Can 15" hi hats have a good chick?

Funky Crêpe

Funky Crêpe

Silver Member
I currently have a pair of 15" istanbul sigs. They are great for playing with a stick, but lack the control I had with a 14" pair. Understandable, but the weak chick is something that I can't seem to get over. When playing the ride, you can hardly hear it. I tried different tightness' with regards to the clamp, and not much changes. I was looking at the sultans. Since they're edge is layered, maybe they kep their dark wash, but when using the foot, retain some brightness? Could someone help me?Will I just have to get smaller hats to achieve this?
 
Any hihats with an air-release design (waved bottom hat ala mastersounds or quickbeat style air vents) will have a good foot chick sound. 15" HHX Xcelerator hats still have heaps of chick while having the fatter sloshier sound that is associated with 15" hats.
 
Ditto on the air release. Also, as a general rule, brighter cymbals give a more audible chick than darker ones. With hats, you get more brightness the smaller you go, so you can either try that or go to brighter cymbals for your hats. I've always said don't be afraid to mix brands.
 
Solaris said:
Any hihats with an air-release design (waved bottom hat ala mastersounds or quickbeat style air vents) will have a good foot chick sound. 15" HHX Xcelerator hats still have heaps of chick while having the fatter sloshier sound that is associated with 15" hats.
Click to expand...

These are great sounding hats.

I use Sabian AA Sizzle hats and they are very crisp. They aren't hand hammered or a "jazz" orinted set of hats, but they have a solid, crisp chick, and a great stick sound for me.
I play in rock/blues rock bands, but they could work for anything that doesn't need "dark", or a Jazz vibe.

HH Groove, or HHXcelerators would be cool for that.

If you like 15's, I'd just look around and test what you can, and listen to sound files.
What you want is out there, no need to go smaller if you don't want to.
Good luck!
 
First thing I would look at is overtightened cymbals, you want the choke a little loose or it will deaden the sound significantly. Try loosening it and see if you get more action on the top hat. [Edit: I see you've looked at this, reading comprehension fail.]

Many stands offer a tilt to the bottom cymbal to reduce the air-lock muffle. To make the attack of the chick shorter I have to apply more force than if the cymbals were level, but the sound is good. Slow releases will tend to drag and you may get unwanted noise. This is a viable alternative to the wavy cymbals. A slight tilt also tends to enhance the sizzle sustain in my experience. I have also seen hats with holes in them, same concept.

I'm using some medium bright PST5s right now as I save for better, I dislike them quite a bit as I primarily am interested in jazz, but having gone over my stand adjustments for hours have noticed a ton of variance capabilities to get something usable for now.
 
Uh, I'd say, Yes, they easily can. Just listened to Art Blakey recordings--he is the master of utterly clear hi-hat "chicks," and he often used 15" hats.

To ensure solid chick with 15" hats, either (a) make sure that the bottom hat is weightier (for example: top hat around 800-ish grams vs. bottom hat around 1300-ish g), or (b) buy Paiste hats. For rock, funk, etc., Paiste Signature or Twenty or Dark Energy hi-hats easily slay anything offered by Agop, Zildjian, Sabian, etc. Paiste may not make good jazz cymbals, but they excel at making cymbals that speak with clarity in all other styles.
 
Absolutely. As can 16" hats. I have 15 Zildjian Hollow logo hats that are smooth as butter, and 16" Zildjian hats. Both can be quiet and both can give you a good louder chick depending on how you set them up on the stand and clutch.

All of that said, you can get louder chick with the rippled edge Mastersound type bottom.
 
Thing about hi-hats is that the interaction between the two cymbals messes with expectations.

Recorded, I'm sure those 15" hats have a great chick, but the lower, or more likely wider, frequency range makes the chick less audible to the human ear.
 
Agree with earlier comments about air release design..certainly allows the cymbals to have a more pronounced foot chick..I'm playing 2oo2 15" sound edges....no problem hearing the chick (foot or stick) with them!..
 
Thanks for all the responses! I seem to be getting a bit of a better "chick" from the hats now. Not sure what happened, I went to the studio, and they seemed to change. But I would like more yes. The top hat is something like 920grams, and the bottom is 980grams I think. Not much of a difference there!! Maybe putting some tape on the underside of the bottom hat might help this?
 
Funky Crêpe said:
Thanks for all the responses! I seem to be getting a bit of a better "chick" from the hats now. Not sure what happened, I went to the studio, and they seemed to change. But I would like more yes. The top hat is something like 920grams, and the bottom is 980grams I think. Not much of a difference there!! Maybe putting some tape on the underside of the bottom hat might help this?
Click to expand...

You usually get a better "chic" when you have a noticably wider weight difference between the top and bottom pies...the bottom being at least a hundred grams or so heavier from my experience. This will give you more "chic" from my experience regardless of size since I use and own beefier sets of 13's, 14's and 15's for acoustic jazz work, live or in the studio.

As far as 15's my 15" OM's deliver the goods for a nice crisp foot closing sound to my {and micophones} ears.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top