China Cymbal Questions

wildbill

Platinum Member
Never had one.

For you guys that do have one, I'm wondering how (and if) you use them.

Like do you use it like a ride for most of a song, or just give it an occasional hit as an accent, or what?
 
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Use mine as an accent, for the most part. Depending on my play list, I may use it a lot or none at all. Nice to have.
 
I have a 16" Paiste Signature China.

I set it up in the traditional way and use it for accents on most music and use it a lot for older jazz.

I would like a Swish, saw one for $60 once, should have jumped on it....
 
A Chinese cymbal is a sound that comes and goes from my preferred bag of tricks. I spent a long time not really using mine, but I've been giving it another spin lately. I use mine as an accent, throwing a little dissonance into the mix as contrast to the normally "pretty" crash sounds.

Thankfully, I tend to like the sound of cheap Chinas, so having a sound I like wasn't much of an investment. I have a Sabian 18" B8 Pro. I prefer the longer sustain of Turkish bells on a Chinese and the Wuhan I used to have was way too short of a note for me.
 
I used to have a 16" Zildjian oriental china. It sounded amazing. Always used it just for accents here and there. Frankly, I think if you use it for much else, it's awful; for instance, the use of the china cymbal in metalcore. Worst use of a china I've ever heard. They sound especially good when you strike the china and a crash at the same time. Or they're great for stacking. I used to stack a 10" splash on it from time to time. It sounded great. Eventually it broke. I'll probably get a Wuhan soon.
 
Although I don't have much use for China cymbals, I do have one that I use for accents on my rock kit. It happens to be the only one I own. It's an 18" Zildjian A Custom Reso Prototype designed by Paul Francis. For what it is, it does have a good sound in certain styles of music.





Dennis
 
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