Cajon cocktail drum setup

[Bruce (the K)]

I'm an old-school cocktail drummer. If I'm playing a kit standing up, that's a cocktail kit to me. I know the original cocktail drums were cleverly trying to fit a drum set into a tiny space in a cocktail lounge so a vertical orientation is definitely part of what makes something a cocktail drum. However, as a standing player, I can even play a relatively conventional kit and feel like I'm playing cocktail-style.

All that is to say that I've adapted my cajon drum set to be played standing up so I feel like it's a cocktail drum set, even if it isn't especially compact. Rather than sit on the cajon, I turned it around so the sound hole faces the audience and the soundboard faces the player. I got a conventional pedal and a Vic Firth VicKick cajon beater so I could play the cajon as my bass drum.

I got a little 14x12 floor tom and installed an extra floor tom clamp on it to hold a 3/8 inch rod with a cymbal holder on top for my 14 inch crash/ride cymbal. I got super long 27 inch floor tom legs so the floor tom was level with my snare and I installed a tom mute so I could keep the floor tom from dominating the overall sound.

Next, I got a Tama mini-tymp single-headed steel snare drum with adjustable brush snares under the head. Lots of cocktail vibe and it provides a very clear snap that isn't as loud as a conventional snare. I clamped it onto the bottom half of a microphone stand, along with a Gibralter passive hi hat holder with 10 inch hi hats and a Meinl jingle-ring. A third clamp holds my little cowbell and jam block to complete the setup.

I can keep up with acoustic-oriented groups and come through sonically without drowning out the vocalists or other players. My only complaint is that this thing weighs more than my Tama Cocktail Jam Mini 4-piece set! I guess it's all the clamps I have to use to hold everything on. Still, it's a low-volume alternative for unplugged situations where my Tama Cocktail Jam Mini would be too much. Fits into 3 bags for easy transport, although set-up and tear-down take a while, given all the little attachments.

[Bruce (the K)]

Here are a few images of the cajon cocktail drum.