Jazz CYMBALS

Lance69

Senior Member
Hi,

I'm looking to get some nice jazz cymbals. I heard Instabuls are good but I'm not sure. I'm lookin for the kind of cymbals that Brian Blade has. What kind of cymbals do you guys have? That includes hi-hat, ride and crash, etc.

Thanks,
Lance
 
Hi,

I'm looking to get some nice jazz cymbals. I heard Instabuls are good but I'm not sure. I'm lookin for the kind of cymbals that Brian Blade has. What kind of cymbals do you guys have? That includes hi-hat, ride and crash, etc.

Thanks,
Lance

Don't get me started Lance trust me :} Istanbul Agops are great for jazz that's a given for this player.

Check out my Istanbul Agop photo album in my profile or check out the Istanbul Agop pic fest thread further down this page for all the sonic beauties I use for professional acoustic jazz situations.
 
Hi,

I'm looking to get some nice jazz cymbals. I heard Instabuls are good but I'm not sure. I'm lookin for the kind of cymbals that Brian Blade has. What kind of cymbals do you guys have? That includes hi-hat, ride and crash, etc.

Thanks,
Lance

Don't get me started Lance trust me :} Istanbul Agops are great for jazz that's a given for this player.

Check out my Istanbul Agop photo album in my profile or check out the Istanbul Agop pic fest thread further down this page for all the sonic beauties I use for professional acoustic jazz situations.


Oh, Lance, Lance, Lance. You have just tugged on Superman's cape. This is like asking if F/A 18 Hornets are good planes for aerial maneuvers and having a freakin' Blue Angel pilot answer you.

And to summarize Steamer: yes.
 
Istanbuls are great as are Bosphorus cymbals. Brian Blade uses Zildjian Constantinoples (quite expensive though). Sabian HHX Manhattan Jazz and HHX Legacy models are nice as well. These are all the dark sound typically heard in bebop stuff (Elvin Jones, Art Blakely, etc). If you are looking for that old classic Zildjian sound heard throughout the big band era (Krupa, Rich, McKinley), you may be out of luck. I still haven't found any that resemble those yet. Then there are the modern sounds like Zildjian Ks and K Customs as well as Sabian HH.
 
Brian Blade uses a variety of new & old K's/Constantinoples I believe. 24" Rides & 15" hats are a feature of his set up ...

My current set up is of Bosphorus - New Orleans 19", 20" & 14" hats (a matched set) plus a 20" Turk Masters Prototype I found at Steve Maxwells in Chicago. They are amazing instruments and Bosphorus were most helpful when I needed to exchange the 19" (it had some weakness at one side from an over zealous post lathing hammering by the look of things!). They are wondeful sounding with a quick decay, good stick definition (ala Brian Blade) and with complex yet managable overtones ...

I also have a set of 60's Avedis Zildjians which come pretty close but don;t touch the old K's for tone -I have thin 15" hats, an 18" mini cup, a 22" ride and an 18" swish with rivets. I picked these up at various music shops in the UK - usually finding them gathering dust on the 2nd hand rails!
 
For jazz, you'd generally want to have lighter, thinner, darker, more complex and more esoteric sounding pies. All cymbal manufacturers offer these sorts of instruments, but finding the best sounds is up to your own personal preference.
 
For jazz, you'd generally want to have lighter, thinner, darker, more complex and more esoteric sounding pies. All cymbal manufacturers offer these sorts of instruments, but finding the best sounds is up to your own personal preference.

Well you can also have dark, complex and esoteric in heavier weight pies too perfectly suited for acoustic jazz like this sonic beauty at 3055g :}. No hard rules just have to take each cymbal as they come on a individual bases depending on how it is made. I like my Turkish hand made pies light and thin AND thick and heavy for acoustic jazz.
 

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In addition to some newer Zildjian's I think Blade uses a couple of different 24" A. Zildjians from the sixties. The one I always see him playing is cracked to hell and has been repaired a few times. Sounds like a dream though.
 
In addition to some newer Zildjian's I think Blade uses a couple of different 24" A. Zildjians from the sixties. The one I always see him playing is cracked to hell and has been repaired a few times. Sounds like a dream though.

His current setup consist of a 24" vintage 60's A Zildjian, 22"" K Con Light with rivets {discontinued}, 20" Spiizzichino and 15" vintage 60's A Zildjian hats to be specific.
 
Lance, according to the sound you`re looking for you could look at some old Avedis pies. Used you can get those for good prices.

What I can seriously recommend to check out are Istanbul Agops and Dream Bliss cymbals. I`m sure that Agop has sounds you`d love, the Bliss cymbals are great B20 cymbals for a great price. Many owners like to compare their sound with old Turkish Ks.

You`ve got a huge variety of Agops (including photos and sound clips) here:
www.cymbalsonly.com

If you`ve got the chance to check out some live, it`s worth a try.

Many Dream Bliss pies you can find here:
www.frontrangebronze.com

Karl
 
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