Istanbul Agop 16" Cindy Blackman OM Crash

This one finds good use for me as an accent crash. It's hard to explain why, but I don't really like it as a main crash. Landing on this on a downbeat doesn't feel right, but hitting it together with the snare on an unexpected off beat accent hit feels great!

The tonality of a cymbal is hard to describe in words, but for a main crash I want a sense of resolution of tension. Bada Boom Crash. The fill before the crash builds tension, the crash releases it. And a main crash should be able to give a little subtle lift to song transitions without drawing too much attention to itself.

This crash isn't like that.

Instead, it releases a quick burst of high octane energy. It doesn't actually decay that fast, but it feels like a powerful musical event every time you hit it.

The only other review that existed when I write this said it is "inspiring". I agree. A good main crash isn't exactly inspiring, it just does its job, and does it well. A main crash is for the boring bread and butter cymbals hits you have to play because the job demands it.

But an accent crash is for the FUN hits! It's for the cool stuff that made you want to play drums in the first place! You NEED a main crash, but you WANT an accent crash! :-)

As an aside, when my wife saw these cymbals her initial reaction was "wow, they're so ugly!".

I think they look cool on their own, but they definitely tend to look like the black sheep that doesnt' fit with the rest when you mix them with pretty much any other cymbals. Even the dirtiest looking cymbals look shiny next to these.