I got a fever!....and the only prescription is.....NOT more cowbell.....I gotta have more purple LP Jam Block!
First off, I must point out that this thing is EXTREMELY sensitive to temperature. I left the Amazon package in my truck in the sun for my entire work day. When I got home I opened it up and immediately noticed how warm it was from being in my truck all day. Nothing crazy, but probably 105*F. The block was LITERALLY dead at that temp. No volume, no projection, NOTHING. Just sounded like banging on a random plastic thing. I put it in my freezer for 15 min for a head start, then let it sit out at room temp 70+- degrees for another 15 min and it was back to an "average" operating temp. I assure you, if you're playing an outdoor gig, and your set is in direct sunlight, the performance of this thing will go to the deep south rapidly. I'm surprised LP made it such a dark color, though my guess is any color but the lightest ones would succumb to this phenomenon.
Anyway, this purple block has the tonal range of a medium/medium-large sound cowbell without the metallic clang, which I personally dislike. Is it a suitable substitute for use in playing "Mississippi Queen", "Don't Fear the Reaper", "Dance the Night Away", "Moby Dick", etc...IMHO. Songs that use a cowbell as more of a sparsely used accent, such as early Motley Crue (best example of a pure cowbell sound I can think of), Mississippi Queen, etc, this may stick out a bit. But then again, if you're playing in a band through a P.A. it's doubtful anyone will notice, or more importantly even care.
Anyway, it's BIG and NOT light. You better have a solid mount for this thing. It's gotta legit weigh close to 2 lbs. Like all LP Jam Blocks, it can be mounted in the factory config of rear center, as well as from either end, which I HIGHLY suggest you have an EXTREMELY solid mount for if you take that route. Forget 99% of the single arm mounts that you can mount on an existing cymbal stand. I'm talking having a dedicated stand which some sort of heavy mount can be attached. The LP472 or LP372 would be ideal choices. Something with MASS, NOT something hanging way out on some weak bracket mounted off of a cymbal stand.
As other reviews have stated, this thing is LOUD. As in bang on it for 10 seconds in your living room and your ears will be ringing. Placement
at the kit can have a huge effect on how it projects into your ears as well as the audiences ear's. I haven't experimented with sound dampening, but it seems to be a popular volume mitigation route lots of people seem to take.
Lastly, this model is 2 sided. One side has the ridges for a "whatever that's called" sound effect. the other side has the EXACT same raised hitting rim as all the other standard Jam blocks.
I find this purple one and the red one to be a GREAT, highly useful combo.