Sabian Cymbals

[Drumolator]

After changing churches and some trading, here is what I have now.

AAX 20" Dry Ride
AAX 19" X-plosion Crash
AAX 17" X-plosion Crash
SR2 14" Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

Peace and goodwill.

All the AAX cymbals are now on the church drum set. I now have the following and will probably stick with them.

HHX 20" Evolution Ride (very crashable)
AA 17" Medium-Thin Crash (very low pitched for a 17 inch)
SR2 15" Thin Crash (not splashy at all)
SR2 14" Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

All the AAX cymbals are now on the church drum set. I now have the following and will probably stick with them.

HHX 20" Evolution Ride (very crashable)
AA 17" Medium-Thin Crash (very low pitched for a 17 inch)
SR2 15" Thin Crash (not splashy at all)
SR2 14" Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

Peace and goodwill.

I replaced the SR2 15" Thin Crash with a Sabian AA 16" Concept Crash, and I took the SR2 15" to church. All is well in my world now. Peace and goodwill.

[DrumWhipper]

You know you have an awesome wife when she knows you’ve been wanting a 19” Chad Smith Holy China and she orders it for an early birthday gift!

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[Bish]

You know you have an awesome wife when she knows you’ve been wanting a 19” Chad Smith Holy China and she orders it for an early birthday gift!

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Someone just won the internet for today. Congrats!!

[TubThumper]

You know you have an awesome wife when she knows you’ve been wanting a 19” Chad Smith Holy China and she orders it for an early birthday gift!

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That is a thing of beauty.

[DrumWhipper]

And it just came in and the wife sent some photos

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[Bish]

You one heap lucky boy. Go get some lottery tickets.

[PeterBowman]

Been eyeballing those holy chinas......did pick up a 10" Aero splash. Really cool little cymbal.

[Drumolator]

Today I made a Trade

I went to my old church, with the OK from the pastor, and made a big cymbal swap. One of my goals was to get the Sabian AA 16" and SR2 18" thin crashes to use at our current church. Here is what I now have:



All Sabian​

21" AA Bash Ride (my favorite of all time)

18" XS20 Medium-Thin Crash ( sounds like a Sabian AA, really)

17" AA Medium-Thin Crash

14" SR2 Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)



To Our Current Church (all Sabian except where noted)

20 HHX Evolution Ride

18" Zildjian K China

18" SR2 Thin Crash

16" AA Thin Crash

15" SR2 Thin Crash

13" Paiste Alpha Hats

10" SR2 Splash



So I am no longer a small crash guy. This all worked out just as I was hoping. Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

After some trades and purchases here is what I now have, and I now have exactly what I want. So there will almost certainly be no more trades nor purchases.

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My Set
20 inch AAX Evolution Ride
18 inch AAX Studio Crash
16 inch AA Thin Crash
14 inch SR2 Hats (medium top / heavy bottom)

18 inch SR2 Thin (can be used as a crash/ride cymbal)
17 Inch AAX Studio Crash

At Church
21 inch AA Bash Ride
18 inch Zildjian K China
17 inch AAX Concept Crash
16 inch AAX Concept Crash
13 inch Paiste Alpha Medium Hats

With my cymbals, if I want to go minimal, I will use the SR2 18" Thin with the 17" AAX Studio Crash and hats. Most of the time I will use the 20" AAX Evolution Ride, the 18" AAX Studio Crash, the 16" AA Thin Crash, and the SR2 hats. Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

Well, my cymbal story continues into 2022. Four days ago I bought two cymbals from C&M Music in Lafayette, Louisiana. First was a Sabian SR2 19" Heavy. I compared it to my 21" AA Bash Ride. They were very similar, but the SR2 19" Heavy was slightly higher pitched, and was only $150. Second, I bought a pair of Sabian XS20 Medium Hats, which I really like. So now I have two sets of cymbals.

Set One, all Sabian
19" SR2 Heavy (ride)
18" SR2 Thin (good crash-ride)
16" AA Thin Crash
14" XS20 Medium Hats

Set Two, all Sabian
20" HHX Bash Ride
17" AAX Studio Crash
15" SR2 Thin
14" SR2 Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

At Church, mostly Sabian
21" AA Bash Ride
18" AAX Studio Crash
18" Zildjian K China
17" AAX Concept Crash
16" AAX Concept Crash
13" Paiste Alpha Medium Hats
10" SR2 Thin

Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

I took pictures of all of my cymbals today.

Set One, all Sabian: 19" SR2 Heavy (good ride), 17" AAX Concept Crash (very low pitched), 16" AA Thin Crash, 14" XS20 Hats. I used these at a jam a few days ago, and I really enjoyed playing them. The AAX 17" Concept Crash is lower pitched than the 18" SR2 Thin in set two. I had to swap out the AAX 17" Concept Crash that was at church because it is lower pitched than the AAX 18" Studio Crash there. I replaced it with my AAX17" Studio Crash. Peace and goodwill.

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Set Two, all Sabian: 20" HHX Evolution Ride, 18" SR2 Thin (great crash-ride cymbal), 15" SR2 Thin, 14" SR2 Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

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[Drumolator]

The AAX 17" Studio Crash did not blend very well with the 16" and 17" AAX Concept Crashes at Church. Since I need three crashes at church, and the 17" Concept Crash is very low pitched, I took my AA 16' Thin Crash to church. Pitch-wise it is right between the very high-pitched 16" AAX Concept Crash and the very low-pitched 17" AAX Concept Crash. It blends well with them too. So I am left with these Sabians.

20" HHX Evolution Ride
19" SR2 Heavy
18" SR2 Thin (a good crash-ride)
18" AAX Studio Crash
17" AAX Studio Crash
14" SR2 Hats (medium top / heavy bottom; these sound great in big rooms or outside)
14" XS20 Hats (for smaller rooms)

Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

The post just above this one worked out very well. The AA 16" Thin Crash blends very well with the 16" and 17" Concept Crashes. That leaves me with these Sabians.


20" HHX Evolution Ride
19" SR2 Heavy
18" SR2 Thin (a good crash-ride)
18" AAX Studio Crash
17" AAX Studio Crash
14" SR2 Hats (medium top / heavy bottom; these sound great in big rooms or outside)
14" XS20 Hats (for smaller rooms)

I am sure that I can make a good set of cymbals out of these. Peace and goodwill.

[EyePea]

Chad Smith has left Sabian.

He is at Paiste now???

[drummer]

Chad Smith has left Sabian.

He is at Paiste now???

That's what I heard.

[Drumolator]

I did a hi-hat cymbal experiment yesterday. I have two sets of hats: SR2 14" (medium top / heavy bottom) and XS20 14" Hats. The SR2 14" Medium used to be an HHX because the hammer marks on it match the hammer marks on my HHX 20" Evolution Ride. So I tried every combination possible: each top with each bottom, both tops, and both bottoms. The one I liked best is the SR2 14" Medium on top and the XS20 bottom on the bottom. Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

So I am using the hats in the post above with a 19" SR2 Heavy as a ride. My two crashes are an AAX 17" Studio Crash and an SR2 18" Thin. That is the combination that sounds best. I also have an AA 16" thin Crash that works well with my AAX 18" Studio Crash. Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

Well today I got out all of my crashes and had my wife and son (a great bass player) listen to different combinations. They both picked the same pair of crashes, so that is what I will go with.

19" SR2 Heavy (good ride)
14" Hats (SR2 Medium top, XS20 bottom)
18" AAX Studio Crash
16" AA Thin Crash

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Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

I bought a Sabian HHX 20" Evolution Ride about 3.5 to 4 years ago, and at that time I really liked it. Three years ago, when our church opened, I used it as a ride and crashed it sometimes. Since then, I acquired my old AA 21" Bash Ride and took that to church. The last time I used the HHX Evolution Ride as a ride was at band practice, and I was not liking it very much. So today I used it as a big crash to go with the two AAX Concept Crashes that are already there (a 16" and a 17"). It seemed to work well that way.

Do any of you used a cymbal in a way that was not intended? Peace and goodwill.

[Drumolator]

Sabian has changed the policy of no cymbal that they have ever made still being available as a special order. I sent them a e-mail yesterday asking about a cymbal no longer being made, and they sent me an e-mail that said they no longer make cymbals that are discontinued as they used to. I used to think that no Sabian cymbal was truly discontinued, but that is no longer the case. Peace and goodwill.