That’s a very cool personal story. I spoke to Randy Ross when I was making this video and he was very open and available. It was telling about the culture at the company. I’d love to see this pics if possible?

I could email them to you if I have your email address.

Does your name happen to be Ray Lafleur?

@@thealphaomega Nope

That’s a telling story for sure. I was a young drummer in the early 80s and remember the allure of the Zildjian brand. I give you credit for caring enough to take the time to make that blind comparison. I’m sure your weren’t surprised by the final decision.

I rather play Sabians because I can actually pronounce the word 😂 Ziljidijdian?!?

@@lowlink534 it sure is a lot easier to spell! 😁

Absolutely! It’s truly a fascinating history.

Thanks for checking out the vids! Yeah I get it. I’ve known parts of the history for years and but never had a full and clear understanding of it all myself. After researching it in more detail, I felt that it would be good info to put out there. I appreciate you taking the time to drop me your comments!

There should be a movie about their history. The sound track should have music with cymbals too

Thanks Rick. I’ve wanted to make this one for a while now.

Thanks for checking it out for your positive feedback. I appreciate it so much!

Thank you ! We live at a great time for choices in cymbals, and in drums. And I really enjoy playing a variety myself.

Thank you Roman! I appreciate your positive vibes!

Im a sucker for brands w a fascinating history. I love going down the rabbit hole. I don’t have many Sabian cymbals myself, (although I love the HHX series) but I have a huge respect for Robert Zildjian.

They definitely have their own tone but don't hesitate to give the HHX line a chance ... I have a bunch of them and they sound/record great together!

The HHX line is great. You’re going to love them.

Great cymbals for sure!

Thank you so much! 🙏

Thanks Brian. I know what you mean about your hearing wish I had used more hearing protection when I was younger but it wasn’t really a thing back then.

Thank you for weighing in Varden!

Thanks for checking it out and for the positive comment.

Thank you. I get it. As drummers these days we are lucky to have so many great options to choose from. Congrats on your new HHX hats!

Those are GREAT freaking hats, hope you're enjoying them

@@UndercoverNormie Oh, yeah! I love them. Cheers.

Cymbals have to feel as good to play as they sound for sure.

Yeah the name was real barrier for them early on. Most people didn’t know they were made by the Zildjian family. I know that I didn’t back in the 80s.

Glad to hear it James. Yeah the Sabian catalog is so large that it’s easy to get lost w all the sound options they have. Hopefully this video is a good entry point to start exploring.

@Eddie Avakian definetly helped me...thanks man!

Thanks for checking it out!

Yeah that vault would be fun place to spend an afternoon.

@@eddieavakianDo they let you buy things there?

@@Crabbadabba I don’t know for sure but I doubt it.

Nice man! I love the groove ride but never played anything in the Paragon series. Thanks for the positive comment on the vid. I appreciate it!

Thank you! Glad you found it and liked it.

Cool find!

Thank you so much!

That's a great story! I have never played the Zilcos but the few that I have heard online sound pretty good. Do you still have them? Congrats on getting back on the drums and great choice of cymbals. FYI - I took my 20s-30s off playing drums myself.

@@eddieavakian , what’s really interesting is that on the Beatles documentary Get Back the one on Disney, I actually spotted Azco or Zilco cymbals in a package perhaps sitting on a table or the piano, it freaked me out. In the studio with Ringo. I got rid of them perhaps a year later, when I upgraded my Japanese department store drums to a brand name kit. The truth is they were much better then the garbage can cymbals that came with the first crappy kit. But they were not anything like a real Zildjian. But they were affordable at that time. I was a beginner back then so didn’t know anything about picking out the sounds. Perhaps mine were very thick, and they would ring for ever. They were loud and that’s the style of music back then, but now that I know more, I prefer thinner crashes with a faster decay. Of course it all depends on if you playing live in a big venue or in your basement. These days I’m crashes are AXX Explosion 16” and quite thin. These days at almost 69 years old after a ton of major health issues, I’m just in the basement and do videos for fun on utube, The tired Dummer. If you check me out, read my bio in the About section I’m a mediocre drummer just trying to have fun. I see kids 7 years old that are 1000x better then me 😁 . I play a mix of older material. youtube.com/@kenambrose1289 I just subscribed to your page, my first time seeing it.

@@The-Tired-Drummer Is your name Ken? Sorry to read about your health issues. I hope things are improving for you in that regard. Playing drums is definitely something that I believe helps stimulate your mind and challenges your body and coordination. I’ll check out some of your vids. Keep drumming!

@@eddieavakian thanks 🙏 I’m still alive that’s what counts. I actually think I had a seizure a couple of days ago, while sleeping. I guess the way to describe it like a concussion feeling with headaches, I’ve beer resting and feeling a bit better, hopefully I drum again In a couple days?

Thanks Jeff. Great to hear from you!

@@eddieavakian you're welcome! 😎🥁

Thank you Max!

I get it. For most of my drumming life I didn’t know as much as I should have.

Thank you Dustin!

Thank you Alessandro. I appreciate it!

Much appreciated! Thank you for taking the time to post some kind words.

😁. When I was a kid and they first came out I thought it was just another Armenian brand. There is an interview out there with Robert where he commented that the Zildjian attorneys were a little annoyed with the name because it ended w “Ian”.

I'm a Paiste guy most of the time ,with the odd Meinl china here and there....but the Sabian AAX 19" heavy crash is sooooo delicious. One day, it WILL be mine 😁

Thanks for checking it out Christopher! I appreciate you being here.

Thank you!

As drummers we are lucky to have so many great options today. I’m partial to dark cymbals myself.

Nice! If you ever get around to posting a video Id love to hear them! Thank you for taking some time to share your story and opinion. I appreciate it!

Thank you John!

Thank you for checking out the Vid! Interesting history and great cymbals for sure!

Thank you. If there is any topics that you would like to see please let me know. ✌️✌️

Haha. That’s funny. I guess I’m not a bright guy myself and prefer the HHX lines, the complex being my favorite. Thanks for watching Omar!

Thanks Earl! I believe that both the AAX and the A Custom came out a year apart w the A Custom coming out first. I could be wrong tho. And while this seems like a dubious coincidence, I know that it takes a long time to prefect a series so they both had to be working on them simultaneously. While it’s certainly possible that they had eyes into each others product development, it’s also possible they were both responding to the same requests by drummers who were wanting that particular sound. Good question tho. Sorry I don’t have a real answer for you on this. Keep up the great videos yourself!

@@eddieavakian thanks for what you do! 😁😁👍

@@earldrum you too brother!!

Great stuff for sure!

They make top shelf instruments for sure! ✌️. Thank you for checking out the video Mark!

Love it!

That’s an interesting one for sure. There is definitely some some good stuff in there. Thanks for the suggestion!

Hey Sandy...I did this one per your request! Hope you like it.kzfaq.info/get/bejne/grGDbM6HqNK2eHk.html

Awesome set up JP! I’ve never played the Omni line myself but i do have and love some HHX complex cymbals.

I have great admiration for Robert Zildjian and Sabian. They never stop innovating and trying new things. It also says alot about a company’s culture when employees spend their entire working lives there.

@@eddieavakian Agreed. My only criticism is that the expense of that innovation is that they tend to drop really great cymbals from production after maybe only one or two years. Then they become extremely rare, if you can find them at all.

@@terrydrums they do create more lines than any other cymbal maker that I have looked into and can see why they can’t continue producing all of them. I named the video what i did partially because their entire catalog was overwhelming and I wasn’t as familiar with the brand as I wanted to be.

Very insightful video. Been a sabian fan for ever 👌🏽

@@Joshstix95 thank you Josh!

On the list!

They did have that line. I don’t know much about them other than they was were also a B8 bronze and likely unirolled. If you have any information on them please share. I don’t think they made them past the late 1990s.

I’m a big fan of the Byzance line and have quite a few of their cymbals myself. I appreciate you making this as a suggestion and will serious consider putting something together. Thank you!

Id love an in depth look at the major players like meinl, zildjian and paiste

@@idiotburns thanks! I did do one on Zildjian. It was more about the history than the product lines tho. I’ll eventually get into Meinl and Paiste.

Meinl? 😂

@@kellyb0279 I’ll get to doing something on them. I love their cymbals.

Hey Josh. That would be “Subdivisions”. It’s on the “Signals” album.

I’ve been getting that a lot, especially from their long time customers/players. I regret not asking them questions about the logo change when making this video.

I don’t know much about them but the Sabian catalog is enormous and impossible to cover in one short video. I don’t think Mark Love mentioned them in his timeline either. I believe they came out early 90s and are supposed to be really good especially for the price. Any input you have about them would be more than welcomed!

@@eddieavakian i have a full set . Absolutely amazing sound . I cant find any cymbals like them ive tried lots. I particuarly love the 14 and 16 studio crashes and the 18 china is dark but such a nice sound . . Really.they are amazing . Im guessing if i do find any cymbals sounding like then . They will be around top tier

I wouldn’t be surprised if they have one in their vault.

Meinl makes great cymbals and they’ve certainly deserve their earned market share. These days I use mostly Agop cymbals but have more Meinl cymbals than any other brand.

Nice! that’s super cool! For a source I’d say either Steve Maxwell, or Sabian themselves. Randy Ross at Sabian would be someone who could help. He’s really cool and would probably love to see those things.

@@eddieavakian thanks for the response! I’ll look them up and send them some pics

I’ve gotten that from a few other people on this post. I honestly never thought too much about it but I do remember some rumblings when it first came out.

@@eddieavakian not to sound snobby but it especially gets me because the og one was so on point

Its better for them that their customers speak out. I regret that I didn’t ask them about it or have more insight as to why they changed it and how they choose the new one.

Yeah he is now. He was w Sabian for 35 years or so.

Yeah I know. Not sue what happened there

Yeah I saw he switched last year. I didn’t include him in this video but Staton Moore recently switched from Crescent (purchased by Sabian) to Zildjian. That was weird since he was one of the founders of Crescent. Thanks for watching the video Mario.

You probably didn’t know back then that your Sabian cymbals were actually another line of Zildjian’s and made with the same exact alloy and made by people who made Zildjian’s. The interesting part is that they while they start out the same they end up sounding very different.

Zildjian doesn’t even hand hammer their stuff anymore. Going sabian was a good route

Agreed. The interesting part of the Ks is that supposedly most of them weren’t very good but they choose the best ones and have them to the master players and those become the sound that everyone has been chasing. I posted a video on Agop. If you get a chance please check it out. Great ride cymbals for sure.

So many great choices and cymbal companies now compared to when I was growing up. I remember when it was only Zildjian and Paiste. Because they’re Constantly having to come up w new and innovative formulas. Sabian comes up w all kinds of models for specific artists that don’t always have a wide appeal. But they make great stuff.

Danke

Yeah you obviously read thru the comments. I don’t have an opinion on the design myself but companies spend a lot of time designing and testing logos so I imagine it must matter to enough people. Change is usually met with mixed opinions and this no exception. But they make Great cymbals and have a interesting company history. And that’s enough for me.

Thanks for weighing in

I’ve gotten that in the comments from someone else just today. I never got into a conversation w anyone over there on how they came up with the final design so I cant add any info on it.

Huge mistake. That old logo was where it's at. It's almost as if the cymbals sounded better back then because of it lol

@@timothysmalls1945 😂

Their logo change never came up when I spoke to them so I have no insight other than what is available online. I recall when it came out there was some opposition to it, but change can sometimes be that way.

I take the logos off of all my cymbals anyways, so I don't care too much.

Done by a pink haired weirdo

At first i thought it was crappy, but kinda get used to it

@@eddieavakian I only know one logo, rings of a lathed cymbal in a half moon shape

Ha, well I recently watched an episode of Drumeo with Chad Smith and I was blown away by his groove. Plus he's super funny to watch. If you get a chance check out that Drumeo segment.

I’m getting that a lot on this post! I had no idea so many people hate it as much as they do.

What cymbals do you like? Today we have a lot of good options to choose from.

What cymbals do you play ?