Armand Rides?

[MikeM]

Anyone use one of these? I'm curious since I've never played one. I used to have 22" A Medium Ride, which I always felt was just a tad too heavy and not as easily crashable as I would have liked. Then there's the Sweet Rides, which seem a little too easily crashed, like one would probably get away from me too much of the time if I wasn't sticking close to the bell.

I was reading a general description of the Armand Ride on eBay where the seller made it sound like it wasn't very crashable.

So my question is: how does it compare with the Sweet and Medium Rides, in terms of stiffness and crashabilty?

Thanks

[thechief7676]

I have a 21" Armand ride and it is very crash-able. The ride itself is washy IMO. I have never played a sweet ride but to me, the Armand, has less of a ping than a Medium ride.

[TTNW]

I don't own one but played one for several hours at a jam night.

Great cymbal but it is much closer to the Sweet Ride in it's crashable qualitites.

I don't know if you're wanting to stick with Zildjian on your choices but I also played a Meinl Byzance Medium Ride and it is much lighter than the Zildjian Medium but just a tad heavier than the Sweet Ride.

If the Armand is a tad lighter than the Sweet then the Meinl is just a tad heavier but not as pingy as the Zil Medium.

Hope this helps.

[MikeM]

I don't know if you're wanting to stick with Zildjian on your choices but I also played a Meinl Byzance Medium Ride and it is much lighter than the Zildjian Medium but just a tad heavier than the Sweet Ride.I don't care that much about sticking with Zildjian and have practically been looking for a good excuse to explore Meinl more, and your description may have just provided me with that excuse since that's exactly what I'm looking for - something that sits in between a Sweet Ride and a Medium Ride in weight / playability. Thanks.

[KirbyM]

Mike -

I own a 20" Armand Ride and use it for lower volume jobs. It works great in those situations to use as a ride/crash. It sounds very similar to a 1960's Zildjian medium ride that Buddy Rich used. A friend of mine has one of the rides that was apparently set aside for Buddy - we compared the two and found they are similar. The Armand Ride has a bigger bell than a medium ride that is made today. The larger bell is something that Zildjian did only for certain cymbals during a short period of time (not to be confused with the Zildjian "Big Bell").

Of course, for louder rock music, I use a 20" Ping Ride or a 21" Rock Ride.

The 21" Armand Ride and the Sweet Ride are both similar. When I have done comparisons, there is very little difference, if any. As always, individual cymbals will vary.

[cobamnator]

The A medium rides are way tooo thick for my taste (except a good 24" can SOMETIMES sound good).

Any, I have a 21" sweet ride and you can "Lose it" if you play too hard / not close enough to the bell. Has a lot of wash.

However, I've played the 21" Armand Ride for a while and LOVED it. It is a lot like the Sweet ride with better stick def. It is crash-able, but wasn't so easily "Lost" in the wash, if you know what I mean.

I would highly recommend the 21" Armand Ride...and Ironically, it has a "Sweeter" sound than the "Sweet" Ride.

I've just been thinking about selling mine for the 21" Armand...


However, If you are looking for something even MORE controlled, I am with KirbyM, the 21" Rock ride is GREAT!