As an old-school conguero, I've always felt the bigger (and sometimes heavier) the conga, the bigger the sound. Unfortunately, it also means bigger and heavier loads to haul to and from gigs (especially if you play two or three congas and a pair of bongos like I do. And without a roadie, that can be a pain in the neck (and points south).

I wasn't sure I'd like the LP Giovanni Compact Congas and Bongos; to me they looked so small I thought they'd sound something like toys.

I was wrong! Considering that Giovanni Hidalgo worked with LP in their design, I shouldn't have expected less than the best. Giovanni's signature appears on the heads--the conga head was made for LP by Evans (first time I've seen anything besides "Hand Picked" on an LP drumhead), by the way. The bongo heads (full size 7 1/4" and 8 5/8", BTW) may also be from Evans, but there was no indication on the bongos I played. I also played the 11" compact conga (an 11 3/4" size is also available), and I have almost no beefs about them.

They resemble the head and hoop sections of comparable congas and bongos minus the shells. The rims, which resemble the comfort-curve rims of regular LP products, are made of an aluminum alloy that makes them light, easy to handle, and comfortable to play even when you're doing serious rolls and slaps at high speed.

The samples I played were tuned a little bit too high, but the conga sounded the way a high-tuned conga should; the pops and cracks were spot-on for me. But that's no problem, since it is tunable with a drum key. Makes it easier to tune them all at once and you don't have to worry about misplacing a separate bongos/congas wrench.

You know my dislike of sticks on hand percussion, but if you play that way, the heads will stand up to heavy-handed sticking (great if you're playing them like tenors in a drumline). And they can be muted if need be for quiet practicing!

LP offers a bracket that lets you set the congas and bongos on a conventional snare stand; and, as some of you already know, they can be easily mounted on a drum rack.

These compact congas and bongos have passed the test of time (they won the 2003 Musikmesse International Press Award for "Most Innovative Instrument")...and, while I'm a little late in the game for this review, I can see--and hear--why they're winners. If you don't have a lot of space for full-size congas or bongos, man, put these bad boys to work for you!