15" hats

I love my 14" new beats from the 60's, but I'm craving some 15" sloshers real bad..
I would love 15" vintage new beats or k lights, but don't want to shed the $$.

However, I do already own a 15" k custom dark crash that's sitting around. I threw it on as the bottom hihat with a 14" new beat top. It had some weird metallic overtones to it because of the size difference, but that Slushy McButtery goodness was really there! So much fun to groove on.

So, I'm thinking of buying a 15" new beat top and throw it on top of the k custom dark crash.

Has anyone used a k custom dark crash.. or any other crash on their HH with success?
I think it would sound great, but I'm wondering if it would sound better just to get a 15" pair of old new beats..
Whatdya think??
-Sam
 
I have a 14 inch "fast crash" that I don't use that much. One time when a guitar player was "helping" me set up the kit for a show, he accidentally put the fast crash on the bottom as the lower hat... It threw me off a tad at first, but once I got used to it, I found it a rather interesting effect. Dried out the wash but kept the attack as it was...

Nothing wrong with experimenting like that if you ask me!
 
I have a pair of 15" K lights that are fantastic. I've also tried a 15" K Custom dark crash as a bottom and liked that as well, it really mellowed them out. All the options you discussed are good in my opinion. I've used crashes in hi hat sets or used two top quite often (and still do).
 
I have recently started using a 13" 1940's vintage Zildjian crash as a top hi-hat to go with a 13" A Mastersound bottom and I absolutely love it. It is a very thin cymbal and against the medium heavy bottom, it sounds very crisp and sizzly. It also has the best chick I have ever heard. I can finally say that I have found the hi-hat sound and feel I have been searching for. So yeah, like the others said, there is nothing wrong with experimenting. I don't believe in classifying cymbals as strictly ride, crash, etc. anyway.
 
I always used traditional 14's but have been craving 13's because they speak quicker. But now I see a lot of guys going for the big sloshy 15's and I kinda dig it. Screw it, I'll just keep using the 14's -- seems like the best compromise.
 
I love the fat sound in the hi hat, and I can't stand the "high pitched notes" while I'm playing...
that's the reason why I got two old (I mean...broken :) ) 16" crashes for hi hat.
and I LOVE that sound. I feel so comfortable playing on those cymbals. It makes me play and groove in another way....

But those crashes are really broken, so now they're losing sound, and I bought an old 15" Ufip Cymbals, for a really cheap price.
and it's great as well!

So I reccomend you to try some big hi hats, and If you fall in love with their sound and the way they make you play....buy some!

Oh, one last word..some people could think that they fit just with some kind of music, but I honestly think that they go along really well with many genres.
Steve Jordan is using 17" hi hats most of the time...and you know the kind of music he's playing.
but also Ronnie Vannucci from the Killers got some huge hi-hat (18" I guess), and he's playing some different music.

So don't fell "scared" to buy some 15" hats, they're not as big as they seem ;)
 
I used to use nothing but 14" hats till I was persuaded to get a set of 13" K dark which I dearly loved. I showed up to a gig once without any hats and borrowed a set of 15" A's out of necessity. I liked that sound a lot. When all my good cymbals were stolen in 2008, I happened to run into an set of 15" A's on a web site and snatched them up remembering my good experience with the other set I borrowed. Love them. I'll never go back.
 
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