What is the best cymbal brand?

Its personal opinion, and my personal opinion has to be Meinl.
 
I vote Zildjian! No...wait...what's the one that everyone else uses? THAT'S the one I vote for!
Yeah, that's it.
 
I like sabian because i think its your best value plus you get 2 year warranty instead of zildjians 1 year warranty, however when you get up to the A custom Zildjians they are really nice, i like paiste signatures too but i dont know too much about meinl cymbals.
 
There is no one"best" but a personal preference of choice in my view for each player based on many factors.

Istanbul Agop are clearly the best sounding {and looking I might add} traditionally handmade cymbals being made in the World today in my books as my personal choice on the subject. Proud to play Istanbul Agop!
 

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Sabian, hands down.

not only do the cymbals sound amazing, but they have great customer service and great warranties too. plus, they're not as expensive as Zildjian or Paiste (at least from the prices I've seen)
 
That is an easy one. "Any one that won't break!"

When you find that one, please let me know so I can get me some and start hammerin' away with extreme prejudice.
 
LeeLovesSabian said:
Just thought I'd like to see opionions.
Sabian, Zildjian, Paiste, or Meinl?
I vote Sabian of course
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Sabian: Very similar to Zildjian, since it was founded by a Zildjian. They have custom cymbals made for artists, but overall I think they over-buff their polished (default) cymbals, which kills the midrange complexity and makes them more susceptible to breakage due to the excess heating from the polishing (believe me, I've used many of them). They have, historically, been about 5% cheaper than Zildjian... not sure about custom cymbals however.

Zildjian: No comparison really. They innovated it and all the greats, prior to the 60's used them. They are very expensive overall, but you get what you pay for. I find them to be the most durable, for some reason.

Paiste: Powerful, somewhat shrill and cutting seems to be the overall opinion about Paiste. They have newer brands with warmer, more "traditional" sounds. But most Paiste players play Paiste not to sound like their playing Zildjians, but because they like the power and higher pitch, which made them famous. Alex Van Halen, John Bonham, Bill Bruford and Danny Carey just would not sound the same without their Paistes. I used to use them and like them very much. Because most models are sheet bronze, they tend to break easier than a similar thickness cast cymbal.

Meinl: Not a big fan. I don't really know what people see in them. They are really shrill, not very melodic or smooth and tend to have "tuned" tonalities which I can imagine would annoy the crap out of a sound engineer. When Billy Cobham switched to them in the 80's (probably because they were the only company that would endorse him at the time), his video "Drums by Design" featured them. Ugly. Not pretty at all. They are also sheet bronze.

The various Turkish cymbals are pretty good too, but not very consistent compared to Sabian or Zildjian.
 
ian ballard, about the 'polished' Sabian cymbals you mentioned, are you talking about Sabian's 'brilliant' finish cymbals?

if so, I have a simple solution: get 'traditional' finish Sabians instead.

also, I thought of another thing that's good about Sabian: they hand-hammer their HH and HHX lines. as far as I know, Zildjian doesn't do that anymore for any of their cymbals.
 
I'm representing Sabian but I believe there are phenomenal cymbals of every brand. For example Paiste has some beautiful cymbals from its Signature line, Zildjian has the K line, Sabian's AA line is one of my favorite lines, and Meinl I have yet to play but I've heard them live and have heard nothing but good.
 
A: whatever you like personally.

They all offer greatness. Sticking just to the big 4: (My favorites)

Zildjian: A and K custom
Sabian: HHX/Vault
Meinl: Byzance
Paiste: Signature (especially dark energy)

You can't go wrong with any of them.
 
Ian Ballard said:
.

The various Turkish cymbals are pretty good too, but not very consistent compared to Sabian or Zildjian.
Click to expand...

Well "not being very consistent" as in not all sounding the same per cymbal per size and line has it's virtues too sound wise for some of us believe me like finding and selecting completely unique individual in character sounding handmade pies for getting your "own" sound :}
 
Steamer said:
Well "not being very consistent" as in not all sounding the same per cymbal per size and line has it's virtues too sound wise for some of us believe me like finding and selecting completely unique individual in character sounding handmade pies for getting your "own" sound :}
Click to expand...

i wish we were all that lucky, but some of us arent... i have never laid close eyes on any istanbul, bosphorus, or any other "traditional" cymbal in my life. the closest i have come is when galactic came to birmingham with stanton moore's bosphorus line. i have never seen one in any store down here...

if i had the chance to get a great sounding turk pie i would.

edit: also, not everyone is looking for that original turkish sound. some people want the bright cutting sound of a customs. 4 years ago, i did.
 
I like Wuhan, Stagg, Planet Z's, Avanti, and Camber............



Ok, just kidding, I don't really care who's name is on the Cymbal, I just care how it sounds. If a B8 gives me the sound I am looking for over a Custom Zildjian, then that is what I will use. It's all about the sound and not the price.........
 
i like them all in one way or another, but sabian and zildjian are my defaults.

i like sabians aax, hh, hhx, and i have the paragon high hats and theyre really nice for me.
the zildjians that i like are the vintage ones of course, especially the hollow logo rides, older a series, some a customs, k, and k customs are my favorite.

my favorite part about all the hand hammered cymbals is that they all sound a little different. so you'll never find any 2 that sound 100% the same. which is a really cool dynamic. my favorite cymbals overall are the ones that sound way better than all the other cymbals of that model. i love gems like that.
 
LeeLovesSabian said:
What is the best cymbal brand?
Click to expand...

The one that makes the cymbals that sound the best to your ear.

If you mean value, then same answer, but that you can afford.
 
It's entirely subjective but; I prefer Sabian after having tried a wide variety of models from the "big three". I've never played any hand-made Turkish pies but I'm sure they're great...so I really can't comment there.
 
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