FAVORITE PAISTES FOR JAZZ?

TheLowerTownSound

TheLowerTownSound

Active Member
I've recently re-fallen in love with Paiste and i grabbed a nice bunch of Giant Beats for my classic rock/psychedelic blues band. Couldn't be happier. I'm curious as to what Paiste's people are using for a 'classic' jazz sound. I like Elvin's sound with The Classic Quartet as my personal benchmark for jazz cymbals. Does Paiste have anything in that realm, or in general, what are the Paiste Posse's favorite cymbals for jazz?
 
I'm not a Jazz player, but if I were and wanted a Paiste setup, I might go for the Dark Energy or Formula 602 offerings.

I see no reason why your Giant Beats can't do jazz work, though. They possess a rare mixture of warmth and brightness, mellowness and boldness, and wash and definition. They're among the best all-purpose cymbals in existence to my ears.
 
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I think if you really want the dark sort of "old K" sound you'll want to look at the Masters series cymbals.

The Masters strike me as the perfection of the modern Turkish thing-- like, they took their sonic and visual cues from the Turkish companies and made all the models really specific and consistent. That may be good or bad, depending on your ears. But it's great for me because I live in the sticks and can't easily get to a shop to try things out. You find a model you like on YouTube and you buy it and, well, it basically sounds exactly like that. The Masters are more old school feeling than K Cons but more specific than Agop or Bos. I'm at an age where I'd never say, "These are the best cymbals" or "These blow my old cymbals away," but I can say that I'm very happy with them. The voicing of the 22" Dark Ride and the Dark Crashes is just so lush and complex and perfect. And I will say this: The 22" Masters Swish is my favorite "China" type cymbal I've ever heard. My normal jazz rig now is the 22" Dark Ride, 20" Dark Crash/Ride, 14" Dark Hi Hats, and the 22" Swish, though in a piano trio I'll swap that out for a 602 20" Medium Flatride.

I know a lot of jazz guys love the Traditionals and, for modern jazz/fusion, the Dark Energy cymbals. When I first heard the Traditionals I thought, "these sound like jazz cymbals made by someone who doesn't know what jazz cymbals are," but as the line expanded and my ears changed and I now think they're pretty cool. As for Dark Energys, I have a 21" Mark I ride that I think is amazing and REALLY versatile for a ride in that zone.

This is a must-watch if you're trying to make decisions in the Masters line:

 
Neal Pert said:
I think if you really want the dark sort of "old K" sound you'll want to look at the Masters series cymbals.

The Masters strike me as the perfection of the modern Turkish thing-- like, they took their sonic and visual cues from the Turkish companies and made all the models really specific and consistent. That may be good or bad, depending on your ears. But it's great for me because I live in the sticks and can't easily get to a shop to try things out. You find a model you like on YouTube and you buy it and, well, it basically sounds exactly like that. The Masters are more old school feeling than K Cons but more specific than Agop or Bos. I'm at an age where I'd never say, "These are the best cymbals" or "These blow my old cymbals away," but I can say that I'm very happy with them. The voicing of the 22" Dark Ride and the Dark Crashes is just so lush and complex and perfect. And I will say this: The 22" Masters Swish is my favorite "China" type cymbal I've ever heard. My normal jazz rig now is the 22" Dark Ride, 20" Dark Crash/Ride, 14" Dark Hi Hats, and the 22" Swish, though in a piano trio I'll swap that out for a 602 20" Medium Flatride.

I know a lot of jazz guys love the Traditionals and, for modern jazz/fusion, the Dark Energy cymbals. When I first heard the Traditionals I thought, "these sound like jazz cymbals made by someone who doesn't know what jazz cymbals are," but as the line expanded and my ears changed and I now think they're pretty cool. As for Dark Energys, I have a 21" Mark I ride that I think is amazing and REALLY versatile for a ride in that zone.

This is a must-watch if you're trying to make decisions in the Masters line:

Click to expand...
Thanks for that link! Exactly what I was looking for.
 
53Rockets said:
Thanks for that link! Exactly what I was looking for.
Click to expand...

That's great! I actually own a few of the cymbals on the video: The 21" Dry, the 22" Dark, and the 20" Crash/Ride. The thing you can pick up on headphones on that video is that there's a really gorgeous separation between the stick sound and the wash sound on the crash/rides-- it's amazing and gorgeous.
 
It totally depends on your tastes...or the tastes of the one employing you. Bright, dark, trashy, etc...Paiste has it covered.

My favorites (yes, plural) for jazz are the 602 Flat Ride and 602 Medium Ride. I also use the Masters Bluebird Mellow Ride on most jazz gigs. It has a bit of that Turkish sound but cleaner, which I like. For me, a lot of those dark trashy jazz rides just sound gongy and unpleasant. I guess I just prefer a cleaner, slightly bright yet mellow sound.

For instance, I has a 22" Signature Traditionals Light Ride for a while but grew to not like it that much. Great cymbal but I didn't like the bell on it and I just longed for a cleaner sound overall.

Have fun shopping....hope this helped.
 
brady said:
It totally depends on your tastes...or the tastes of the one employing you. Bright, dark, trashy, etc...Paiste has it covered.

My favorites (yes, plural) for jazz are the 602 Flat Ride and 602 Medium Ride. I also use the Masters Bluebird Mellow Ride on most jazz gigs. It has a bit of that Turkish sound but cleaner, which I like. For me, a lot of those dark trashy jazz rides just sound gongy and unpleasant. I guess I just prefer a cleaner, slightly bright yet mellow sound.

For instance, I has a 22" Signature Traditionals Light Ride for a while but grew to not like it that much. Great cymbal but I didn't like the bell on it and I just longed for a cleaner sound overall.

Have fun shopping....hope this helped.
Click to expand...
Definitely gives food for thought. I'm very new to jazz as a player although i've been listening for awhile. As i said in my first post, my favorite jazz cymbal sounds are mostly the traditional guys. Elvin, Max, Art and Jimmy. Cliche i know, but i like what i like. I know Paiste is very consistent so any sound file i listen to is likely to be very close to what gets shipped to me, i still don't trust my ear to get me close to those sounds. What i like coming out of my monitors hasn't always translated to what i like playing. Which is probably the case with most people. Trial and error gets expensive with the higher end gear! Thanks for your feedback.
 
53Rockets said:
Definitely gives food for thought. I'm very new to jazz as a player although i've been listening for awhile. As i said in my first post, my favorite jazz cymbal sounds are mostly the traditional guys. Elvin, Max, Art and Jimmy. Cliche i know, but i like what i like. I know Paiste is very consistent so any sound file i listen to is likely to be very close to what gets shipped to me, i still don't trust my ear to get me close to those sounds. What i like coming out of my monitors hasn't always translated to what i like playing. Which is probably the case with most people. Trial and error gets expensive with the higher end gear! Thanks for your feedback.
Click to expand...
You're welcome! Don't forget to check the used cymbal market too...
 
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