I opted for this over a pretuned drum, and I'm glad I did. Pretuned drums can lose their tone over time, but with the neatly concealed lugs this can be tuned and retuned to your preference. It has lovely deep bass, and the taks and tas are strong, resonant, and with plenty, but not too many, ringing overtones. The head has a rough textured feel allowing additional sounds to be made, like brushes on a snare. Overall, lovely drum.