Practice makes perfect
More of a mini Cajon than just a practice pad, this portable number from Tycoon is about the size of a laptop (30cm x 40cm) and can either be played sitting on your lap or sitting on a chair/stool supported between your legs. Using Siam Oak and a Beech wood front plate it has all the response and feel of a full size Cajon and a fairly convincing tone too. Obviously some of the low end frequencies aren’t present due to the drastically reduced body size and it won’t fully replicate some of the practicalities and nuances from sitting on a full size Cajon but at under a kilogram its super portable and effective. There’s also a handle letting you ‘grab and go’ when you need to move it or take it to band practice.
Wop, Bam boom
Either sitting on your lap or wedged further between your knees/thighs the Practice Pad rests fairly comfortably allowing a good play angle and plenty of movement for your hands. Palms, fingers and everything in between result in a range of tones from cracking snare type sounds down to more resonant open notes. It definitely gives you a fair reference to playing the traditional cajon so does fill the ‘practice pad’ moniker. You do miss some of the sounds and feels of the full body size but don’t think you won’t get a lot out of this portable model. If you need some reinforcement there are a number of cracking YouTube videos of some Tycoon players really exploiting its capabilities with great results! Cool as a practice tool, outright instrument or something to dip your toe into within the world of Cajon the Portable Practice Pad performs super well.