Cymbals online

sparks

Junior Member
How can a drummer buy a cymbal online without hearing it? I don't have to many places in my area that have more then 10 in the shop and they have been in there for some time.
anyone, Thanks
 
I have found Paiste 2002 cymbals to be remarkably consistent and would order them online if the price was right. You can hear sound files of all Paiste cymbals at their website, so you essentially can hear it before you buy it. I would not do this with any other brand of cymbals - I like Zildjian as well, but they are not consistent like Paiste.
 
Look up Memphis drum shop on YouTube, professional drummers demo the actual cymbals they have for sale.
 
It helps to not be overly picky, and to do your homework by playing as many cymbals as you can locally so you have a rough idea of what a given brand, model, or weight sounds like. The Cymbals Only web site has a lot of good sound files. And there are a ton of mostly-horrible videos on YouTube of people playing their cymbals, which are better than nothing, I guess. You can't go too wrong if you stick to purchasing pro-line thin/medium-thin crashes and light/medium/medium-heavyish rides by Zildjian, Sabian, or Paiste. And if you're buying hand hammered cymbals, add Meinl or Bosphorus— I've never heard really bad cymbals from them. Be careful about buying Istanbuls without playing them.
 
I've bought a number of cymbals used from eBay, and flipped the ones I didn't like. Shop smart and you won't lose money on the deal either.
 
Another resource many have purchased from is Cymbalsonly.com
 
+1 for MyCymbal.com.

You watch the videos until you find one that you like. You call them up and order the exact same cymbal you saw in the video.
 
I’ve never heard a recording of a cymbal that sounds like a cymbal live in the room with me. And if we’re talking mp3 format, we’re going from bad to worse.

The only way you can hear a cymbal properly is to have it in front of you. Ordering over the web will always be a crap shoot. Which is not to say you’ll be unhappy with the purchase, it’s just that you’ll never know what your other options truly sound like.
 
mycymbal.com and memphis drum shop do a great job of recording cymbals and guarantee that the cymbal you are hearing is the exact one you will receive

wear headphones
 
I'm very happy with the Dream ride I got from Virtual Cymbals. You have to recognize that a recording is going to sound less washy than when the cymbal is in front of you. But it's also going to sound more like the recording to people out in front of the band. If you can make this mental adjustment then you should be able to translate a youtube video into what the cymbal may sound like in real life. If you've done some recording, you should also recognize the translation.

As other have said, Paiste cymbals are pretty consistent. If you're played one that you like, odds are that the same model found on-line will sound pretty similar.
 
I have bought cymbals online that I still have. I have bought cymbals from local stores that I ended up not keeping. I still believe that it is better to buy in person, but the acoustic environment in a drum shop is quite different than the acoustic environment of playing in a band somewhere else.

Peace and goodwill.
 
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