Cymbals Upgrade

ex351d

Member
Since I am a guitarist, I never really got any drum gear. When I was a kid my dad bought me a drum kit and it is what I have in my home studio. It was delivered with Paiste 101 brass cymbals. The drums does not sound bad at all, so, now that the cymbals have cracked, I would like an upgrade.

I am leaning towards the Session or Universal pack of Paiste PST7 or the Istanbul Mehmet Samatya. I am not sure which would be better. I am no expert in drums and would like an opinion. But, from what I can hear, the Paiste have great definition and can cut through a mix better while the Istanbul have a more complex sound. I record different stuff from religious music to blues, pop, rock and hard rock.
 
My budget is 500 Euro. I would like to get a pair of hi-hats, 2 crashes and a ride.

Wow, okay then. You're gonna have to go cheap or really look for some good used deals. That's a pretty small budget for that many cymbals.
 
OMG that flair Greg lol.

Anyhow I would consider axing one of the crashes and yeah if you want good stuff you're gonna have to go used.
 
Used is almost impossible to obtain here as I live in a small island country. Do you have any suggestions on the cymbals mentioned. If I were to go at pro level I would get a 2002 ride for the price of a complete average set. And I would have no use for a ride without the rest. I do not use my drums extensively so I am not so willing to spend too much.
 
I'm not an experienced drummer, but I've been very happy with the Zildjian A Series 391 box set. Honestly they're the only cymbals I've ever owned, and I've only had them for a couple of months now. But I think they're terrific, and they record well. If you can stretch your budget about another 100-150 euros...might be worth a look. They're in that sweet spot of not being horrendously expensive, but still sound great.
 
I'm not an experienced drummer, but I've been very happy with the Zildjian A Series 391 box set. Honestly they're the only cymbals I've ever owned, and I've only had them for a couple of months now. But I think they're terrific, and they record well. If you can stretch your budget about another 100-150 euros...might be worth a look. They're in that sweet spot of not being horrendously expensive, but still sound great.

+1 to that. Zildjian A's are 10x better than PST7s IMHO.
 
+2 to Zildjian A series. They are actually real cymbals, not stamped junk like the PST 7 series.

Cymbals of any quality are really expensive. Paiste tends to be more expensive than the equivalent Zildjian or Sabian.
 
sometimes you can buy a drumset complete with cymbals and end up with good cymbals. The cymbals may be worth more than the price of the whole set. Especially when buying an older set.

A month or so ago I bought a complete 5 piece set, with throne and cymbals, of Mapex Mars pro drums for $250.
the cymbals included were:
an old Zildjian 18" crash (sounds magnificent)
an old Zildjian 22" ride (sounds magnificent)
a 22" Wuhan ride (sounds really good but not as good as the "22 old ziljian)
18" Wuhan crash (sounds great but not as good as the old Zildjian 18" crash)
Wuhan 14" hi hats (I really like them a lot)
a Zildjian bronze rock "22 crash/ride (it sucks)
a set of Zildjian bronze rock hi hats (they suck)
a pair of off brand bent up hi hats (they suck)

I got rid of the Zildjian rock cymbals at guitar center. I think I got $75 for them. I could probably get $50 for the Wuhan ride that I'm not using.
So, that's $125 out of the extra cymbals I didn't want or need. That would put me at $125 for the 2 wonderful old Zildjiand and the pretty decent Wuhan hats and crash....not to mention a fine 5 piece kit

I have seen old worn out kits go cheap several times. My step brother had an old set of Ludwig from the 1970s. He had them out in an open air shed and all the hardware rusted badly and the shells were moisture damaged....he sold them for 50 bucks. That set had some fantastic old Zildjian (crash, ride, and hats).



Deals are out there, you just have to find them.
 
I would stretch an extra 100 for better quality cymbals but this set is way more expensive than that, they are priced over 800 euro. This is outside my budget
 
800 Euro?!? Where are you looking? Maybe they're just cheaper in the US, but damn! That's an outrageous price for that box set. Just to be clear, I have the A 391 box set (not the A Custom set, which is more expensive). I think that I paid $650 for the pack, although all I can find online now is a going rate of $699. Jeez, did the price of brass shoot up overnight?
 
I was Looking at the A391. The A custom is just below 900. The difference in price is due to import taxes.

I would get more value out of European made items that is why I was considering Paiste.
 
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