I have long been on the hunt for the perfect drum set tambourine. This is the 5th one I own, and the best yet! It’s small, sturdy, and can mount basically anywhere: cymbal stem, 9mm percussion rod, or hi-hat pull rod. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it’s right around the same weight as my other hi-hat tamb, but sounds considerably better, and the LP mounting bracket holds onto the pull rod securely. I love the rubber striking surface- my complaint with the LP Cyclops drum set tamb (which has been my go-to for many years) is very “clicky.” Solved. I do wish there were THREE rows of jingles rather than two; it sounds great, but doesn’t cut like the Cyclops. Maybe a future model could have 3 rows of 3 pairs, or perhaps 2 rows of 4…? At any rate, this is the best tamb in my collection for both mounted and hi-hat applications. Buy it! (I’m considering a second one as we speak! 😉

The Latin Percussion LP1207-T Jam Tamb is another example of inovation in action from the people at LP. It’s a nice accent if you want that Partridge Family sound.

I just got this LP Jam Tamb so I obviously haven’t gigged with it yet, but I have been able to play around with it for a little while.

I compared it to the Toca 6″ Mounted Jingle-Hit Tambourine that I also own. I can’t really say that one of these toys is better than the other, but I will say that they are different and will likely be used in different arrangements and with different types of music. I tried both of the instruments with my hands, a set of regular drumsticks, and a set of Vic Firth rubber mallets.

The Jam Tamb has a more sparse, lower, duller, –and dare I say “ragged”– sound overall, whereas the Toca Jingle-Hit’s sound is fuller, brighter, tighter, smoother, and emits more overtones. I believe the Jam Tamb woudld likely be suited to those situations when a percussionist wants a tambourine sound that is more muted, dry, and doesn’t try to dominate the conversation. The Jingle-Hit, on the other hand, has a bright, almost tinny, sound that is fuller and much more piercing and noticeable. The Jingle-Hit definitely will require more finesse if you don’t want to annoy your band-mates!

I intend to use both of them with my hand drums. For my small setup I use a set of LP Jr. wood congas on a double conga stand, along with an LP percussion claw that holds an LP High Pitch Jam Block (Blue) and either the Toca Jingle-Hit (I’ve used that setup before with good results) or this Jam Tamb (which I will need to try out live in the future). I can also apply the block and the Jam Tamb or Jingle-Hit to my larger Pearl Primero Pro fiberglass dual conga + bongos setup.

Altogether it seem that LP has yet another decent instrument to add to their ever-growing percussion catalog.

Toca Jingle-Hit Tambourine With Mount 6″