Toca 10" Jingle Snare

The Toca 10" Jingle Snare is a single-head, 10" X 3.5" 'special effect' snare that is part of Toca's "Synergy" range. It has tambourine jingles in the shell, a side mount and a snare mechanism. It comes with a coated head featuring the Toca logo and a six-lug, steel hoop. The shell is of ply construction and has a natural finish, probably oil. The outer veneer is pleasing to the eye and the join has been well disguised behind one of the lugs.

I haven't had much time to play around with this drum, but here are my initial thoughts. Bright, almost metallic in tone with a slight after-ring. Slightly reminiscent of a Timbale. At first, I wasn't at all impressed with the sound, but after a little experimenting I managed to get the best out of it. The tensioning mechanism for the snare wires is somewhat crude. A row of wires are attached to a strip of bent steel and angled against the underside of the head so that only the tips come into contact with it. A knob on the side of the drum pulls the whole ensemble towards the shell, in turn increasing the tension of the wires against the head. There isn't much play with the tensioning knob. You either get a rasping rattle when the wires are loosened, or choking when tightened. As there's no mechanism to throw off the snares, this was worrying! However, by tuning the head a little tighter the drum suddenly sprang to life. The shorter sustain of the tightened head means that the wires dodn't rattle for as long, resulting in a short, sharp snap that sounds pleasing to the ear. Think marching snare and you'll get the idea. With really heavy strokes the rattle comes back a little, but I don't play that loud so this isn't going to be an issue for me.

The jingles, as with the Sonar Jungle Snare from what I gather, are a bit of a waste of time. They aren't very sensitive and only rim-shots seem to set them off. They don't have much volume and are swamped by the sound of the rim-shot, unless brushes are used. Incidentally, brushes work very well with this snare, although you don't really get any rattle from the wires.

For the price, I don't have much to grumble about. Some of the lugs are slightly askew, but nothing to write home about. The hoop is a little thin and light weight (not exactly what you'd call high quality), though more than adequate for the price. I swapped it for a thicker one, but there wasn't much difference in tone. The shell is well made and the bearing edge well cut.

Overall, this is a great sounding little drum, ideal for Funk, Dance and even Reggae. OK, so the jingles are a bit of a let-down, but this snare packs plenty of volume for its size and sounds good with some careful tuning. The addition of a second head, and traditional snares, would be a definite improvement, and wouldn't be that difficult to implement (although the mount would have to be sacrificed)