Tama Cocktail Jam Mini

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Bruce (the K)
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 12:06 pm

Tama Cocktail Jam Mini

Post by Bruce (the K) »

I bought a Tama Cocktail Jam Mini a couple months ago and I've just finished tricking it out with my preferred noisemaker accessories. I'm very impressed with both the quality and the flexibility of this thing. It can be set up for a standing player but can be easily changed to work for a sitting player as well, even mid-gig!

It has a clever, nesting design with 3 single-headed drums and a 10 inch double-headed snare so the drums nest and all fit into one well-made bag along with my cymbals and a muffling pad for the bass drum. The hardware consists of a bass pedal, clamps, legs, and arms that are all very solid and fit in one small bag. This is not a toy! It seems to be very similar to the Drummers Workshop (DW) cocktail drum design (from the cocktail drum revival of the '90s) that used rods and clamps to position the drums. The only difference is that one was $4,500 and this one (with everything but the cymbals) is about $750!

Unfortunately, it looks like it's just been discontinued, although its big brother, the Tama Cocktail Jam, is still around at this point. The Mini uses a 14 inch bass, 12 inch "floor tom" (that mounts directly above the bass rather than free-standing), a 10 inch snare, and an 8 inch rack tom. The regular Cocktail Jam uses a 16 inch bass, 14 inch "floor tom," 12 inch snare and 10 inch rack tom. I bought the smaller one because volume isn't a problem for me and I want something as light and small as possible.

I'll post some pictures of my set soon.
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