Zultan 19" Caz Crash/Ride

Buying cymbals unheard is risky,but enough good reviews of this 19" C/R and £110 price tag,made me take a chance.Ive been playing it
alongside Zildjians A and Ks,Meinl Byzanze Jazz,,and Istanbul Mel Lewis cymbals,and it holds its own sonically amongst these top end cymbals.I read the bell was smaller on these,that's untrue.It has a low pitch wash that never overpowers,and a decent crash that gets out of the way quick when hit on the edge,the bell is great for Latin grooves too.It is a jazz cymbal really, similar to K Zildjians,really great on a one cymbal and hi hats gig.This can be used in most music genres except really loud amplified stuff,however ,it's no quieter than other similar sized b20 hand hammered cymbals that I have.

Okay so, this is 95% crash and 5% ride.
Bell does not exist..bigger bell is on a splash, I swear to you.

Let's talk about CRASH QUALITY:
Cymbal is thin. Its not light and its not heavy. Something in between but I would say its lighter than I expected as it says "Crash/ride" but its only usable as a crash in my opinion...at least for my genre of music.

It has this dark sound like K customs but little bit warmer and softer. Its really pleasant to my ear. I am suprised this item does not cost more money. It's not a budget cymbal.

So, I played my first concert with this cymbal..I use it as my main crash in metalcore band along with A custom projection crashes on both side.
When I listened recordings from our live show it does not seem to open very fast as a crash. It is thin cymbal and when you jam solo you can hear it open very fast but, with a metal band playing with you, it will lose an accent if you play this crash first on a bar..I suppose its because of its sound characteristics (dark and warm).
Don't get me wrong when I say "it doesnt open very fast"..it DOES open fast but not in combination with brilliant cymbals and metal guitar riffs.
But still it goes very well with metal music if you ask me, you just need to get used to using it right.

Great great cymbal by awsome brand from greatest shop THOMANN!

Thank you!

This is a beautiful cymbal, that crashes well at louder volumes, but is definitely much more of a ride than a crash.

I bought a set of Zultan Caz a few months ago and play them in a church. I use this as my main ride. It has excellent stick definition. This review reflects several months of regular use playing a wide range of styles mostly not at high volume.

Crashing with sticks is fine in loud passages, but church drumming is often a challenge keeping volume under control, and as a crash this just isn't very responsive at lower volumes.

I use cymbal swells a lot of the time, and for that, this cymbal just doesn't really work. I have the Caz crashes in 16 and 17 and they both respond very well to mallets, allowing me to build swells gradually. With the 19 Crash / Ride, pulling a crescendo out of the cymbal with mallets from a low-volume start is very difficult and I've yet to succeed to my satisfaction.

As a small, light ride, however, I think you will struggle to find a better sound without paying very much more money.

A note on packaging. My cymbals arrived, unprotected, in the base of a large box, directly underneath a full set of hardware .. hihat, cymbal stands, pedal .. the outer box was completely inadequate for the weight and was falling apart, there was virtually no internal packaging so the hardware had bounced around. Thomann accepted a return, but the return / replacement process was a nightmare. Individual Zultan cymbals come protected with only a thin plastic sleeve, so either the packaging of the individual cymbals needs to improve dramatically, or Thomann need to up their packaging game overall. Zultan cymbals are high quality, but the packaging doesn't reflect this and doesn't give them the protection they deserve.

A more recent order from Thomann was also completely inadquately packaged, outer box falling apart on delivery, and my experience with the cymbals was so grim I couldn't face the argument with them over the second one. Your mileage, obvoiously, may vary, and I note the generally good feedback that people give both for packaging and customer service, so perhaps I was just unlucky.