I picked this Meinl SLB12 because I hoped it would be not as loud as other sleigh bells with even more bells than the SLB12. That was a good choice. This one is still loud enough. We play in an ensemble of between 5 and 8 players. I asked a guest musician to play the sleigh bells on our Christmas songs. We played fully unplugged, with cornet, trombone, clarinet, resonator guitar. The SLB12 was very audible, but not too loud, to my taste.
I also played it myself with another band. The piano player complained that it was too loud. That was not my own feeling, though, but hey, I am a brass player; and I was standing less than 1 meter from his ears :-) For the public, it was probably okay.
The workmanship is fine, no complaints here.
Sleigh bells and tubular bells provide, in my opinion, the most typical Christmas sound of all instruments. This is the cheaper and much more practical option of the two. It also gives you the opportunity to not play that many Christmas tunes, but just intersperse the sleigh bells in regular songs for that Christmas feeling.
Tip: this is a seasonal product. Buy it soon, don't wait until the end of November or December, when everyone wants this.
