The worst drum /cymbal purchase you ever made

Bought a Paiste 2002 22" China
It weighed more than the Titanic and when I hit it went "KLUNKPSHHHHHHHCLANGKLINK"

Awful...just awful....rehearsed once and sold.


Flipside...the Sabian APX 24" ride I bought is a thing of beauty. The differing sounds I can get out of that thing. I use five cymbals, but if push came to shove I could use just this one. It's wonderful.

Hey Squad, don't think I have ever heard of the APX line, any info?

Thanks
 
Hey Squad, don't think I have ever heard of the APX line, any info?

Thanks

I believe they were fairly recently discontinued. I saw a couple of rave reviews, then spotted one on Ebay going at a very fair price and took the plunge.

Care of Total Drum Sets.com

"The Sabian APX cymbals series was launched at the 2008 NAMM music show and is aimed at drummers who want to make some loud, brash, and cool sounds. It's rock and metal all the way! They're marketed as professional cymbals and at the higher-end of Sabian's range.

Unlike many of Sabian's pro-level cymbals that are made from B20 bronze, the APX series are made from B8 bronze with a lower tin content. This is because the B8 bronze is better for creating the brash type of sound the APX series needed.

They've been made by first rolling out sheets of B8 from which the various cymbal shapes are then cut. Next, they are stamped into shape and hammered before finally being lathed by hand.

As you'd expect, the cymbals don't have any flaws and are very well made. The lathing is nice with deep grooves on both sides of every cymbal, except the chinas that have a little less. One thing that's really noticeable is that the cymbals vary in colour from orangey B8 to a brassier yellow, sometimes even on the same cymbal. But, that doesn't stop 'em looking sharp and cool

So, after trying out the APX series and getting a feel for the overall sound, i'd describe it as explosive! There's a lot of high-end brightness, power, and volume across most of the series. But, there are two variations of some of the cymbals, regular which is slightly tamer, and solid which is a bit heavier and gives a denser, harder sound. Let's take a look at the individual cymbals...

The Sabian APX cymbals series was never meant ot be about delicate tones, intricate washes, or subtle sustains. They're about explosive rock power, and that's precisely what Sabian have delivered here! Virtually everyone of the cymbals i've tried works brilliantly, especially the o-zone crashes and the china cymbals.

The APX series doesn't just give volume and power though, there is plenty of body, and depth to the sound that makes them interesting and very musical too. However, unless hard rock and metal are you're kinda' thing, you'd be best staying away from the APX series - they'll over dominate most other styles.



Speaking personally I play punk rock and use ride a hell of a lot...both riding and crashing....this thing is absolutely awesome. But when they say it is loud, it is MASSIVELY loud. The bell is incredibly penetrating. Head turningly so.
 
The worst "purchase" wasn't actually a purchase--it was "payment" for a new logo I did for a music store.
I got a Tama Artwood maple snare--which WAS the high end, super deluxe model back in 1986.
It was over $300 so it would have been a good trade for my effort, had it sounded good (to me).
That snare NEVER got a sound I liked, even after trying anything I could think of over almost 4 years. A few different hoops, MANY different head combos.... I sold it with a kit in late 1989. I bought a Bronze Black Beauty after that :)

Thankfully, I haven't had much bad luck buying cymbals, but traded in a few that didn't get me much, which was dumb, but I didn't know any better back then.
I have 8" and 10" Zildjian EFX "splashes" that I used for a short time. They were cool, but they didn't stay on the kit for a long period.

DUMBEST buy was a $94 Paragon splash to use for some 10" mini hats I dreamed up (also using the old 10" EFX)--for ONE PART, in ONE SONG. It sounds great, and the mini hats sounded just like I wanted, but it was a stupid buy looking back.

A full set of Ebony Pinstripes back in 1987 were a bad purchase. They sounded like sh**. Wish I would have known enough to try just one head first.
I haven't made that kind of mistake again though :)
 
...these synthetic wood pieces of crap I don't remember the name of (mid to late 90's, they were red and frayed like a worn shoelace as they wore down, plus they were heavy and off balance)...
Those would be Mainline drum sticks.
Yeah, I don't think they're around anymore.


Elvis
 
A pair of Sabian rides that worked beautifully together. The sound was truly remarkable!
It was my worst purchase because at 22" they were simply larger than the music I was
playing. I really needed 19 or 20's. Ended up taking a loss and getting rid of them.
 
I got a Sabian AA 14" Medium Crash. Good lord it was a clanker! It wound up doing spare hi hat top duty for quite a while as it wasn't even remotely appropriate as a crash - eventually sold it on for a fraction of what it cost.

Never again.
 
I bought a peavey midi trigger board, I thought it would be cool to program it to trigger computer effects, I hooked it up, but never got into it. The only reason this makes the list is at the time, I could have used the money better, so the regret factor is high.

I bought a pair of remo toy timbales, total junk, at the time I don't think I knew what a timbale was, and as before I could have used the money better.

My 24" medium Zildjian... At the time I wanted something with nice clear highs, but it turned into a beast. After years I've figured out how to play it, and wouldn't trade it for another cymbal, but for a while I could barely touch the thing.
 
Zildjian 12" A Special Recording Hats Brilliant, Zildjian 16" K Dark Thin Crash, Mapex Saturn Snare - all from ebay.

and Tama Iron Cobra Power Glide
 
A Pearl Vari-Pitch snare drum. Complete garbage from top to bottom....don't know what I was thinking.
 

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Zildjian 12" A Special Recording Hats Brilliant, Zildjian 16" K Dark Thin Crash, Mapex Saturn Snare - all from ebay.

Yup. Those online cymbal purchases can be a BEOTCH can't they? You think to yourself "It's a K Dark...how bad could it be?" How wrong we were! LOL!
 
Reviving this old thread to weep about my most recent regrettable purchase.

I impulsively bought a 20" K Custom Dry Ride off of Reverb because I thought it was a deal @ $180. I should've given myself an extra 5 minutes to do my due diligence, as I thought I was buying a cymbal that was closer to the Special Dry Ride or the Dry Light Ride (both K Custom), and what I now have is closer to the K Custom Heavy Ride.

It seems like the Dry Ride is the dud of the K Custom line of rides based on the used market. The cymbal just doesn't fit my sound and I would do anything to recoup my investment.
 
Bought some 14" hats off eBay sight unseen. Figured they wouldn't be very good, but could be one of those lucky finds....er not! They were pure brass and the clankiest garbage you could possibly buy. Thought about pawning them off on someone else, but decided I couldn't do it. I can't find them now, so I must have thrown them away at some point.
 
Bought some 14" hats off eBay sight unseen. Figured they wouldn't be very good, but could be one of those lucky finds....er not! They were pure brass and the clankiest garbage you could possibly buy. Thought about pawning them off on someone else, but decided I couldn't do it. I can't find them now, so I must have thrown them away at some point.

I did the same thing, but it was a set of 14" hihats, 16" crash, and 18" crash/ride. It will probably end up being Guitar Center trade fodder or something at some point for the trade up discount.
 
A Sonor jungle jingle snare or what ever the call it. Didn't make any jingle sound at all. I thought it would be cool to have a jingle effect on a snare.

Good news is that it was cheap. The better news is I broke even when I sold it!!!
 
I've bought and sold a lot, but I don't think anything was really a "bad" purchase, but I really didn't notice how bad anything was until I got something better. But still, here goes:

10" Sabian B8 Chinese Splash. That whole thing is a comedy of errors. I traded it for a few hours of studio time. It used to make our PA system go into a tailspin of feedback every time I hit it. It was awful.

18" Zildjian Scimitar ride. Just awful. I gave it away.

Evans blue hydraulic heads. Thuddy thud thud. I was looking for something durable, not anything that sounded that good. I got my wish. I've had them for about 20 years, and there are still no dents in the heads.

Sonor bop kit. Sounded great out front but sounded like garbage from the driver's seat. The snare was horrid. I bought it new and traded it within a few months of having it.
 
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