Paiste 17″ Signature Fast Crash Cymbal

When I tried the Paiste Signature line, it was love at first crash. This particular one is a 17″ Fast Crash, so it responds quickly.

The sound is much different than your average crash. I would say actually that it is unique among all the crash cymbals I have listened to at the local music store. Although it is thin, it is quite stiff, and the sound is on the bright side. It does not have as much of a bow (curvature) as other cymbals.

The cymbal has a very bright finish, but is not what would be classified as the “Brilliant” finish, because that particular finish involves the use of abrasives, which smoothes out the lathing, and the lathing here definitely stands out. This cymbal is made from Paiste’s proprietary B15 bronze, and I have to say that I love the sound.

The frequencies are pretty level out to 15 kHz, then declines to 80 kHz. Correspondingly, it is a very bright crash, piercing, but clean. Not as washy as some cymbals. It has more of an identifiable tone in the upper end rather than the white noise sound of a cymbal with a lot of wash.

The peak of the crash occurs at 0.1 seconds, with a slow decay (long sustain). The peak occurring so quickly is what makes it a “Fast Crash”.

Click HERE to listen to an audio sample, 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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