Hey all,
Im looking for a good cowbell so i can add some latinish stuff to my beats.. any ideas?

Latin Percussion makes some great cowbells that sound great... also Toca but I'm not too familiar with them.. basicially these companies specialize in things like cowbells and percussion..

	Toca Percussion Shop for Toca Percussion at Musician's Friend

u need mas cowbell!!! more cowbell!!! hahaha

[malletjazz]

For drum set work, my favorite bell is a mambo bell - I've got one made by Toca, but the LP one is nice as well. Wrap a little duct tape around the opening, and IMHO you'll be good to go.

It can be addictive to add a cowbell to your set, if you play the kind of music that lends itself to the sound of cowbells. I do a bit of steel band drumming (calypso, soca, etc.), and I've currently got two bells on my kit, and I'm saving up for a foot pedal/bracket to add another one.

	Latin Percussion Shop for LP Drums at Musician's Friend

	Toca Percussion Shop for Toca Percussion at Musician's Friend

[Buzz Roll]

malletjazz, all of your posts are very imformative and great! thanks!

why do you put duct tape on the opening? To muffle the sound?

[malletjazz]

Originally Posted by Drum Sport

malletjazz, all of your posts are very imformative and great! thanks!

Thanks for the kind words!

why do you put duct tape on the opening? To muffle the sound?

Yeah - to take a little bit of the edge off of the attack, and to cut down just a bit on the ringing. It's not a huge amount of tape, but just enough to take the edge off (so to speak).

You can see the two cowbells currently on my kit, in this photo:

http://www.malletjazz.com/drums/ludwigs3.jpg

	Attack Drumheads Shop for Attack drum heads at Musician's Friend

That's fine but I think the sound of a cowbell is supposed to be edgy and loud. It's what makes a cowbell a cowbell. We can go on and duct tape everything, sure, but then your whole kit will sound the same - like a dead piece of duct tape. Of course, it's all personal preference so it's fine but im just giving my $0.02

[malletjazz]

Originally Posted by escalade

That's fine but I think the sound of a cowbell is supposed to be edgy and loud. It's what makes a cowbell a cowbell. We can go on and duct tape everything, sure, but then your whole kit will sound the same - like a dead piece of duct tape. Of course, it's all personal preference so it's fine but im just giving my $0.02

Respectfully, I think you're overstating how much tape I'm using (especially since I don't think you've heard my cowbells...and who said anything about duct tape on everything? My toms and snares are wide open - no muffling at all - and outside of the premuffled Aquarian batter head, my bass drum is wide open as well - no blankets, no tape, etc.). These definitely still sound like cowbells, IMHO - and while the following clip isn't particularly loud, my cowbells still have plenty of volume and cutting power, even with a bit of tape.

http://www.malletjazz.com/snares/map...e/maracatu.mp3

(...not the smoothest playing, I'll admit, but it shows the sound of my bells fairly accurately.)

I've also got some cowbells and African bells that don't have any tape on them at all - but some cowbells sound better with a limited amount of tape, and IMHO these two do. Obviously, YMMV.

	Aquarian Drumheads Shop for Aquarian Drumheads at Musician's Friend

Sounds like a cowbell to me...
great playing malletjazz, I love what the cowbell can do for the feel of the groove

[DRUMMER111]

dude the HORACIO HERNANDEZ Bells are the best cowbells ive seen and heard so far