I totally get that collector’s impulse for brand purity. But I went the other way and solved the problem of mixed Tama / Pearl hardware by changing all the wingnuts to the pretty DW ones. Now they are all a little messed up : ) I mix Remo with Evans too. Even my hi-hats are Sabian Artisan Top over Zildjian K bottom. And my daughter’s half Japanese. My final drum kit will be made from orphan shells, but I’m not quite there yet....
I’m now Zildjian-free as well. When I started playing there was only really Zildjian and/or Paiste in the Manchester drum shops and regardless of what you really wanted you bought what the shop had. Those brands got embedded really young so it feels like a bit of a betrayal moving away from them. But now there’s so much more choice it’s a shame to feel constrained by having to have matching logos. (But it does look good, and everyone hears through their eyes
sometimes.)
The way it worked out for me was all crashes, hats, and ride are Zildjian, and all my trashy cymbals are Sabian. All were selected because each sounded best to me in it's category.
@ acsunda , I love the way Meinl crashes in particular sound recorded and miced live (I'm actually not hearing anything better than Meinl these days), but the natural acoustic sound of Zildjian Custom (A and K) as well as some Paiste series sound the best to me.
This is also 100% truth. Mix em up. Thats my approach also. I use mostly big Zildjian K crashes and hats because nothing sounds a good as them to my ears, My trashy crashes are from Sabian because Zildjian don't make a trash crash/EFX as robust or trashy as the HHX Ozone. My stack is a Meinl and Sabian mix. My rides are Meinl, because nobody else makes a ride sound like a 21" Polyphonic or the Byzance Traditional Medium.
This is also 100% truth. Mix em up. Thats my approach also. I use mostly big Zildjian K crashes and hats because nothing sounds a good as them to my ears, My trashy crashes are from Sabian because Zildjian don't make a trash crash/EFX as robust or trashy as the HHX Ozone. My stack is a Meinl and Sabian mix. My rides are Meinl, because nobody else makes a ride sound like a 21" Polyphonic or the Byzance Traditional Medium.
Looking at the pic for the first time i went 'Bosphorus... nice. And that Dark Ride looks really good as well, nice darker and complexer cymbal sounds i guess. Wait what is that a Rude?'
Don't get me wrong, but i did't expect to see a Rude hi-hat
I received my Meinl Byzance dark ride today (which is beautiful by the way), and it suddenly occurred to me that for the first time since I started playing in high school, I don’t have a single Zildjian cymbal in my kit. Don’t get me wrong, I still dig Zildjians, but I was just sort of surprised at myself. There was a time (in my younger years) when I thought you’d have to be crazy to play anything but Zildjian.
Also, hats off to the guys using the DW 5000 single pedal. When I was 17, there was an old dusty 5000 at my local drum shop and when I asked how much, he told me he used it as a comparison to the Tama pedals he carried to show people why the Tama pedals were superior, but if I really wanted it, he'd sell it to me for $50. I've been using it for the last 16 years.
Also, hats off to the guys using the DW 5000 single pedal. When I was 17, there was an old dusty 5000 at my local drum shop and when I asked how much, he told me he used it as a comparison to the Tama pedals he carried to show people why the Tama pedals were superior, but if I really wanted it, he'd sell it to me for $50. I've been using it for the last 16 years.
That's cool. I'm on my second DW 5000. My first one I (like an idiot) traveled with it in my hardware bag with everything else. It go so beat and banged up, I'm pretty sure I damaged it beyond repair. I got this one, and carried it around in the original box for many years. I then bought a DW 9000, and it stays at home, so I use the bag from the 9000 for the 5000 on the road.
That's sexy!!
I hopped on the Meinl train when I got my Thomas Lang Super Stack. It just sounded unlike any other set I've combined before. His Fast Hats are crispy & sharp too.
A very good company to play with.
I've been using Ziljians (crash & ride) & Paiste hats (came with my first kit) for decades but just recently finally in a position to discover other brands. Now using Bosphorus & they're great.
I've been using Ziljians (crash & ride) & Paiste hats (came with my first kit) for decades but just recently finally in a position to discover other brands. Now using Bosphorus & they're great.
Your setup is now mostly handmade cymbals. Once the ear discovers that, there's simply no going back. "Regular" Zildjians (As, A Customs) can't "hang" in that company. You can get comparable sounds from some newer, higher-end Ks (Constantinople) and Avedis (reissues) though, but it'll cost ya...
I started with Zildjians Avedis 70's New Beat and heavy Ping ride, heavy and medium heavy 16" crashed because they came with the kit but very soon, I started to be interested in cymbals and wanted to try different Brands. Ok, Sabian was the first step of my "deviation" because they are everywhere in Canada and at a very good price but very soon, I was in love with the Meinl, Dark crash 17" and traditional 19" was my first meinls. Then, a lot of effects cymbals came from Sabian, I agree, they do lovely effects cymbals, maybe too many ones, I was in love with them and bought too much for sure... Still one effect cymbal in Meinl, Matt Garska Equilibrium China 20" but my last purchase was a Meinl, ultra thin hammered 20" crash, a monster...
I have enough cymbals now, especially for a keys player but if I have to buy few new cymbals, it will be a combination of sand ride and crash and foundry reserve ride light and normal... Maybe kind of a perfect Jazz set up?? For hats, it took me way more time to learn how to assess them so, I have only two more, Sabian Click track Hat and Meinl Sand hats, Benny Grebb model...Maybe a foundry reserve hat in the future ? In 15"?.... So, yes, I have only one zildjian installed on my kit in the usual set up and I really love this variety of sounds but at the same time the cohesiveness of how they sound because I was bringing almost all the time ALL the Cymbals that I had to check if they were working well with the others...
Ha! I'll pass on going to those extremes. I like category consistency (e.g., Pearl drums and hardware, Remo heads, Zildjian cymbals, and so on), not universal consistency. Were I committed to the second condition, I'd have Pearl cover my truck in a fine Delmar drum wrap.
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