sillypilot
Junior Member
Hi all - Size differences aside, what does an A sweet ride provide that an A medium ride does not?
I've owned 4 x A 20" Medium rides (80s, 90s and 2020 models) and 2 x Sweet rides (2017 and 2020 models) over the years. The Medium ride is heavier and has a nice ping but the bell is pretty weak in my opinion. Watch out for the new models as they are suprisingly lighter, my 2020 was more like a crash/ride and it went back to the shop. Despite my obvious efforts, I never found a Medium I was satified with, they just sound average to me, nothing necessarily wrong with them but little personalilty. Crash sound just doesn't do anything remarkable, goingy to my ear - except the newer models possibly. I've heard the new 22" models are good but I haven't tried one.
If you own a medium ride in your cymbal bag, it's like having that one friend that only eats white bread and bland rice, only watches network TV sitcoms, dresses only in white shirts and khakis and only listens to adult contemporary instrumental music.
Pretty close to best post ever.I agree with roncadillac above. Medium rides are a "jack of all trades, master of none". I've never met a medium ride I've liked. Like ron C said above, they are too heavy for a quiet jazz gigs but not loud enough to use on a contemporary rock gig. The crash sound is typically pretty harsh on Medium Rides. Usually the bell is "blah" and impersonal. If you own a medium ride in your cymbal bag, it's like having that one friend that only eats white bread and bland rice, only watches network TV sitcoms, dresses only in white shirts and khakis and only listens to adult contemporary instrumental music.
Are you judging the cymbal, the owner, or both here? Just curious.If you own a medium ride in your cymbal bag, it's like having that one friend that only eats white bread and bland rice, only watches network TV sitcoms, dresses only in white shirts and khakis and only listens to adult contemporary instrumental music.
I think easiest way is just to track the weight, luckily that has become more standard. To your point, my friend had a really great A med ride 18" (if I had to guess, 80s), thin enough to crash nicely but nice articulation and cutting bell...could do anything with it really. The I got a modern one and it was so clanky, couldn't even use it...the magic was not there at all. I had no idea the weights but I know it was def heavier. Again, I got an old Quick beat set...got lucky and sound great, just a workhorse set. I'm sure some of natural patina dries out some the annoying mids but it seems the weights between era are all over the place for As.This has always been my issue with Zildjian... Way too much variance within the same model, as if "close enough" is the company mantra. Some people like the uniqueness of that but I personally don't like that. I prefer more consistency in a cymbal.