tired ol' hats

had soooo many good suggestions for the crash/ride, i'm gonna try again for the hats:

looking for some new hats, specifically 15", as i've never played them and would love to hear them. anyone have any that can comment? i'm not objecting to using 2 sets, so they don't have to be my mains. but i just don't wanna drop $300+ without knowing what they can do.

currently using a mixed-up sabian mix: rock bottom and b8 top. sounds ok. still have rock top, but too pangy now. looking for a crispy sound, but not necessarily dry.

i know it's easy to get off the subject, so if you can just stick to 15's...

also, anyone ever tried out crashes as hats with any success? what combos?

Cross eyed mary would probably be the one to talk to on here about crashes as hats. He should be able to help you out

Yes:

18" Paiste Twenty Thin Crash over A Rock Crash

18" Twenty Crash over 18" Twenty Crash

The 18 Twenty/A combo is great, but the bottom hat was just a tad too metallic and clangy. Unfortunately i didn't have dough for a new hat bottom. At this point i'm thinking about selling them both off for 2 18" Giant Beat crashes.

For 16's, you can do any combo you want. For 17's and 18's, IMO, you'll want thinner top cymbals to keep the same response of smaller hats. I've had people tell me to use thicker cymbals top and bottom, but i call bull{censored}. It'll take alot more energy to move two thick crashes. For anything over 16's, my general rule is THIN top, and MEDIUM to MEDIUM-HEAVY bottom. I've heard great results with two medium's or thins as well.

If you want hear a PERFECT pair of thin 16's, listen to the Bob Marley Live! album.

I recently bought a pair of 15" Zildjian K Light HH's on Ebay for about $250. Great sounding hats, dark and musical with a lot of wash, loud. The "chick" isn't very pronounced though so my plan is to get a regular 15" K bottom to beef things up for certain applications. I'd otherwise highly recommend them though if you can find a good deal on them.

15" new beats are great

I dig my 17" HH crash hats. Dark and dirty and mmmm.

Now you're talkin!

Thick on bottom, thin on top. Try different combinations. I'm currently using an 18" Istanbul crash/ride on bottom w/ 18" HHX Evolution crash on top. Gonna probably change out the Evolution for a 18" K Dark Thin since a quick experiment with my 19" K Dark Thin on top seemed to hold a lot of promise (especially with that awesome bell). Personally, I would just walk into a music store and mix 'n match. Why copy what someone else is doing when you have the chance to make a totally unique hi-hat for yourself? There are infinite variations when you mix 'n match big cymbals, and going with some forumer's idea takes all the adventure out of it. Just remember, the general rule (with some exceptions) is going to be thick bottom and thin top.

What i've been noticing is that sometimes a thin but DRY bottom will give a great effect too.

When did all you people start using manly hats?

I got a mixed setup with a Zildjian 15" A zildjian new beat top, and a Zildjian A Custom mastersound bottom. It gives the perfect amount of top and bottom end with lots of clarity, but plenty of sizzle and raunch if I need it. I still get excited to practice when I think about using them. The mastersound A custom bottoms are much heavier than I though they would be, and the sound edge keeps them from getting air-locked and choked. Just a suggestion, but in 26 years of playing, I have never heard a better combo.

Three days ago. No kidding.

I had a 16" Z custom crash under a sabian AA thin crash as x-hats for a couple shows.

I happened to have the two crashes (the Z custom being a friend's) that I wanted to make use of... but couldn't really find a place to put 'em. Naturally, the only logical course of action is x-hats! I found myself using them about as much as my main hats, actually.

my drum kit was pretty extravagant for a blues band :/

Try Paiste 15" 2002 sound edge. I bought a set a few months. I didn't really like how they sounded in the store. They have this really, really high pitch ringing sound, but with the whole band they sound great. They really cut through.

I am totally happy with them. You can get a new set for around $350 or so.

I have 15" A Zildjians I've been playing since the mid seventies, heavy bottom and meadium thin top. Very musical with great wash and the chick aint half bad.

sick. just sick. come to think of it, i do have a bitchin 16" zildjian rock crash, thick just layin' around. never liked it much for crashin' much, it is loud enough, but decays too quickly vs my other big boys. would be the perfect bottom hat. just have to score a nice medium/thin top. man, this is f*kin great for opening my eyes! thx, all + mary!

dig the New beats...15" is even better

That good, a 16" crash will be a {censored} of alot cheaper that hats.

Just bring the bottom crash to a store and start pairing them up.

I have some 16" hats on the way