Cymbals setup and other questions

[Icel3m0nt3a]

Hey guys have some questions.

Erm so I went to yamaha, ranking and swee lee bras basah today and tried some cymbals. Ultimately though I still like zildjian so after trying here's what I came up with.


22" K custom dark ride
18" K custom hybrid crash
18" K custom dark crash
8" K dark splash
20" Z3 China

I felt these cymbals were quite a match together, although the limited stock of cymbals in the shop may have reduced my choices.

So just wondering whether you guys think these cymbals match up according to your knowledge, and some recommendations on possible hihats. I was looking at the K/Z special hihat cymbals, and the K hihats either 13" or 14".

I'm looking for a dark to mid warm sound with not so much wash and overtones and short to average sustain. Like for playing more sentimental forms of rock or for worship songs in church. Thank you guys for helping =)

FYI. other cymbals I liked were

20" K custom dry light ride
20" Paiste 2002 heavy crash
18" Paiste 2002 flatride
16" Sabian signature crash

 

[edrummer]

I owned the 18" hybrid crash once, Its a crash that cuts thru everything when u accent it, K custom dark ride matches the hybrid crash well, And of course K custom dark ride and dark crash definately match each other well, The 20" z3 china, Might it be too loud for your set up? Or do u want to consider ordering a 18" K efx crash from Yamaha?
For your hi hat, i would recommend you to use something like K/z hi hat or K custom hybrid 14" hats, It will match the set well,
Cheers

 

[Icel3m0nt3a]

Hey edrummer!

Thanks for the advice haha. Yeah I know about the 18" Custom Hybrid Crash and erm before that I had already matched the custom dark ride and custom dark crash 18" together, and I felt the hybrid crash was similar to what I would like to hear in a 16" dark crash, say on the left. If my lifetime budget ever allows me i'd get both =)

The Z3 china might be too loud I guess, though I suppose the sound blended with what I had picked as compared to the other chinas in yamaha such as the a customs. That said a china would not be a mandatory part of my setup so I can take more time choosing it. I'll check out the efx crash too.

The K/Z as well as the hybrid hihats both sounded awesome on youtube and zildjian website sound files, though I found perhaps the 13.25" hybrid to be a bit too bright for my liking, as compared to the K/Z. I should check out the 14" though since it's likely to be slightly darker in tone. I didn't try hihats in yamaha because they were in the display cabinet and I didn't want to trouble the staff since I wasn't buying yet. :S

Oh I also have a question erm I researched and found out many people say that cymbals mellow as they age, and some recommend to get cymbals that are slightly brighter than what we would want so that they'd mellow in tone to get closer to our expectations later on. Should I follow their advice? Will the custom dark series possibly mellow until I might not like their tone as much? Cause I was quite taken by the 18" Custom Session Crash as well, though it is really a bright sounding cymbal.

Thanks for the advice, long post haha =))

 

[edrummer]

Hi, No worries, i might be posting an even longer post than you, From my past experience with Ks, Ks cymbals go washier as time past, My hybrid 18" went darker and darker as time past,

Lets presume that you are a Pop/rockers, And you have only space to fit 2 crash and 1 china, splash and hats,
i would recommend you to order cymbals from Yamaha, U can actually do that but u would have to pay a deposit and wait for 3 months,

I understnad where you are coming from, And i can recommend you to go for the K dark thin crash 16", K custom dark crash 18"
K splash 8", And of course the K custom dark ride 22" which is awesome,

As for your hats, if you think that the k custom hybrid are too bright, I can say that they sound bright when u open the hats or when u are hitting hard, But not exactly bright like A customs, but happens to be brighter, If you are on to the Trad sound, U can go for the K session hats 14", i am sure you will love it.

On top of that, As for a China, I would say that the current Chinas, like 19" k custom hybrid china is way too thrashy compared to the set of cymbals that you are buying, I would recommend you to buy smth like K custom efx, ( china sound but in a crash format, way softer), Other than that, do consider a 18" K china.

My current set up outside for pop/rocking is, Avedis Pockethats 13", A custom 16" fast crash, K custom 16" hybrid, K custom 21" hybrid ride, I sold off quite alot of cymbals to be left with this, i would love to purchase the A custom efx 18" china crash and the K custom 12" splash soon, but not now

 

[Icel3m0nt3a]

Since I can't try hihats as of now, from the sound files in zildjian I really like the 14" K/Z special hihats as compared to the hybrids, custom sessions and even k hihats. Will need to head down to yamaha to check whatever they have though.

I was wondering why you'd ask me to mix the crashes between K dark thin and K custom dark. For me the K custom dark crashes are a lot fuller and slightly darker in tone, so i'd prefer that to the dark thins, although im not sure if the tone will get too dark for my liking as time passes =S

The 19" K China sounds good, though not sure about the 18". The 18" efx might sound a little less china-ey than I would want, and from what I remember hitting that cymbal at the store required quite a lot of strength to get a whole sound out of it erps.

Absolutely love your setup haha i'd have to check out the Custom Hybrid Ride too someday. I do find that you are the opposite of people though, most people who are not desperately in need of money would keep all their cymbals to collect or to accumulate a palate of different sounds for different genres. I suspect i'd hoard all my future cymbals as well haha.

I guess i'll have to go down more often to try and hopefully they bring in more of the cymbals that i'm looking at. Cause almost all zildjian cymbals sound awesome on the internet or on youtube but some I absolutely hate the sound when i'm upright hitting it, such as the A customs which have way too much wash in my opinion. My friend said they are good for recording though, and i'm not looking at them in the first place so its all good =)

 

[edrummer]

You can head down to yamaha and they will let yo utry, but as of now, their stocks are Constantinople hats, k/z hats, K light hats, K custom dark hats etc etc, I dunno if the hybrid hats are sold off anot.

The k custom hybrids are actually a Modified version of the K custom dark series, they sound relatively similar but k custom hybrid has more bright overtones, You can try doing a 16' k custom dark crash and 18" K dark thin crash,

The idea behind is to have a Lighter crash and a heavier to suit your style of play, You can have 2 crashes of the same series like mine haha, its all down to your personal preference.

Opps i am sorry, i meant the 19" K china, The 18" efx is nice in a sense that you can use it as a 3 rd crash with a "china sound", Which is smth that Taylor hawkins from Foo fighters is doing right now in his latest album.

I agree with what you say, A custom do have alot of wash, That was why i selected the Fast crashes which has a short decay, which lives up to my playing in fast songs, I love Ks pal but i changed to A custom to suit my band's style of music

Yes, you would have to go down to yamaha and test it all out, I can tell you that curretly they only have the 16,14 and 18" K custom dark crashes, You can try out and tell me how you find it haha, Cheers!!!

On a side track,
The reason why i am selling off my cymbals is because it takes effort to maintain cymbals haha, and i do not like to keep more than what i need, I have settled down with my current set up and i am more than happy with it, I have cleared it down to 7 cymbals, more than enuff now ,

 

[faithsilence]

Cymbals sound files on line is not that accurate but can be used only as a point of reference. Afterall they are highly compressed sound/video files for faster streaming and data is lost. Nothing beats trying out the cymbals urself or testing from a friend. However, different environments , ie: studio, outdoor gigs, home, placement of cymbals will affect how ur cymbal sound.