Just a random thought i just had.

So it would basically be one (biggish, like my 18") crash on the left, and the 20" ride on the right, plus the hi-hats.

I might need to look into a thinner ride for it to work well though. My current one gets SuperFuckLoud when i use it as a crash, and i have to hit it pretty hard to get it to do that too. Any lighter touch and it basically just pings.

Hmm.

I am really thinking this is what i want to do though. Now i have to start figuring how i can acquire a thin or medium ride. Or indeed some kind of huge 20" crash...

I am yet to find a cymbal that I like for both riding and crashing...

Well, i wouldn't need it for the big sharp dry metal ping thing(because my AAX Metal will not be going anywhere, just into the cymbal bag for storage), so it gets a lot easier to find what i seek.

A good friend of mine has this amazing vintage 18" Zildjian that would do it. He got it for next to nothing from a thrift shop back in the pre-eBay era, bundled with a five piece kit, and a bunch of sweet hardware and other vintage Zildjian cymbals. I think he paid aboyut $50 for everything, the fucking bastard.

It is seriously one of the coolest cymbals i have ever used. Unfortunately, he knows it, and guards the thing with his life.

But it is great, like a really heavy crash, but with a certain amount of thickness so it pings really well if you aim for the bell. It can do the jazzy washy thing, or the rock ping thing, or you can lay into it a bit and it crashes with a really nice sort of frequency to it. Very nice sounding for all three. It is about the closest to a "perfect" cymbal i have ever met.

So it is definitely possible. I suppose i will have to figure out where i can get $300 or so that doesn't need to go towards bills or food and go shopping.

I have just been listening back to drums and stuff that i have recorded, and i don't see any point in having two crashes in addition to the ride. Same thing as the tom thoughts that i had a couple months back. If it doesn't come across recorded, i am thinking i probably don't need it. The more shit i can get rid of, the easier to record the kit gets also. More cymbals is mostly just more white noise bleeding into everything and fucking up the compression on the snare mics and shit. Crash on the left, crashy ride on the right, and it would retain the stereo field of crashes, and be a lot easier to work with from a recording standpoint to boot.

I would also really like a nice pair of hi-hats for a change, but that is way on the back burner for a while. The ones i have are way too fucking loud for how and what i play these days. Hell they were way too loud for what i used to play too. On that powerviolence band's recording they drown out the fucking snare. Of course that has a lot to do with the shittiness of the borrowed snare and the lo qualityness of the recording, but even still, they are fuckloud hi-hats.

But yeah, listening back, it is largely the cymbal sounds that i am unhappy with. Not so much the tone of them, but the volume for sure.

Well yeah I don't necessarily even expect like a really quick, sharp ride when I am expecting a cymbal to do both roles. Just enough definition that I don't feel like I am just sustaining a crash cymbal. And likewise if I crash a ride I really am not looking for a gargantuan gonging!These I have not yet encountered in a sufficient ratio. I used a Sabian AA Medium Ride in Paula's band last year and it was kind of there, though crashing it was a lot more violent than my actual crash. Still I did a couple rehearsals and a gig with that setup, and it was okay enough...

Oh man, when i crash the AAX Metal, it is like taking a fucking straight razor to the earlobe and just slicing the whole thing off.

And it is way WAY worse twenty feet out front. That fucking cymbal is like a cluster bomb filled with cutting lasers. Awesome as shit for metal and fast stuff though. Way overkill for everything else.

As to the first bit, the old Zildjian my friend has is surprisingly quick and tight if you hit it near the bell. I have no idea how it manages that while retaining the wash ability and the nice crash sound. But usually a crashride has a really loose bleh sort of bell sound. This old fucker doesn't. I almost get the feeling that the center of them cymbal is a lot thicker than the edges or something, though it physically seems to be the same medium weight/thickness throughout.

Hmmm. Rides are a funny thing, really. I have the same one as the one at Rehearsal Space, but they are different.

Why don't you just go on the local Craigslist and arrange to try out a bunch of rides?