Please recommend a 16" crash cymbal.

[kilsin]

First off, thanks for all the great responses. To answer a few comments or questions. He does not over tighten the cymbals & also uses the correct gear. He's not real heavy handed nor is he Jazz handed. There is no problem with Sabian at all as far as I'm concearned. I just thought it was odd to limit one self to only Sabian. (maybe it's the drummer mentallity)
That's like me saying I will only play Fenders.

I guess my thought was the cymbal selection is wrong for him since they keep cracking.

[DrummerMan]

but for reals, Bonham is in that league with Hendrix, Jaco etc. Guys that would shred regardless of the gear, not because of it.

true, but that doesn't mean that Paiste cymbals suck, and sticking them in the same category with Meinl seems odd to me. I grew up and started out playing jazz, so it was always old k's for me, or some modern turkish alternative in the same style, and when I started doing more rock and less jazz, I just assumed a "great" cymbal was perfect for everything. I kept on searching around for a great old k crash, and while all the ones I came across sounded really amazing, they weren't doing what I needed a rock crash to do. They were all too rich and complex sounding, which in turn I found distracting-sounding for something that was supposed to fulfill a simpler function. For years, I was in possession of of basically the full drum and cymbal collection of an old-time Vegas drummer who had retired from playing and moved to New York. I dug through his mass of cymbals and ended up trying out things that my previously snobby elitist jazz outlook on cymbals wouldn't have usually even let me consider. I found some Zildjian A (what! machine-finished cymbals?!?! How barbaric ) rides that were amazing, and some old Paiste crashes. To me, those Paistes sounded the most like Rock n' Roll... to me, that is.


To get back to the topic, though. I think there's this built in mentality that you need to have all your cymbals by the same company in order to match well. I, personally, think it's BS but can remember a time when I was, like, 9, and hadn't really experienced alot of different cymbals and I liked the look of the ads with 20 cymbals all looking like they belonged together. To me that's purely aesthetic, but your drummer may not be able to get over that, so....

Is he getting the exact same kind of Sabian crash each time? or has he tried some different varieties? It's just as likely that you'll have better luck with a different style of Sabian as you would with a different brand, IMHO.

[dynomike]

timbale sticks are about 1/2 the width of 7A's.

7A's are not an oddly small size drum stick at all.

Whatever makes you play best...

I would say that 7a's have only EVER sounded right to me for jazz. Any other time, I'd say 5a's or for rock 2's or 5B's (my favorite). It just doesn't sound like rock to me if you're using 7a's.

[DrummerMan]

It just doesn't sound like rock to me if you're using 7a's.

Hey now! Maybe not when you use 7A's!

[dynomike]

It just doesn't sound like rock to me if you're using 7a's.

Hey now! Maybe not when you use 7A's!

Its certainly true for me, and many drummers I've recorded. But its just one mans opinion.

[ckeene]

timbale sticks are about 1/2 the width of 7A's.

7A's are not an oddly small size drum stick at all.

Yeah, and it was a gradual switch down on my part. I think if i were playing anything bigger than a 13/16/22 kit, a 7A would be undersized, but with a good snap I can get a good tone, and like I said, also not have to worry about sacrificing tone for durability.

That's just me, but I do play pretty hard and it's been a very long time since I last cracked a cymbal.

[NeglectedFred]

Zildjian A stuff with 'Projection' in the title records really well. I always get crazy stereo imaging with them. They are thin and bright though, if your looking for stuff that floats and sparkles at the top of the spectrum thats the stuff. I have a 15" and 17" projection crash - they rule.

I like Zildjian K's for darker stuff. They have more body, and more in your face tones, but they are harder for me to mix.

[Brian]

I went into the store and hit every cymbal on the wall, I took the ones I liked down and hit them all again, I narrowed the pack.

I am an long term Zildian guy, had em since the seventies.

I ended up with:
Sabian AAX Metal Ride 22"
Sabian Signature Explosion Crash 18.5"
Sabian AAX excelerator hats, 14"

Why?
Because that's what sounded good. I hit Zildians and Paiste's that day and I've owned Paiste's too. They are all fine, but one thing I've learned over the years is, if you're looking to buy cymbals, go hit them first, just because they have the same name on them doesn't mean they will sound exactly like the one that came before them on the line.