    http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?xl=xl_blazer&v=UXquHyj80xk

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    The link does not work. Can you re-post it?

  7. #7

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Last edited by musiqman; 09-07-2016 at 03:49 PM.

  8. #8

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Hi Jerry Bembe i have read your modifications to the pearl travel congas, i have just ordered them, but wd love to customize them.. i would need some help how much duct tape and where do you paste it?
    how big, what shape, and where do you paste the rubber pad? i think the oil and the grease i wd preffer to avoid it does it make a big difference??
    thanks a lot for your help..
    i think a video would rock the web, i have heard many people trying to find a better way to improve the sound of the pearl travels... thanks for your help, i hope you can help me!!!! cheers!!

  9. #9

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    cant open the links...

  10. #10

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    I like your tunings.As a semi-pro player i have lp requinto/quinto pair.Also 3 sizes of pearl travel congas.Suits me as a disabled player.My tunings are:-requinto d-quinto a -then pearl quinto c-conga g -tumba low e.You get so many advantages melodic+otherwise.It also means of course that you can play any style of music in one performance.

  11. #11

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    Default Re: Pearl Travel Conga

    Hi all first post here, so please be gentle. I am thinking of getting a pearl travel conga, I have not seen one in the flesh, I liked the LP version but agreed it was a little "plastic sounding". Looking at the pictures on a Google search it looks enclosed at the bottom is this correct? Has anyone got any further opinions on these before I pull the trigger on one/some. Many thanks Paul.

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