Pickup Cajon Box Drum with Snare Effect and Electronics for Amp or PA System, Artisan Edition — MADE IN SPAIN — Baltic Birch Body/Dark Olive Burst Frontplate, 2-YEAR WARRANTY

Well Constructed and Very Nice sound.

Super happy with this purchase. The cajon sound is very good. My teacher was impressed with the quality of the instrument. I’m pleased how easy it was to order and the speedy delivery.

I don’t know much about sound as we bought this for my mother in law, but she said it’s amazing.

PROS- Pickup system worked well enough. Snare sound can be very good w/ perfect technique (see below).MEH- (1) The green stain on the front is darker than the photos. It is so dark it essentially looks black unless under direct light. So it does not look as "artisan" as one would hope. (2) The single pickup is attached directly onto the back side of the front plate in the dead center. So when using the pickup you get a large range of different bass sounds depending on how far down you strike it. In the typical strike location (higher up) the bass sound is too wooden (assuming you want more of a kick drum sound). The best bass note can be found if you strike one-third the way down, but this requires more reaching and poor posture. If you extend your arm even further to strike right in the center (over the pickup), then it makes a muffled kick drum sound (like when a drummer puts a muffling pad into an actual kick drum). Having a range of bass sounds could be good or bad depending on what you are seeking.CONS- (1) Overall, because the box is so rigid and the front plate is too thick, it sounds a more like a wooden box vs a warmer drum sound. (2) To get a good snare sound you have to find the two very small sweet spots (maybe 2" x 2") and then play with a particular lose finger pop technique. So if you are focused enough to always use that combo it sounds VERY good. But any distractions or loss of focus and you suddenly are barely getting any snare at all. If you just try to slap it harder outside the sweet spot to get a snare note it causes wooden, bass overtones to leak into the sound. So definitely less forgiving than most cajons. (3) The sides are so thick there is no way to make those flamenco pop sounds high up on the sides. (4) THE BIGGEST ISSUE WITH THIS CAJON is that the front plate is so thick/rigid that you can't get it make softer snare sounds. Lighter snare hits give a weak, woody flamenco-type cajon sound with almost no snare. You are essentially limited to either a full slap or a weak wooden sound. For this same reason snare finger rolls are hard to pull off. Fast rolls are not an option.

Definitely a nice looking cajon; I like the rounded corners and the thumb cutouts. The face also has a texture on it to enhance the sound if you use brushes. I did find that the sound needed a bit of tuning to fit my preference; I like the bass to have minimal snare action. A bit of masking tape in a few places tamed the wires nicely. You'll also need to adjust the screws on the face to your liking. The only reason I give this cajon 4 stars is there is no adjustment for the snare wires. Many cajons have some way of adjusting the tension of the wires, I'm not aware of any mechanism on this one. Also note that the wires are not removable.

H Q

This arrived today. Sounds pretty good but it arrived with a scratch/streak on top. I’m trying to decide if I want to keep it or send it back.