BIG hi-hats

[willyz]

Once something only Steve Jordan did- now, something everyone and their mum is doing.

Since most of my cymbals were stolen some months ago, I've been getting by with what I have and borrowing some pieces of gear here and there until I can afford to replace the stolen stuff. I've been using a set of 15" New Beats, which I've owned a pair of before, but I just can't dig into them enough as if they were just a bit too heavy.

I've been playing a lot of more groove/backbeat orientated stuff and like the idea of having bigger, fatter, and sloshier hats. I think they'd work well in the organ trio I'm working up too.

What I'm thinking of doing is getting some cheap used pies, maybe 16" or 17" and making some hats. Anyone tried this? I'm thinking a medium to medium thin for the bottom and a medium thin to thin for the top. I don't want to go too for fear of the cymbals inverting.

My other, more expensive options, would be to custom order some stuff from Sabian... which I'm already thinking about doing for my main ride cymbal.

Thoughts, antidotes, judgments, comments, etc?

[moose]

I use 15" Dream Bliss hi-hats. Love 'em. Tend to use the "bottom" cymbal on top, actually.

[Paul Marangoni]

Big hi-hats aren't for me, but many guys have been using them to great effect. I think the drummer from CCR used 18" hi-hats. Tony and Bonham both used 15" hats. Dennis uses 12" hats.

[nomsgmusic]

Willyz,

VERY sorry to hear about your cymbals getting stolen!!!

Regarding the "big hat fad," I have never liked ANY of the big hats that any of the manufacturers paired and put together, they always seem like big versions of New Beats, and just sound loud, harsh, and sort of clunky to me. However, I have a few pair of 16" crashes that I put together (after many experiments) and love them. When you do that, the pair winds up actually a little softer (in volume) that "typical" new beats. You can get a nice slosh without hitting the real hard, they are actually nice for quieter gigs (as strange as that sounds.) I've used them on blues gigs, singer songwriter gigs and they were perfect! However, I would never use them for jazz, and probably not for rock (although I might try that sometime,) but NEVER for funk, or latin. The chick sound isn't useful, but that singer songwriter rootsy slosh is really nice!!!

I have a bunch of 16's that I dig using in different combos. Bottoms are a Paiste 16" Colorsound crash (sort of a medium weight) or (believe it or not) and older Zildjian Amir 16" Crash (sort of the Zildjian version of a 2002.) Tops: Paiste 16" Traditional Thin Crash, or a 16" 602 Paperthin. Which translates to thin over medium thin or medium. But you have to try them to really hear the sound, I tried MANY different pairings of 16's (of all the Paiste lines,) and these combos are the ones that sounded GREAT (to me.)

I started doing this from seeing Jordan do it and loving the sound (as did probably most guys,) but to go any bigger than 16" seems a little excessive (to me.) I have never had any of them "invert."

Check them out,
MSG

[langmick]

The last pr of New Beats I tried fried my ears they were so damn loud.

I have 15" 2002 sound edge and those sit in the groove so nicely, and play pretty dynamically, with easy control.

I think there is so much more you can do with larger hats.

[willyz]

Yeah the 14"s that were stolen were a Legacy top and a heavy AAX bottom with the wavy edges, much like the Mastersound Z's or Paiste Sound Edges. Loved the combination I had, but am considering custom ordering them in a bigger size- 15", maybe 16".

[Kurtis]

16 inch hats are fun.

[Richie Jarvis]

Hey Will,

Before I made the switch to Paiste I was using the K 16" Light Hats and dug them very much, still do and still use them when needed. Steve Jordan uses 2 17" crashes for his hats and to me that's a little too big but they do sound amazing.

Might be one of the things you might need to experiment on.

[samnmax203]

@willy- I love the sound of smaller hats, but when I started playing blues with the guys from my first band again I wanted something different. I use a 16" A custom (std weight) for the bottom and a 16" K Light for the top. I also have some 12" remix hats on an x-hat for tonal contrast. I've loved the response and tone of the bigger cymbals, but as you probably already know the articulation isn't as clean the bigger the size. We' re supposed to get our cds back from the copiers tomorrow, after our show I'll put up a studio clip and a live clip so you can hear the differences if you'd like.

[LADanny]

Hey Willy,

For the League Of Legends Vi login music I used 15" A Custom Crash on top of 15" Azuka crash for the hihats and sounded REALLY cool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBphxrYgJOg