using hi hat as cymbals??

I am using a Paiste pst5 cymbal pack now. I just ordered a set of Paist dark energy hi hats to start replacing my bargin hats. I had the thought of buying a double cymbal stand and using the pst5 hats as a couple of smaller 14" cymbals. One is heavy the other medium thickness so they would sound different. Right now I only have a crash, ride, and hats. I am just curious what your thoughts are before I spend a bunch of money on a stand. I do plan on replacing the whole set eventually. I just thought this might be a way to get some different sounds in the meantime. Is this a strange idea or do other people do this also?

I think it's a good idea...did it myself once.

If you hit something, and it sounds good to you...hit it some more.

The only reason for not doing it is if it would make more sense in your world to just sell them off as a set...maybe to help afford one better crash...

Of course, it's all up to you.

I've always found hi hats to be too close to a gong for me...Then again as RumStik said, "if it sounds good to you...hit it some more"...

Take off one of your cymbals now and set up the hats in their place...If you like what you hear, go pickup another cymbal stand or two for them...This way you'll know for sure before you make the investment into more stands

Best of luck!!!

Cymbal stands don't really wear out, so get a stand with a multiclamp and another boom and give it a whirl. I don't think it'll sound great, but what the hell.

I did this a long time ago with my old ZBT Hats... to be honest, it sounded pretty nifty

I have done this from time to time....the bottom cymbal won't work but the top sounds pretty cool....all depends on thickness of the top hat cymbal.

If you really wanna freak yourself out, take an old hat top or bottom (one you will never uses again) and drill and put some rivets in it. Makes for a really unusual sustained crash sound...kind of like a "rude" with a bbzzzzzzzzz after the attack...I tried it once with a pair of my original "Krut" (turk spelled backwards by the way) cymbals (now that's going way back).

If you really wanna freak yourself out, take an old hat top or bottom (one you will never uses again) and drill and put some rivets in it. Makes for a really unusual sustained crash sound...kind of like a "rude" with a bbzzzzzzzzz after the attack...I tried it once with a pair of my original "Krut" (turk spelled backwards by the way) cymbals (now that's going way back).

This would by just normal pop rivets?? Like the ones that hold my screen door together or is there some special kind?

They weren't any special kind...my dad did it for me...it was a long time ago back in 66 or 67 when I got my first kit. We didn't know much about cymbals then and they threw in these cymbals with the kit. When I got my first Zildjians, I tried this on one of my cheap Krut hats. I don't know what rivots they were, I just remembered they were loose and rattled. I had seen my old drum teacher do this with what I guess was his old ride, so we gave it a try...don't hope for miracles, just unusualness. Another easy way to try it....try those things (clasps or whatever they're called) those metal thingies that you use to hold reports together. You know what I mean...you shove these clips through the hole of a looseleaf paper and then spread them apart to hold all the pages together. And don't forget to chop off the ends to let the pieces rattle. Use those to see if you'll like the sound. If you do, make it permanent with the rivots. Sounds stupid I know...and don't burn a good cymbal doing this...it's not worth it! Just different....

You could also get one of those hardware setups that gives you a closed-hat available on your right side. Some drummers like to have the closed-hat ride on their right, some like to have a different-sounding closed-hat available, and some drummers who do double-bass like to have a closed-hat sound available without having to fool with a drop clutch.

Those PST5 hi hats sound pretty good for what they are. I would agree with Drumtechdad and find a way to use them as another set of hi hats.

I stuck a 14" Sabian hat in my setup while we were recording, and though I felt it was too gongy to crash, it did work as a bell/chime pretty nicely, and doubled as a high-pitched ride. I was very surprised that it worked as well as it did.

In the control-room, they just thought it was a pingy ride.

Well it would seem to make sense. Ive seen 12- 15" and Im sure theres more. I have an old trans stamp avedis paper thin hh I use as a crash with a Jazz set up and it sounds great!

That's why the rivots helped with the swish...

I have seen that kind of thing on musicians friend before. The thought hadn't even occured to me to keep them as secondary hi hats(not sure what that says about me). I will definately consider doing that. Using them as small crashes doesn't seem to be a very popular idea; at least not without doing something to try to improve the sound(although the rivet thing still has me intrigued). I should do a youtube search and see if they show a riveted cymbal. I would like to salvage them one way or another since I have very few cymbals. They have little value dollar wise so selling them kind of seems like a waste. Maby I will drill my younger brothers hats while he is working and see if I like the sound:D. If I survive my beating it should be an interesting experiment.

Here ya go...this is what it looks like and what it does...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sizzle_cymbal

this can be applied to pretty much anything... I'd say it's a bonified life lesson!