Categories: Cymbals

Meinl 16″ Generation X Filter China Cymbal

Cymbals date back thousands of years, and Asia was part of that history. However, their extensive use in music really did not get going until the 17th century AD, and even then, they had a hard time, with composers leaving them out of their music. In the 20th century, their use exploded with the advent of swing in the 1930’s, bebop in the 1940’s, which then developed into jazz in the 1950’s. And, of course, modern classical music uses cymbals extensively. Many of the cymbal companies that exisit today opened their doors for business in the 20th century, Meinl being one of them (1951). What is called the Chinese Cymbal that is used in jazz and rock music today started out with Zildjian developing one for Gene Krupa, and which was called a “Swish” or “Pang”. Now, they are all pretty much just called Chinese cymbals. Although they can be very large, this particular one is only 16″ in diameter.

Specifications

Manufacturer Line: Generation X
Type: China (Pang)
Style: Thin
Alloy: FX9 – 69% Copper, 15% Manganese, 15% Zinc, 1% Aluminum
Diameter: 16″
Metal Work: Machine Hammered, Deep Hand Lathed, Buffed Finish
Weight: 1.5 Pounds
MSRP: $268 USA; Street Price $130
Meinl

You can see from the specifications that the cymbal is made from a very unusual alloy. It is not bronze, but rather, contains copper, manganese, zinc, and aluminum.

The lathing is deep, and appears to have been done by hand. The bell is lathed as well. The edges are ruffled rather than hammered, and there are small holes throughout the cymbal, which would have to be done by machine. It is nicely decorated on the underside, and in general, this type of cymbal is played with the bell facing down. I have recorded sounds with the bell facing up and bell facing down just for comparison. The spectrum is from a crash with the bell facing down.

The spectrum has a large peak at 70 Hz and then is smooth out to 6 kHz before declining to about 25 kHz. So, comparing it to other cymbals, this Chinese cymbal has a much narrower spectrum. The large peaks in the 175 Hz – 250 Hz region, as well as the trough in the 100 Hz- 150 Hz region are what give this cymbal its tonality that is so different from non-Chinese cymbals.

The peak of the crash occurs at 0.02 seconds, with a long slowly declining sustain.

Click HERE to listen to an audio sample (Bell Down), and HERE (Bell Up), which will include crash (when appropriate), ride, and bell sounds (these are 24 bit, 176.4 kHz wav files, so be sure your sound card is capable of handling these high resolution sound files).

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John E. Johnson, Jr.

Editor-in-Chief Emeritus. John E. Johnson, Jr. founded Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity in 1994, shortly after publishing a hardcopy book of the same title. He served as Editor-in-Chief of Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity until 2022. John has been involved in audio and video for more than 50 years, having built radio transmitters, amplifiers, turntables, and speakers from scratch. He was also one of the founders of the Northern California Audio Video Association, now The Bay Area Audio Society. John holds four university degrees, including a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and has published numerous scientific books, along with dozens of scientific articles on biomedical research topics as well as imaging technology. He was the founder and Editor-in-Chief of two medical/scientific journals for 20 years. John holds several patents, including one on high resolution image analysis and one on a surgical instrument. He has been affiliated with NASA, The National Institutes of Health, The Johns Hopkins University, Stanford Research Institute, and The University of California at Berkeley. He is President of the consulting firm Scientific Design and Information, Inc., which is based in Redwood City, California. John resides in the San Francisco Bay area with his wife and multiple kitties! His daughter, Cynthia, who was an integral part of SECRETS for many years, resides in San Francisco.