Categories: Cymbals

Paiste 18″ Alpha Brilliant Metal Crash Cymbal

For you metal drummers out there, Paiste makes this one in the Alpha line, which includes 17″, 18″, 19″, and 20″ sizes, all in a Brilliant finish (shined with an abrasive). There is also a 20″ Alpha Metal Ride available. Alphas are made from a B8 alloy (92% copper, 8% tin), and this can be seen in its very coppery color. It’s thick, heavy, and delivers a bright punch that will cut through any stack of guitar amplifiers. It will take a beating, for sure. In fact, when I ran the test, it overloaded my microphones, so I had to back them off a few more inches. My microphones will handle up to 130 dB!

The closeup photo shows the evenly spaced lathing that includes the bell, and the deep hammering. There is a circle of hammer spots around the edge of the bell, but the rest are irregularly placed, indicating hand hammering (it was probably done on a machine, but the machinist chose the locations rather than having a CNC type of hammering that is preset).

Specifications

Manufacturer Line: Alpha
Type: Crash
Style: Metal
Alloy: B8 – CuSn8 – 92% Copper, 8% Tin
Diameter: 18″
Metal Work: Hand Hammered, Machine Lathed, Brilliant Finish
Weight: 3.45 Pounds
MSRP: $282 USA; Street Price $169
Paiste

The frequency spectrum starts rising at about 200 Hz, peaks at 6 kHz, then declines slowly to about 55 kHz. The intensity peaks at 0.28 seconds, which is what one would expect from a heavy cymbal like this.

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).

RETURN TO PAISTE INDEX.

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.