Istanbul Agop 14" Mel Lewis Sign. Hi-Hat

The snare is the most important drum, and the hihat is the most important cymbal. Every drummer needs to find the perfect hihat for his style and taste.

This is MY perfect hihat. It may or may not be yours, but for me it has exactly what I look for in a hihat.

I want a hihat to have a sweet-sounding "tick" that has an extended high end, but that is also warm and pleasant, and not harsh to the ears. I want a hihat to open up complexity at very soft hits, so it can be played very dynamically. I want it to have finely graduated half- or quarter-open sounds that are easy to control. I want the almost fully open slosh to be washy and warm. I want the foot chick to be soft and subtle, not aggressive.

This hihat ticks all those boxes, in a way no other hihat does. I think it's the Rolls Royce of hihats that makes others sound cheap. If your taste is anywhere near mine, you owe it to yourself to get this hihat. Yes, it's expensive, but it's totally worth it!

But if you want something trashy/earthy/aggressive/interesting/ugly-in-a-cool-way, look elsewhere. This is just the perfect old school middle-of-the-road-sounding hihat. Nothing more, nothing less.