Small Crashes Anyone?

Drumolator

Platinum Member
I ended up with these cymbals (long story).

21" HHX Evolution Ride
17" AA Medium-Thin Crash
14" SR2 Hats (medium top, heavy bottom)

Even though the Evolution Ride is very crashable, I felt I need another crash. So today I bought an SR2 15" Thin Crash for $99. So I have ended up with 15" and 17" crashes. Do any of you prefer smaller crashes? Peace and goodwill.
 
I can't say I "prefer" smaller crashes .... but they do have a place, certainly. I have several 14"ers .... all Sabian

14" VFX
14" HHX Xplosion (2)
14" AAX Dark
14" HHXtreme
 
My Zildjian A 16" thin crash is absolutely my favorite. I love how immediately it opens up and how it doesn't stick around for long afterwards. A 17" thin, paper-thin or fast A is absolutely on my list of things to get when I've got the cash. (Which is to say: never...or when I run across a good enough steal on CL/FB.)
 
I love my Paiste Sound Formula 14" Crystal Crash and 14" Paiste Signature Fast Crash.

I recently picked up an old pre-serial 12" 602, so I guess it's really a splash. But man, I love that thing. The seller listed it as a 13" cymbal. I was thinking it might make a good hi-hat top or bottom (since I didn't know the weight) to go with my other 13" hats. When I opened the box, lo and behold, it looked kind of small. Sure enough it was only a 12" cymbal and pretty thin too. So I thought I would return it. But I figured I should at least put it on my kit and give it a listen first. I gave it a whack and - Kaaah! It has the best sounding "kaaah" I ever heard in my life. So I kept it.
 
I have a 13 inch AA Sabian El Sabor salsa splash. Used it for years and years with a 16-inch a Zildjian and an 18in Paiste Sig. I haven't had it out for a while but I really did like it when I was using it. Sounds more like a crash than a splash to me. I should get it out today who play on a little bit
 
I had a Sabian AA 16" Thin Crash that sounded rather splashy. The 15" SR2 Thin Crash I bought yesterday does not sound splashy. Peace and goodwill.
 
I think the smaller the crash, the more the ‘splash’. It’s like having a 10” crash would just be a splash, a 16” splash would just be a crash. I think 14” cymbals sounds like splash cymbals too much and maybe 15 or 16” is the minimum.

I think a lot depends on the individual rather than the size. I have a 30s 14in that weighs 500g and is half splash and half crash sounding to my ear. But my favored accent crash (hang it over my HH stand) is a 1958-59 14in that weighs 660 grams. That cymbal is legit as a crash. To be fair, though, I'm fuzzy on modern 14s because I don't use any.

Pete
 
Here is a picture of my cymbals. I finally got a chance to play them all together, and they sound very good to me.100_0490.JPG

Peace and goodwill.
 
Left side:
14 dream bliss, only non-Zildjian & probably hit the most
16 zildjian med crash (pre-s/n)
8 A zildjian splash - new and not loving it now...

Rt side doesn't qualify for small... but i do like smaller sizes. Goes with my gig set which is smaller fusion size: 13 10 14 20....
 
My go-to crash on my current setup for the last year or so has been a Sabian 17"AAX concept crash. It's the precursor of the new Sabian AAX thin crashes.
It's hammered and somewhat dark if crashed lightly, but can sing if hit with a solid glance.
I can't imagine needing a larger version of this cymbal for the music I play.
 
Small cymbals....See: Tim "Herb" Alexander...I almost designed my kit to sound exactly like his because I LOVE the way that kit sounds on Sailing the Seas of Cheese and Pork Soda! Then I realized that it just wouldn't be versatile or practical. I still love my old Zildjan Cymbals that are thick! When you hit the crash....you get a CRASH with plenty of sustain.
 
I love 14 - 17" crash cymbals, and use several of them - Zildjian As and Ks.

But I must admit that when the venue is larger and the band is louder, the situation demands bigger crashes - 18" and larger.

GeeDeeEmm
 
Small cymbals....See: Tim "Herb" Alexander...I almost designed my kit to sound exactly like his because I LOVE the way that kit sounds on Sailing the Seas of Cheese and Pork Soda! Then I realized that it just wouldn't be versatile or practical. I still love my old Zildjan Cymbals that are thick! When you hit the crash....you get a CRASH with plenty of sustain.
When I originally looked at this thread I thought it said SMALL CYMBALS not SMALL CRASHES
 
For decades my favorite crash was my little 14 in Zil A thin crash. It sounds sweet and in and out so you don't even need to grab it to stop if you're lazy LOL. I just got a 17 in Dream vintage bliss crash/ride that is a sweet quiet mellow crash-and after experimenting adding tape underneath it rides pretty well too (so I ride one spot and crash the non-tape area-seems to be working). It's new and different so I'm going crazy over it-though at first I wasn't thrilled (which just goes to show you that you need to spend some time with whatever it is you're trying before you can really make a judgement).
 
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