Sabian Cymbal Vote 2014 - Live!

porter

porter

Platinum Member
Just an FYI that Sabian's annual "Cymbal Vote" product polling is finally up! 12 new models & the internet decides which ones get made. Personally, I'm hoping for those AAX Iso Crashes- even with the processing, it seems like they'd sound really great underneath.
 
Is it just me or are the Frequency Hats super quiet? Maybe it's the mixing, but you'd think Sabian would want the cymbals to be the most prominent sound, not Chad Smith's snare. Which does sound sexy, I'm not gonna lie.
 
For me it's the Raw Bell Crashes and AAX ISO's. I thought the Combat hats would sound better than they did but otherwise nothing else catches my ear.
 
CreeplyTuna said:
Is it just me or are the Frequency Hats super quiet? Maybe it's the mixing, but you'd think Sabian would want the cymbals to be the most prominent sound, not Chad Smith's snare. Which does sound sexy, I'm not gonna lie.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm not a fan of the Freqs in general- the attack of the closed hats does come through but there's not a lot of sound when they're open.

I'm surprised the Sick Hats sound as alright as they do, though I still like the HHX Compression Hats that never won. The AAX Groove Ride seems pretty nice too, though with that, the X-Plosion Ride, and the Bash Ride, that crash-ride type seems a little saturated.

I'll get to hear them in person at PASIC, but from the videos it seems a bit lackluster in competition compared to last year. Ah well.
 
I voted for all 4 rides. The rest seem to much like gimmicks or effects cymbals. Last years crop seemed more like an honest effort to produce decent cymbals. We'll see how it works out. I'll get a hands on next week at the store.
 
Even though I'm not playing much jazz anymore the only one that really interests me is the Smoky Ride. Nice tone, and a pretty wide array of sounds possible.

I agree that Sabian is suddenly really pushing the crash-ride options, which is sorta nice since they spent a little too long filling up their lines with medium-heavy ping monsters but I still feel like they're neglecting a musical, versatile medium ride, especially in larger sizes.

In general I'd rather see some additional sizes added (or added back in some cases) to existing models rather than more and more models. I understand that it's easier to get kids excited about "Superdoohicky Hats" or whatever other nonsense they feel like cooking up but I'd rather just have more 22" and 24" rides, 15" and 16" hats, and some larger and smaller crash sizes. When Sabian began cutting size options from the catalog a few years back they seemed to drop most everything I was interested in.
 
Last edited:
Wow, not a huge fan of most of those cymbals. Those Sick Hats are just... ehhhh.
As much as I would never use it, the Smoky Ride caught my ear. I also think the Assault Hats sound pretty cool, and would love them as an x-hat, but that's about it.
 
I really want the Sick Hats badly. Though I don't know why they don't have all the video's up. There's a much better demo of the Sick Hats on Sabian's Vimeo channel by Rodney Howard. They sound awesome (to me, but I like weird sounding things).
 
vitaflo said:
I really want the Sick Hats badly. Though I don't know why they don't have all the video's up. There's a much better demo of the Sick Hats on Sabian's Vimeo channel by Rodney Howard. They sound awesome (to me, but I like weird sounding things).
Click to expand...

I noticed that too- actually, all the Rodney Howard videos are on the site (under "Artists") but none of them appear on the cymbals' pages. Awkward.
 
porter said:
I noticed that too- actually, all the Rodney Howard videos are on the site (under "Artists") but none of them appear on the cymbals' pages. Awkward.
Click to expand...

The whole cymbalvote website is a mess. When you look under tour dates, the schedule for last year's tour comes up. Plus, as you mentioned, not all the videos are published on the site.
 
Embalmer said:
The whole cymbalvote website is a mess. When you look under tour dates, the schedule for last year's tour comes up. Plus, as you mentioned, not all the videos are published on the site.
Click to expand...

They've definitely had some trouble with launching it... there was an ad for it last month in MD (IIRC) when it still showed last year's winners, and even their announcement email came several hours before the site was actually up. Bizarre mistakes (on top of the lack of je ne sais quoi in the cymbal crop), especially considering how well it's gone for two times before.
 
My top vote was actually for the B8 Pro Aero Crash 20". I never really came to like the AAX version that's now out and the B8 alloy makes this crash actually sound better IMO. If it wins and is mass produced, I will definitely buy one. The good thing though is, even if it doesn't, Sabian can still make it for you.

Second up was those AAX Iso Crashes and I actually liked the Freq hats. Everything else was blah...mmmmaybe the Tremor as an OK alternative.
 
vitaflo said:
Well Sabian says they'll announce the winners on Jan 23, but in the latest catalog I got from Musician's Friend, Sabian has an ad showcasing the winners. They are:

AAX Freq Hats (14")
http://cymbalvote.com/fh

AAX Iso Crash (16", 18", 20")
http://cymbalvote.com/ic

AA Raw Bell Crash (16", 18", 20")
http://cymbalvote.com/ra

AAX X-Plosion Ride (20")
http://cymbalvote.com/xr
Click to expand...

The FrEQ hats were the only one of the winners I voted for. The crashes didn't really do much for me.
 
At least the winners weren't just gimmicky cymbals.

Glad the X-Plosion ride won, Sabian could use some more light rides.
 
I really like that Tremor that chad was using. A really fast responsive cymbal. Did any one else notice that Chad was using XS20 hats? I love my Xs20 hats LOL.
 
Actually, I think those hats are the Xs20/B8 Pro Combat hats. My mistake.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top