playing with cheap cymbals as a stylistic choice

Fluffster

Fluffster

Active Member
ive found this interesting as an idea for some time and wondered what you folks think of it, if you can recommend some other drummers to listen to. there must be maybe a few really world class drummers who sometimes play with crappy sounding cymbals or even modified household item instruments because thats the sound they were going for. i did discover through youtube a really good drummer from new zealand called Simon Hinton who seems to more less fit that description, and he sounds fantastic. ive always admired the if it makes a noise ill hit it no matter what attitude. more of a punk attitude i guess.

edit: i thought id ask this as i was playing today and realised an undeniable fact. i actually really like the sound of the stock cymbals that came with this cheap kit. theyre so stock that they dont even have a top or bottom. theyre just two thin sheets of brass with a tiny bit of lathing.
the crash that came with it is just terrible though apart from playing the bell as a ride its just about tolerable
 
Last edited:
djeb said:
I always played with high end cymbals, and now I use PST7 cymbals, because I like them.
Click to expand...
i mean the advantages with cheaper gear are also manyfold. aside from price, not have to worry about breaking or getting stolen. less fear of modifying them if you feel like it. more time spent focusing on the mechanics of the drumming itself than admiring how nice a thing looks and sounds. i also personally think probably my level of drumming warrants not top of the range cymbals. theres nothing worse than someone whos really not all that good who owns a £5000 + drumkit or whatever. im thinking terry bozzio (ha just kidding........sort of) another thing that i think would amuse me internally in a contrarian kind of way is if i was really good at drumming i could confuse other drummers by being amazing at drums but playing a £200 kit and whatever zbt's or paiste 101's or whatever. ha i need to get a life i know.
one other thing, when it comes to drums themselves ive seen enough cheap vs expensive blind test videos to know that most of the time the experts themselves have a hard time telling the two apart, if theyre well tuned with decent heads. that has changed my attitude towards gear a lot.
 
Last edited:
A guy we used to jam with had an old red school bell as part of his kit. He'd use it as an accent, like a splash cymbal, and ended songs with a good bell shot. I laughed every time he'd hit that thing.
 
Depends on music you're playing and what cymbals you can get away with. To me it's worth the money spending on snares and cymbals-the rest of kit really all sound pretty similar (the difference in high to less is more user friendly advantages and quality of higher end). But yep even cheap snares and cymbals can sound good-but you have to hunt and peck. You can find quality cymbals by lesser known sources for less-so there is cheaper quality cymbals (you'll pay the same or less as the big brand name beginner cymbals). I've never paid a lot for a shell pack toms and kick-now cymbals and snares I throw buckets of money at them LOL. I would say lots of cheaper cymbals are pretty one dimensional so no matter how or where you bash it's the same, whereas with my Zildjian K Con I can cajole from bright to dark-clear or wash depending on how and where you strike it. I really never advanced with my cymbal technique till I got better cymbals and took up trying jazz-but that's my experience.
 
GetAgrippa said:
Depends on music you're playing and what cymbals you can get away with. To me it's worth the money spending on snares and cymbals-the rest of kit really all sound pretty similar (the difference in high to less is more user friendly advantages and quality of higher end). But yep even cheap snares and cymbals can sound good-but you have to hunt and peck. You can find quality cymbals by lesser known sources for less-so there is cheaper quality cymbals (you'll pay the same or less as the big brand name beginner cymbals). I've never paid a lot for a shell pack toms and kick-now cymbals and snares I throw buckets of money at them LOL. I would say lots of cheaper cymbals are pretty one dimensional so no matter how or where you bash it's the same, whereas with my Zildjian K Con I can cajole from bright to dark-clear or wash depending on how and where you strike it. I really never advanced with my cymbal technique till I got better cymbals and took up trying jazz-but that's my experience.
Click to expand...
i can totally understand that and the first thing i did when i got my kit was upgrade cymbals and heads. but i do suspect that especially playing live nobody would even notice the difference between zildjian zbt and A customs. its too lost in the mix of the music and the open space. and even the 0.01% of the audience who even did notice wouldnt care. and similarly nobody would notice stock heads or branded heads. pearl roadshow or pearl masters.
 
Last edited:
I had a brass Paiste ride that came with my first kit - with a chain sizzler on it, I could swear it sounded ok.
The cheap crash (zxt) was just intolerable on any level: it would NOT crash, just clang!
 
Yamaha Rider said:
I had a brass Paiste ride that came with my first kit - with a chain sizzler on it, I could swear it sounded ok.
The cheap crash (zxt) was just intolerable on any level: it would NOT crash, just clang!
Click to expand...
i wish i had a well equipped shed so i could mod the f out of terrible sounding cymbals
 
I've always thought the crash sound in 1999 by Prince sounds cheap.
 
The Shepherd said:
A guy we used to jam with had an old red school bell as part of his kit. He'd use it as an accent, like a splash cymbal, and ended songs with a good bell shot. I laughed every time he'd hit that thing.
Click to expand...

I used a circular saw blade as my ride in my old hardcore punk band back in the late 80's. It sounded great, and looked the part for sure...and no one f-ed with me during load in or load out, or if the mosh pit got too crazy on stage.

we use an older Sabian X20 medium ride cymbal as our jazz ride here at school because it has a really nice, dry stick sound and a good wash
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I used a circular saw blade as my ride in my old hardcore punk band back in the late 80's. It sounded great, and looked the part for sure...and no one f-ed with me during load in or load out, or if the mosh pit got too crazy on stage.

we use an older Sabian X20 medium ride cymbal as our jazz ride here at school because it has a really nice, dry stick sound and a good wash
Click to expand...
bloody hell. circular saw as a ride cymbal. XD thats great
 
Fluffster said:
bloody hell. circular saw as a ride cymbal. XD thats great
Click to expand...

that drum set had the saw blade, chains, a broken cowbell....it was (on purpose) awful.
 
I think that Jim Keltner played a garbage can lid on the bridge of Josie by Steely Dan. But, I have little affinity for most cheap brass cymbals; I usually find them harsh and unmusical. I do have some Paiste 402 hats I use for practice; they are nickel and have a bit of that objectionable clang, but I do like them.


Dan
 
Well, Wuhan chinas are best chinas.

I rocked an 18" B8 crash as my left side crash for years because I liked it. I did eventually replace it with an 19" Xplosion fast, but it was one of the better old ones. Not the B8X or whatever they are now.

I had a super set of them early on. Put the 14" crash as the hi-hat top, the top as the bottom, and that was a sweet pair of hats. The ride was decent too.


I also rocked an old greenish colored Nuvader ride as a crash for a long time, before I gave it to a kid along with a cheapo kit I refurbed. Terrible soft sounding stick for a ride, but the crash was great.
 
Last edited:
roncadillac said:
Damon Che of Don Cab famously uses cheap Sabian B8 cymbals and cheap low end dusty drums. He absolutely rips:

Click to expand...
He does totally rip and manages to actually sound pretty great given how his Iron Cobra double pedal probably cost more than the rest of his kit. Still not sure how that setup is comfortable for him, or anyone, to play though!

I’ve got to listen to more Don Caballero. Good stuff.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top