SMALL CYMBALS

Ever since I started assembling my mini frankenkit, I planned to match it with a set of equally small cymbals. So when I was invited to play for the UP Cherubim and Seraphim's 2nd semester ending concert in May of 2024, this set a deadline to complete the set. 

I've had my Stagg DH mini-China since 2009, and my 10" Armand splash since 2013. So my first mission was to get a small hihat. I found a number of 13", and a few 12" hats. But I wanted something smaller, and with more contrast than my regular 14-inchers. In late 2023, I found a used Zildjian EFX#1, a heavy 10" effects splash. I thought it would go well as a bottom hat to my lighter 10" Armand. That's exactly how it turned out. The Armand is 281 grams, and the EFX#1 is 595 grams. The weight ratio is around 1:2, just like the average ratio of 14" New Beats. One down. 

My next targets were 12-inchers. After weeks of searching, I found one, a pre-owned 12" A Zildjian with a tiny dent in the hole. I figured I wouldn't be hitting it hard, so the dent would not get worse. Grabbed it. But it sounded uncertain. From the drummer's throne, it sounded like it couldn't decide if it wanted to be glassy like a 10" splash, or punchy like a 14" thin crash. But from the audience, it sounded like a normally softer, higher pitched crash.  I resigned to leave it up to time if and when I got used to it Next I found a Sabian 12" AA Mini-China. Unlike the 12" splash, this China knew what it was. It sounded every bit like a small, Western-made China cymbal. Mildly trashy, and just enough loudness to surprise. 

In my previous post, I already mentioned that I selected my new 20" K flat ride for the concert. So that was set. The last choice I had to make was a strange one. It was for the main 16" crash. I've had my Turkish Classic Thin Crash 16 out for some time, and it sounded just fine in my drum room. But when I took it out in practice studios, it sounded strangely stiff and dull. Not at all what I anticipated. So for the dress rehearsal at the concert venue, I subbed it out with my good old trusty 1977 16' A Zildjian thin crash. It's about 100 grams lighter than the Turkish, and was indeed brighter and punchier in the venue. Just what I needed. 

The concert was fun. The entire kit performed just as I wanted. And the kids enjoyed having a 4-piece pop band backing them up. My only problem with this kit was, while the drums and cymbals were smaller and lighter than my regular kit, I used the same stands, which are all double braced and very heavy when put together in a bag. Carrying it up and down the stairs from and to my drum room on the second floor contributed to sore knees afterwards. If and when I gig with this kit again, my next target will be lightweight hardware. 

THE STORY OF TWO K RIDES

I'm an "A" guy. Until recently, all my Zildjian were A's. I love the brightness and shine of them. So it was fitting that my first two K's were unusual, even for K's. 

For decades I only had one ride cymbal, a mid-1970s Avedis Zildjian 22" medium ride, which I love to bits and have used in almost every style of music I've played. Since then I got two 20-inchers, A dark trashy Silken Trois, and a darkish Istanbul Agop Azure. When I completed my mini bop-frankenkit, I thought it would be fun to have an even smaller 18" ride. Fast forward to July 2023, and a 1990 IAK no stamp 18" K Heavy Ride showed up in the Facebook Marketplace. It fit the bill, and the price was right. So I snapped it up immediately. On the one hand, the sound fit the description perfectly. A heavy ride with more ping than wash. But on the other hand, the sound was bright with lots of top end, rather uncharacteristic of a supposedly "dark" K. It's small for a ride, but quite spunky, and punches above its size. 

Next up, a flat ride. I'm well aware of the characteristics of flat rides, like the legendary Roy Hanes’ 18” Paiste 602 on Chick Corea’s “Now He Sings, Now He Sobs” album, and Paul Wertico’s double Paiste 22” flat ride setup in the Pat Metheny Group. But they were so rare and unavailable here that I didn't have much hope of ever getting one. Sometime early in 2020, I saw a 20" Sabian AA flat ride going for cheap. But it was far away in Muntinlupa, from a young and naive seller, and at the time I didn't have so a way to pay remotely like gcash or paymaya. So I passed, and it got sold to someone else. Then in January of 2024, another one surfaced. My suki from Angeles, Pampanga had a 1997 20" K Flat Ride. Again, the price was right so I grabbed it. Its difference from a regular belled ride was conspicuous from the moment I first played it. The ping is defined but controlled. The wash is described as "dry". It's short, but the release is not just in terms of loudness. Onomatopoeiatically, it closes down like "aaaaooooouuuu". Also, it is a quiet cymbal, just right for small ensemble work. 

Earlier this year, I was invited to play drums for the UP Cherubim and Seraphim's 2nd sem closing concert. I decided to use my mini frankenkit. Between these two rides, I chose the flat because it was quieter, and would not compete with the children's voices. Read more about it here. 

I'm very happy with these two, as they are perfect for my mini frankenkit. In my next installment, I'll write about the rest of the cymbals I acquired for this kit. 

SUPRA!

 

Supra: derived from Latin supra "above, beyond"

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/supra

Until now, the one unrepresented material in my snare collection was aluminum. It's not something that bothered me though. I was perfectly content because brass, steel and woods present enough variety for me. But when this turned up from one of my regular drum sellers, I couldn't resist. Supras are legendary classics, touted as the "most recorded snare drum in history", and the choice of rock luminaries like John Bonham. While their sound hasn't changed, old ones show signs of age in the form of pitting. This is when the aluminum corrodes under the chrome plating, and shows up like acne. This one had to be brand spankin' new because the shell looked to be in immaculate condition, and it had a new P88 throw off and butt plate. I'll never know how the seller got the price down for such a new drum, but all I cared about is that I could afford it. 

When I got it, it was indeed in perfect condition. Lucky, JB music in Megamall finally got a shipment of new 14" drum heads, so it now has an Ambassador Coated batter and Evans Hazy 300 reso. I whipped out my mics, recorded some demo tracks, and confirmed that aluminum is every bit as well behaved under microphones as everyone says it is. It came with lug gaskets, which is a hotly debated topic in drum discussions. I like what I hear now, and am lazy to take them off. So they'll stay on for now.  I wouldn't take it to a live, much less unmic'd gig, as brass would project to the audience better. But for recording, this is most likely THE ONE.  

This is my third Ludwig snare, and the first that I didn't have to change the throw off. What a luxury. 

A WISHY WASHY STORY

 

I’ve had an on-and-off desire for the Swish Knocker over the decades. Back in the 90s I wanted one desperately, but none were available. It cooled off in the 2000s when I got my monstrous Paiste 22” 2002 China. 

It came back in the mid-2010s when I learned there was one available in JB Music MOA. But upon audition, I was less than impressed. It sounded stiff and lifeless, and lacked two rivets. Disappointed, I quickly forgot about it. 

Strangely, without rhyme or reason, I got curious again and called the store early this year asking if it was still there. Yup, the same cymbal was still there, still lacking two rivets. But the curiosity was easily doused upon remembering my last disappointing encounter. 

Finally, we were scheduled for dinner yesterday with my wife’s high school classmate in MOA. After parking, I had my wife go ahead to the restaurant while I stopped by JB for a quick peek at possible bargain. As I entered the door, I was reminded of it again. It wasn’t on display, and it took the sales person not a few minutes to dig it out of a pile. I knew it was the same one because it was still missing two rivets. Also, the big 25% off sale ended last week, so I would have to pay full price for it. But none of that mattered the moment I played it. Inexplicably, it sounded absolutely magnificent this time around. It had a rich throaty crash, funky ping, and sizzling wash. 

What changed in my attitude towards this cymbal? Was it having been stored and aged for almost a decade? Had the acoustics in the store been modified? Are my strokes different? Or was it just my shifting current taste? Whatever the reason, I walked out of the store with 2419 grams of year 2015 magnificence, and a lighter bank account.

A happy ending to a long and wishy-washy story.

HEAVYWEIGHT

In the mid-2010s, Pearl released two special limited-edition free floating snares. The first was the Pearl FBD1465C 30th Anniversary Free Floating 14" x 6.5" 3mm Brass Patina Finish Snare. The second was the Pearl CS1465F Chad Smith Signature Free Floating Tricolon 14" x 6.5" 3mm Brass/Steel Snare. I never saw the former, but I did see the latter in JB Music some years ago, then in FB Marketplace and Carousell before the pandemic. It looked spectacular, but so was the price. This is probably why it never got bought. My curiosity led me to discover what made it special. 14x6.5 Free-Floating chassis. Diecast hoops. Three seamless interchangeable 3mm shell rings, two brass and one steel. Only one hundred ever made. The price? Let's just say it was about double my most expensive snare. Why did I suddenly consider buying it? It was Christmas. I survived a bout with Covid19. The semester was ending. Any excuse becomes valid when you have a serious case of Gear Acquisition Syndrome. 

It arrived with a “Certificate of Authentication” and a drum head both signed by Chad Smith, which I really didn’t care for. So they are tucked away with my spare drum heads. It was pre-owned, but never played, with nary a stick mark on the batter head. The first thing I noticed with I took it out of the box was that the drum is very, VERY HEAVY! Seven kilograms of heavy. The hardware is extremely solid, but luxuriously satin smooth and/or polished shiny. The heads came with almost no tension. I cranked the reso head, then I brought the better head up to half turn above finger tight and it sounded fat and authoritative. Each half turn up brought higher pitch, and more glorious harmonic combinations. The response is super sensitive, and the loudness can be deafening when whacked with the stick butt. The only mod I applied was a half inch square of cushion tape to the reso head to control a bit of after-buzz. But that’s it. I usually swap out the snare wires for Puresounds, and mounting string for plastic straps. But everything was so perfect that I left them stock. 

This drum has spoiled me forever. Suddenly all the other drums I was interested in lost their luster. If and when I gig again with a full kit, this will be my go-to snare ….. if I still have the strength to carry it. 

BLACKNESS

How many times has this happened already? I see something interesting, covet it, the deal falls through or I reluctantly pass, then find something much better shortly after.

JB Music was on a major "Handog" sale last month, and the markdowns on the new Pearl Sensitone Heritage series caught my eye. PhP12.9k for a 14x5 aluminium, and 13.7k for a 14x6.5 aluminium was an extreme bargain. I don't have an aluminium snare yet, so this looked like my chance. But the more I looked at my existing snares, the more I hesitated. I'm pretty much covered for sizes, and I never set all of them up the same time anyway. So after weeks of rumination, I finally let the sale pass. 

Two days later, I saw what looked like a 14x5 Black Beauty, the legendary black nickel on brass snare from Ludwig, in the FB marketplace at a price I could afford. Research on the seller seemed legit. He was a regular Japan surplus seller based in Pangasinan, with everything from fishing poles, to camping tents, light furniture, guitar amps, amateur keyboards, and a few drum related stuff. He showed me a correspondence with another customer, Moon Fortuno, who was getting a high-end double pedal at the same time. I didn't hesitate anymore. I pounced! It arrived two days later. 

I took it apart after the prefatory disinfection, and found two things. 1) It had no lug gaskets. The previous owner must have removed it to get more resonance. Fine with me. It's easier to tame an overactive instrument than a dead one. 2) Just like my Oak/Maple Hybrid, old Ludwig throw offs are problematic. In addition to it coming with the much-maligned P85 throw and P33 butt panel, one of the lock screws of the throw had a loose thread.  I replaced the screw with an awkward but temporarily working one, then ordered a new P88ac throw/butt set. 

I have it set up now with coated Ambassador batter and a Diplomat snare side. The sound is absolutely WICKED! Boisterous, bright, and happy, with rich harmonic overtones (as opposed to steel's usually inharmonic ones). I have it pitched between my Omar Hakim Signature and Pearl Masters Brass snares, and will be experimenting with other tunings later. 

I never thought I would own a Black Beauty. But then I never thought I would own eight (!) snares either. 

P.S. After weeks of waiting, Amazon sent me box with a cheap looking generic throw and no butt plate. Grrrrrrrr. Thankfully they paid for the return, and sent me a real P88ac set a week later. The BB looks and feels complete now. 

PRESTIGE

In the process of re-wrapping my venerable mid-1970s 12" and 16" Pearl Thunderking toms in purple, I discovered some serious ply-separation. And to make matters worse, the wraps started creasing after attaching the lugs. The 16" still sounded ok but the 12" kinda lost its focus. 

Then last month I saw a 12" x 8" Pearl Prestige Series tom going for real cheap in Cavite. I hesitated for a week before contacting the seller, only to find our he had already sold it. A few days later, it surfaced again, but by another seller, at a slightly higher price, and again somewhere in Cavite. This time I did not wait. I snagged it immediately. 

Upon arrival, I changed the heads to my favorite Ambassador Coated batters and clear resos, and 2.3mm triple flanged hoops. The inside of the drum was beautifully finished, more like a high end snare than any tom I've ever had. And the overtones are more spread out than my 10" Decade Maple, but more focused than my old Thunderking. 

I've been trying to learn more about the Prestige Series, but all I can find are early 1990s used kits in Japan, with no description of the wood used. The word Prestige was also added as prefix to the more known Session lines, the forerunners of today's Session Studio Selects. these were   mid level professional kits with fine finishing and hardware. 

Someone is offering me a 16" floor tom in the same series, in the same color. Who knows, it might be the feature in my next post.