Just what are all those cymbals?

[Marko]

I see kits on here with a dozen cymbals...

 

What the heck are they all?

 

Okay, ya usually got yer Hi-hat... then, what is typically gotten in multiples?

 

Are many of them Crashes? Splashes? Do some have more than one Ride? I know many have at least one China...

 

Just curious what you guys have, or what

[Thingfish]

I use hats, one crash that sounds good with the hats, ride, one crash that sounds good with the ride, and china.

 

I think that I'm pretty typical, although there are those lucky few that find a crash that sounds good over their ride AND hats.

 

One day, I will find such a cymbal and use one less cymbal in my setup.

[Merlin Coryell]

You can never have too many, I plan on getting 13" right side hats and some more factory metal stuff soon as well as a second china for the other side too. Of course, this comes from a guy with 3 snares on his kit...maybe a bit bias.

 

On my main kit:

3 Crashes: 14", 16", 18" A Customs

2 Rides: 20" A Cust, 20" Gothic Radius

3 Splashes: 10" A Cust, 2 x 12" A Cust

2 Chinas: 12" Wuhan, 18" ZBT

2 FX: 6" ZilBel, 10" Celtic Bell

Hats: 14" A Cust

 

On my second kit:

1 of each Zil & Cie: 14" Hats, 16" Crash, 20" Ride

Splash: 12" A

[nklarow]

I use hats, a ride, and a crash, but I really want another crash to go above and to the right of my ride.

[Marko]

What are Splashes good for? I notice you don't have/want any.

 

Edit: that was for Thingfish...

[1001gear]

I don't use a lot of cymbals; couple rides, three crashes tops. I'd use more rides but the placement issue quickly becomes impossible. I think the 7 Zildjian rule is so you always have a cymbal available and don't look retarded when you're on the wrong hand with three sixteenths to the big hit.

[Marko]

 

I use hats, a ride, and a crash, but I really want another crash to go above and to the right of my ride.

 

 

 

That

[Marko]

 

I don't use a lot of cymbals; couple rides, three crashes tops. I'd use more rides but the placement issue quickly becomes impossible. I think the 7 Zildjian rule is so you always have a cymbal available and don't look retarded when you're on the wrong hand with three sixteenths to the big hit.

 

 

Why two rides? Placement for ease of use, or different sound... both?

[genghiskog]

I have not had my drums long enough to get a big collection yet. I do have the PST5 cymbals that I originally bought. I recently added the 15" paiste dark energy hi hats. I soon will mount my PST5 hats as closed aux hats. I may get that 18 wuhan china when on the 14th when its the stupid deal of the day; but then I'll have to order a stand too.

[joshranwest]

I use - 1 20" ride, 16, 17, 18" crash, 6" splash, 14" hats, 18" china. More than enough for me personally.

[Jarick]

Left to right:

 

14" hihats, medium weight

18" crash, medium weight, brighter toned

22" ride, heavy weight

19" crash, medium weight, darker toned

 

Occasionally I'll put a 19" china all the way to the right. If I had a bunch of money, I'd have a 14" thin/fast crash to the left of the hihats and a 12" or 14" china instead of the 19".

[RumStik]

If I was gigging, I'd be using a cymbal setup configured for the application, but in my home "laboratory," I have a fairly extensive setup that's recently grown more. Here's what I've got:

 

Hats:

15" Zildjian Quick Beat Bottom/New Beat Top

 

Crashes:

16" A Zildjian Thin

16" A Zildjian Medium Thin

16" Dream Bliss II

18" Istanbul Sultan

 

Rides:

20" A Zildjian Ping Ride

20" Paiste Signature Full Ride

 

Effects:

10" Wuhan Splash

12" A Zildjian Splash

Stack: Saluda 10" Black Mist/8" Hybrid X China

Stack: Wuhan 12" Splash/Saluda 10" Hybrid X China

Wuhan 12" China

Zildjian 18" China Boy Low

[Merlin Coryell]

Multiple rides can serve the purpose of giving you right and left rides (very useful), or just different sound options. I use the gothic radius on the left for a ride which gives a nice and dark jazzy feel, but its fairly quiet compared to conventional rides.

 

Splashes are good for accents or quiet crashes. They are higher pitched and have a very quick decay, making them great for bright accents or dropouts/pauses in songs instead of choking the cymbals.

 

Chinas have a host of applications in any type of music. If crashed, they are loud, dark accents and can shatter the sound of the other music, as rides they are full of warm and dark overtones and can be quite glassy sounding (like the Gothic!), and they offer different sound options depending on how you mount them (up or down) with down being more common these days and offering more bite and attack, as well as a sharper decay in my opinion. They are also great with mallets as they can crash like super-sharp gongs, or be used for crescendos with smooth inclines and controllable volumes.

[Jeff Graw]

 

I think the 7 Zildjian rule is so you always have a cymbal available and don't look retarded when you're on the wrong hand with three sixteenths to the big hit.

 

 

I'm useless without two crashes. I mostly play open handed, so I'm not used to moving my right hand all the way back to the left hand side, especially after fast fills.

[1001gear]

That's generally it. Most drummers get to a point where they can groove and fill at a credible level and leave it at that. At that point, more stuff is the most practical direction.

[1001gear]

Why two rides? Placement for ease of use, or different sound... both?

 

The two rides are placed left right. I also have two floor hihats and a double kicker. Initially this was a practice setup for symmetry and a more thorough 4 way workout. I've become so accustomed to this arrangement that it's become my instrument.

I use a B8 standard 20 and a B8 plus 20. These two because they were closest in tone and pitch. Drill wise, they provide symmetrical target practice. Musically speaking they aren't even close so I have developed preferences regarding their use.

So yeah both. I just noticed that up there. You should have provided a check box.

[Thingfish]

 

What are Splashes good for? I notice you don't have/want any. Edit: that was for Thingfish...

 

 

I used to have a few splashes when I was into Alice In Chains. Lots of splashes in the SAP/Jar of Flies/Unplugged stuff. You stick them in as accents on a groove where you don't want a crash because a crash would be overpowering.

 

If you want to here tons of splashes used well, listen to No Excuses by Alice in Chains.

 

I'm not a big crash person, because they can't be added into grooves, but hats, rides, chinas, splashes, cross crashers, gongs, max stax, trash hats, blocks, cowbells, vibraslap, tambourines, rotos and mini-tims can all add a little flavor to the groove, but lately I've been playing stuff that doesn't require all the bells and whistles, so I've ditched my effects and gone with a more straight forward setup.

 

However, I have been in situations that the music called for some or all of the above mentioned effects. These days, if I were to need any of that, I would just get a Roland SPS and call it a day.

 

Edit:

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[Mogwix]

16 (on the way), 17, and 18" AA thin crashes

14" AAX studio hats

20" AA med. ride

8 and 10" wuhan splashes (on the way)

 

that's about as extensive as my cymbal setup will ever be.

[SYMBOLIC]

Well if you've seen the pics of my kit then I fall into this category. See pic below. My kit is set up a little differently b/c I'm left handed and right footed, so I play open handed regardless if I'm leading with my left or right hand.

 

 

Starting on my left side:

22" HH China

18" AA China

22" AAX Metal Ride

14" AA Rock bottom on top with a HH Bright on bottom

13" Z Dyno Beat (Original Z series very loud and clanky)

18" AA Rock Crash

16" AA Rock Crash

12" Wuhan china

 

 

On my right side I have starting from the center of the kit

12" AAX metal splash

18" AAX metal Crash

19" AAX metal Crash

13" AAX Fusion hats on a cable remote

18" AA China

22" AAX metal ride

15" AAXtreme china

 

My current set up is a little different than the photos, b/c they are about 9 months old, but what I have listed is what is currently on my kit. My cymbals are set up somewhat symmetrically, and I have two rides b/c I play double ride patterns (use both at the same time to play a given ride pattern).

 

The number and types of cymbals someone has on their kit depends on the style of music they play, and it's just nice to have different voices on the kit. There is no right or wrong when it comes to how many or few cymbals is in a kit. It all depends on what you need to play your music. You also need to have some more cymbals around the kit when it's bigger b/c if your only crash is on the left you have a long way to reach back to hit it when you are on the last floor tom, so that comes into play.

[theDan]

I have the standard 1 ride, 1 hats, 2 crash, setup, but I also have a splash which i love, considering a second splash.

[twosticks]

[quote=SYMBOLIC;25846467

 

The number and types of cymbals someone has on their kit depends on the style of music they play, and it's just nice to have different voices on the kit. There is no right or wrong when it comes to how many or few cymbals is in a kit. It all depends on what you need to play your music. You also need to have some more cymbals around the kit when it's bigger b/c if your only crash is on the left you have a long way to reach back to hit it when you are on the last floor tom, so that comes into play.

 

Agreed. I think is closest to how a guitarist might have a cabinet full of different guitars. One song calls for a Acoustic, another calls for a hollow body guitar and another for solid body electric.

 

After being without a set and hardly any money, a friend gave me an old junk set which I replaced with better heads. I then went to music stores and built a collection of nice used cymbals. I couldn't find any nice used rides but finally found a 20" dry ride which works fine in many ways. Recently I was able to get an 18" Crash/Ride wish was close to an old favorite I had before I sold it years ago.

 

SO now I have two rides to use and an extra crash. One ride sounds more like these songs and the other sounds more like the one in other songs. Plus having different size crashes adds to the color. Where one crash is the same nice but always bright and shimmering, it adds depth when you can: Crash on one cymbal, do a fill and then crash on the same type cymbal but in a different size that maybe sounds a little more fuller.

 

Or to have a crash in the same size as another but one is a little darker, Like a 16" Zild. A and then a 16" Zild. K Or is nice effect to have an 8",10" and 12" splashes.

 

Is also a few that have a smaller Jazz type kit and jazz like cymbals and pull those out when they play that kit and then have a more metal/rock kit with cymbals to match for it. But Most drummers play a mixture of both and like to have a mixture of cymbals set up ready to use. Plus is also nice to have a crash within reach as your playing the hats, one to the right so when you end that snare roll it's right there and one at the end by your floor tom so when you do a full tom sweep you have a crash right there. Plus it very sweet to have different cymbals to wash on during the ending cymbal cressendos on live songs!

[Jeff Graw]

 

Well if you've seen the pics of my kit then I fall into this category. See pic below. My kit is set up a little differently b/c I'm left handed and right footed, so I play open handed regardless if I'm leading with my left or right hand.

 

 

Hey, me too!

 

Good to hear there are other open handed players on the forum.

[RumStik]

 

These days, if I were to need any of that, I would just get a Roland SPS and call it a day.

 

 

Ick. I'd take natural bronze over synthetic anything, no matter how good the samples get.

[HBdrummer]

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Pretty traditional here, I suppose. I use a variety of different series and weight and sizes, but other than adding my 14" china for some applications, I stay with this configuration. 1 set of 14" hats, 12" splash, 8" splash, 14" thin or 'fast' crash, 18" 'fast' crash and 20" med ride. I also use a variety of percussion instrument including a DST, med cowbell, and low pitch jamblock. soon adding a 6" zilbel and djembe.

 

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[coyote-1]

Start with the hats. I have interchangeable bottom cymbals, the heavy one that came as part of the set and, for when we get more into jazz, a lighter one. Two incredibly different sounds.

 

I have four 16" crashes. Each one sounds different, and together they blend well even though they are 3 different brands.

 

I have 1 splash. Might get another eventually, but I don't see the need for a great variety of that particular sound.

 

I have a ride and a crash-ride. Again, two different sounds that work in different parts of the music. The bell on the crashride is much better then the one on the ride, but that aside the ride is one of the best I've ever heard.

 

And I have three small Wuhan chinas - at ten bucks a pop why not?? Again, each sounds different from the others.

 

So.... it's about a sonic palette. Some artists work best with a simple pencil and sketch pad, others work best with a wide range of colors and brushes. It's all good.