Meinl MDST8BK 8" Snare Timbales

It's versatile and it got a very clear and defined sound whether you use it with snare on or off.
-With snare off it's a quality mini timbales, perfect companion for latin and reggae.
-With the snare on is a fantastic mini snare providing this short sustained sound wich is particularly good for accents, being able to cut trough basically any kind of sound texture. Having this short sustain i find it very suitable for fast an responsive music styles such as drum and bass or breakbeat.
-It is pretty solid and very easy to tune as it comes with its own wrench. i just recommend to tune it very tight as it seems to sound way better then with a loose tuning. As you can imagine this leads the snare timbales to sound very high in pitch so if you may need a lower pitch you better check the 10" model. Personally i'm very comfortable with this size as it makes possible to place it very easily beside the rack tom wich better fit my need of involving it into fills.
I'm very satisifed ,and i really think it worth the money.

I have been using this drum for little over a month now and so far I am incredibly happy with it! When the snares are turned off it produces a wonderful, bright timbale sound and when in snare mode it produces a very tight and crisp sound, almost like a marching snare or drum corps kind of sound.

The drum is very well made and it hasn't moved at all since i set it up on my kit. The quality of the stock head also surprised me as it is easy to tune and hasn't de-tuned with time. There is also a Meinl tuning spanner included so tuning the drum is easy.

One drawback I have found while using this drum is that the lever to turn the snare wires on or off can be somewhat stiff and awkward to use and I often find myself having to use two hands to turn the snares off.

I own both this model and the ten inch version and I would say that if you can only purchase one of these snare timbales then I personally would choose the ten inch model. This is not necessarily because it sounds better than this eight inch model, but because its larger size means it has a much more versatile tuning range and is a little louder.

Overall I personally love both of these drums and they work brilliantly together whether they are both in snare mode, both in timbale mode or in some other configuration. You truly get a wide variety of sounds from these quality instruments from Meinl!

This is a loud drum. It’s solid and pretty heavy for the size. I’ve been playing it in my set up for a couple of years. It always shocks and amuses the other musicians due to the volume and attack.
The tuning range is good for a small drum, it really does pop.
With snares engaged it’s vicious, an extremely short decay and a high level of attack.
With the snares off it’s a lovely timbale. I use it mainly with the snares off.
They don’t rattle.

This drum does what it should with the minimum of fuss. I’m very happy with it.
As usual Thomann are flawless.

Diese kleine Snare macht Spaß, was den Sound angeht: ein wenig hochgezogen knackt und rumst es ordentlich, dass es eine Freude ist. Die Verarbeitung ist ohne Fehl und Tadel, die Montage-Öse packt richtig fest zu, so soll es sein. Das aufgezogene Fell ist billig und muss bald ersetzt werden, na ja, da ist die Konkurrenz auch nicht besser.

Man benötige beim Stimmen jedoch immer einen Maulschlüssel, weil das Fell im "Bongo-Stil" gespannt werden muss. Das ist nicht besonders praxistauglich, zumal normale Timbales auch mit einem einfachen Drumkey bedienbar sind. Keine Ahnung, was das soll.

Die Abhebung ist tricky: Das Anlegen der Snare-Seiten gelingt einhändig, das Ausschalten bedingt jedoch, dass man den Hebel nach innen und dann nach oben drückt, das kann schon mal zwei Hände erfordern, abhängig davon, wie man die Snare befestigt hat. Ansonsten besteht die Gefahr, dass man den Hebel verbiegt, was hier im Forum bereits kritisiert wurde.

Wer damit leben kann, bekommt hier eine Snare, die dem LP-Konkurrenten soundmäßig m. E. überlegen ist.