TigerBill's DrumBeat Community Forums for Free Expert Advice on Drums and Percussion.

Prompted by my recent "JCR bell" thread, I decided to take a little time this morning and record some quick sound files comparing different bells in my collection.

This isn't meant to be an exhaustive comparison, not by any stretch of the imagination - this is limited to what I've got on hand at the moment. At some point, I may add some new LP bells, more JCR, some Pearl, maybe some Gon Bops - it all depends whether/when I buy more bells.

I recorded a quick little 6/8 backing track, using my drum set and a shekere. It ain't pretty, but it at least puts the bells in context, just a little bit. This also isn't meant to prove anything in terms of "best." I wanted to post examples of my JCR bells, and I thought I'd just go ahead and record the others while I had the microphone set up.

I recorded each of the cowbells (and the Englehart agogo) four ways in each take: striking on the edge of the open end, both muffled and unmuffled with my hand; striking on the center of the face of the bell, again both muffled and unmuffled. You'll hear it - it's fairly clear on the recordings. The agogo bells, and the African bells, I just played them open, with no muffling.

No pictures at the moment - I'll take some when I get a few more minutes.

Two caveats:

1) Some of the bells have tape on them (the Toca mambo bell and the LP bells, specifically). Some of the bells don't have tape. I know, I should have taken the tape off of those bells for a more accurate comparison, but to be honest, I don't care - in this case my devotion to the scientific method has its limits. I've got those bells dialed in the way I want them, tape and all, and I'm going to leave them as is. Sorry.

2) I'm not going to post tracks of the bells without the drum/shekere groove. Mainly, I'm just too lazy, and besides, how often do you play a cowbell without any other musicians?

OK...with all of that out of the way on to...The Bells!

"In no particular order..."

Latin Percussion - I bought these over 20 years ago, back when I was in high school. I have no idea if they're representative of the current LP offerings.

• bongo bell
• cha-cha bell

Toca - the drum shop where I used to teach lessons, had a bunch of Toca bells sitting on display for a while, and I got curious enough to pick up these two. One is the #4427T Mambo Bell, and the other is the #4426T Bongo Bell. I bought them at least four years ago - as with the LP bells, I have no idea if they reflect the current Toca bells.

• bongo bell
• mambo bell

JCR - two of the bells hand made by Caly Rivera, in his shop in the Bronx. The half-moon bell (a shallow mambo bell) was purchased last year, and the bongo bell was purchased last Saturday.

• half-moon mambo bell
• bongo bell

Gope - two Brazilian agogo bells - one double, one triple. I have had these for at least twenty years, having bought them while in college. Again, how they relate to current Gope offerings, I can't say.

• double agogo
• triple agogo

Pete Englehart agogo bell - this is a single bell, tuned to a "G." I've seen similar Englehart bells tuned to other notes as well.

• Englehart agogo

Finally, I've got a double bell from Africa, which I think is from Cameroon - but don't quote me on that. I bought it in a little import shop in Ithaca, New York, again back when was a college student (about twenty years ago).

• Cameroon bell

PS Please, no references to Christopher Walken, thankyouverymuch.

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