MusicRadar Verdict
A great value instrument that usefully fills a gap in the market.
Pros
- +
Build; finish; power.
Cons
- -
Not the most tonally versatile.
MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you. Find out more about how we test.
We've previously looked at some wonderful cajons from Spanish company Duende. Now we've got our hands on yet another set of Spain's finest percussive instruments: the Elite and the Pro.
The Elite's dimensions are fairly standard at 48cm x 30cm x 31cm. It's robustly made of birch wood (surround and frontplate) with a silicon non-slip seat top.
It sports a rich and classy (some might say slightly conservative) finish with no front-mounted adjustment screws. The snare system on the Elite has three strings that are independently adjustable inside by three guitar-style machine heads and as such are quicker to tweak by hand than key.
Hands On
The Elite is definitely a big boy in terms of sheer power and volume. Its bass response is staggering and that thin birch frontplate (tapa) gives you a powerful and exciting surface to explore. The snare response, however, is minimal and on my test model couldn't be adjusted too widely.
“A commanding new effects pedal that merges aggressive octave fuzz with earth-shaking analogue synth tones”: Third Man Hardware joins forces with Eventide for the Knife Drop – featuring Jack White’s presets, it’s designed for “sonic chaos”
Ticketmaster clamps down on unauthorised resales of Oasis tickets as 50,000 for next year’s tour are cancelled
“The drummer broke his snare-drum skin, the bass was in a different tuning, Gilmour’s guitar wasn’t working properly…”: Bryan Ferry remembers Slave To Love’s chaotic live debut
