My Amazon journey

lsits

Gold Member
First a little background. Having two kits, one set up at home and one in bags ready to travel, I only needed to grab the crash cymbals and my hi-hats (plus the throne) when I used the packed up kit for rehearsals or gigs. Lately I've been rehearsing with a 60's tribute band so I decided to set up both my kits Ringo style. Now there's no need to use the crashes since I have an extra one available. I started looking around for another set of hi-hats for the home kit. I decided to try out Dream cymbals since they were highly recommended and the price looked pretty good. I would have liked to try the cymbals out in person but the nearest brick and mortar dealer was about 90 miles away and I couldn't be sure that they would have the ones I wanted in stock. I decided to use Amazon since they have been very good about returns.

I don't know whether I should mention specific company names, so I won't. I ordered a pair of Dream 14" Contact hi hats from company "L". When the box arrived, it looked like it had been opened and re-sealed.


Here is what the package looked like when I opened it up.

To make matters worse, there was only one cymbal in the box.

Needless to say, I got a RMA from Amazon and sent it back the same day. They credited my account right away.

I ordered them again but this time from company "G". They were the exact same price but also included a drop clutch and a cymbal bag. The package arrived yesterday and the packaging was much better.

The cymbals ( I got both of them this time) were individually wrapped in paper and were put in a plastic sleeve. All of the unused space in the box was filled with bunched up paper so that there was no way anything was going to move around.




I had the chance to use them on a gig tonight and I was pleased. My other set of hats is a pair of 16" new beats. As is to be expected, these sound different. Not better or worse, just different. The Dreams have a bright shimmering tone with a distinctive "chick" when using just the pedal and a good articulate sound when hit by sticks. I still prefer my Zildjians for that partially open sound and for "barks".

I haven't been able to do any A-B comparisons but the early verdict is that the Dreams could certainly hold their own in a gigging situation. My personal preference would be to use the New Beats for blues and heavier rock and the Contacts for lighter or pop oriented music. That probably has more to do with the size than anything else.
 
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That first picture reminds me of the box I saw last week, broke open and all the cymbals hit the hard cement floor and rolled around and crashed.....

sorry, inside joke of the package delivery business ;)

This happens OFTEN..not just cymbals obviously...might want to be a bit more choosy with your retailer and shipper next time, seeing those Dream cymbals are not consistent sound-wise...but that might not matter too much in this case.
 
I'm interested to know who company "G" was so I know they are a reliable dealer. My issue with Amazon is that sometimes you are buying from independent vendors and have no idea who you are really getting this stuff from.
 
A quick look at Amazon tells me who L and G might be. I've never heard of either of them before.
Good review of both the hi-hats and the seller. Good to know.
 
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