Well I find the original statement to be true.
Gear choices change with the music. Virtually no one was playing 20" crashes in the 80's, or 15 and 16" hi-hats.
(There are always exceptions).
Lots of 15", 16" and 17" crashes around back then.
I mostly played 13" K hi-hats in the 80's. The fashion was for bright, quick hi-hats. Now everyone is playing darker, sloshier hi-hats (15" and more). The Zildjian rep gave me a pair of K/Z hats. They were bright and loud. After a while I went back to my 13" K's.
And in part, because Zildjian/Sabian/Everyone else has come out with 101 different models since then, and so there is less incentive to mix and match random h-hats together when there are so many choices out there.
I don't know who originally mixed and matched these to make it a thing that caught on, but by the time I began playing as a teen in the 80s, the K/Z hats were a Zildjian catalog item, at least 13" and 14".
I think they fell out of vogue in part because Zildjian discontinued the original Z line.
And in part, because Zildjian/Sabian/Everyone else has come out with 101 different models since then, and so there is less incentive to mix and match random h-hats together when there are so many choices out there.
I had a set of the original Z's and I tell you, I NEVER should've gotten rid of those. Yeah...they were heavy & loud, but the value & use of them today is all the rage.
When I think 90's vogue I think of those playing on the first Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship concert series videos. They're still great to watch & seeing the "fashion" of the time as well as the equipment used is always a great throwback.
I hung onto my Pearl 13" brass piccolo for about 15 years after I'd last used it, in case I ended up in a project that the drum fit. I never did.
I love my hanging 14" floor toms on both my kits. I'd love to find matching 16" toms. (I haven't really searched for them.) Haven't stripped a ball & socket joint yet.
A lot of people think El Camino car-trucks are cool.... I think they are the ugliest things ever (Almost as ugly as a Prius, or a PT cruiser, or an Aztec). They couldn't commit to get a car or a truck so they came up with that. That car's picture should be included in the dictionary under the definition of the word compromise.
I don't know who originally mixed and matched these to make it a thing that caught on, but by the time I began playing as a teen in the 80s, the K/Z hats were a Zildjian catalog item, at least 13" and 14".
I think it was Dave Weckl. And since he managed to create his own personality cult across the nation (you should have seen the college scene in the late 80s - all the cherry wood Yamahas with those little toms and the big mullets and balloon pants) Zildjian seized on the pairing and then,….you know
I wonder if he’s still using the combination made up of Sabians.
I had a set of the original Z's and I tell you, I NEVER should've gotten rid of those. Yeah...they were heavy & loud, but the value & use of them today is all the rage.
When I think 90's vogue I think of those playing on the first Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship concert series videos. They're still great to watch & seeing the "fashion" of the time as well as the equipment used is always a great throwback.
That is so weird Cmdr Ross..i played those hats 24 years ago at a drumshop and loved them...But...you had to be careful about foot pressure but that one sound was my sound. I never got them but I think now a still small voice was talking to me.
I played a pair of 14" HHX Evolutions for a while and they reminded me very strongly of K/Zs. The top was thinner and darker, and the bottom cymbal was just a slab of bronze.
I loved my 13" K/Zs and used them for years, but I traded them for a pair of 14" Mastersounds because I didn't really see that sound fitting in with most of what I play. They were great sounding hats though.
I just aquired one of these - a 14" K Custom bottom Hi Hat. I remember these being offered by Zildjian around 1994 a a single cymbal but also paired with either a K top or an A Custom top. If my recollection is correct, this cymbal may have even been offered with a quick beat top. I also...
I don't know who originally mixed and matched these to make it a thing that caught on, but by the time I began playing as a teen in the 80s, the K/Z hats were a Zildjian catalog item, at least 13" and 14".
They were added to the catalog because Weckl was using them and it was driving stores nuts to have a bunch of K bottoms laying around with no tops (the Z's were interchangeable, i.e, there was no top vs bottom).
So Zildjian added them to the catalog to make life easier for everyone
I had a set of the original Z's and I tell you, I NEVER should've gotten rid of those. Yeah...they were heavy & loud, but the value & use of them today is all the rage.
When I think 90's vogue I think of those playing on the first Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship concert series videos. They're still great to watch & seeing the "fashion" of the time as well as the equipment used is always a great throwback.
I had the 13" K/Z and kept them for about 15 years. They do 13 really well and are classics, if you ask me. Should've kept 'em. I wanted something less chirpy to hang with loud guitars. I wasn't too wild about the half-open sound of the 13s. I eventually ended up going the 15" hi-hat route and got into Paiste.
Power toms. I had a really nice Pearl MLX set that fell into lap for an amazingly low price. It was a 10x14, 12x15, 16x18, 16x24, with a Free Floating maple snare, piano black lacquer. It was a great sounding kit, but I never used the 12x15, because it sat too high on the bass drum. I could barely get the 14" tom low enough, but it somehow worked. I used that one for about four years, until I got my first DW set.
I'd never go back to power toms. They were all the rage, but fell out of favor. Drum fads go in cycles.
I'm gonna go ahead and throw concert toms in this mix.
I have an appreciation for the simplicity of a concert tom. They are easier to tune and mic. They cost less to rehead. They dont sound bad.
I dont like how they look (incomplete). They dont sound fantastic. They go out of round easier from what I've seen. Some have that annoying clip that only allows pitch, not yaw or roll.
Can I get help on this..i owned a pair of 14 dark crisp hats but after getting them they sounded nothing like what id played at Mars music. Now I see a set online that sound great. I thought Paiste was consistent?. Did they come in weights?.
As someone who just bought a bunch of meinls, i'd say in 15 years they're going to look very dated. It's just how trends go. Something is popular, then around 7-15 years later, the opposite of that becomes popular.
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