Paiste Formula 602 hat thoughts?

Terrence R

Silver Member
I'm inquiring about a set of vintage 602 hats. The seller doesn't know if they're thin, medium, rock, etc.... He has them in storage somewhere. He can't even answer if they're the sound edge model. Did paiste make sound edge back in the day? The only info I can seem to find out about the F 602 hats is that they aren't overly loud. Do any of u guys know much about these? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanx.
 
They're not for real heavy hitters. Even though 602 hi-hats were used by some hard rockers, like Bonham in his pre-2002 days, 602s were meant to be mellow and crystal-like cymbals for studio, jazz and softer music in general. The overall spectrum of frequency was narrow compared to say 2002s, which have a broader frequency range and more volume. So basically the original purpose of 602s was to not overpower acoustic music, so they have a relatively clean sound without many overtones. Paiste beefed up the 602s in the 1980s and came out with Extra-Heavy hi-hats for heavier hitters (Edit: Actually- "Extra Heavy" 602 hats were around in the 70s too). But most of the 602s were not meant to be bashed hard since they are somewhat thin and some drummers would overplay them to get the volume they desired, which the 602s were not really designed to do.

I think the Sound Edge 602 came out in 1967.They were the first ever sound edge hats ever produced.The very first sound edge models were extremely thin and had many ripples compared to newer models which had fewer ripples but more weight. Many of the old 602 sound edge hats have cracks in them. Check them out thoroughly to see if there are any cracks, if they are indeed sound edge hats.
 
Last edited:
Good info. I'm not a hard hitter by any means ( even though I play a lot of hard rock ). I'll try to check them out tomorrow to see how they perform. Thanx.
 
I think one of the most famous player of these hats was Jeff Porcaro. So listen to some of the music he played on and see if you like the sound.

thx

jorn
 
I think one of the most famous player of these hats was Jeff Porcaro. So listen to some of the music he played on and see if you like the sound.

thx

jorn

I have seen a number of picturesof Jeff Porcaro in the studio using 602 hihts and in almost every one I have seen he was using 602 Heavy hihts.
 
I still have a set of 14" Paiste Formula 602 hi-hats that my dad purchased for me in 1969. They are mushy sounding and not very loud. They have never been loud - that is the primary reason I switched to Zildjian not long after these hats were given to me. I would really like to compare my old ones to a new set.
 
In the early Police days, there were Paiste ads showing Stewart Copeland using 13" Heavy 602 hats and 13" Medium 602 hats, though he was/is a very hard hitter. He also claimed to have used 13" Medium 2oo2 and 13" Heavy 2oo2 hats. Some people claim he may be using Zildjians on their first album, but the hi-hats really sound like 602s to me.

(Edit 7 years later!)
I have learned that Copeland was most likely using zildjian up to the third Police album before switching to Paiste. So the hats are probably 13” New Beats on early Police albums.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top