Categories: Cymbals

Paiste 22″ 2002 Power Ride Cymbal

I have been a big fan of the Paiste 2002 series for a long time. I only had 2002 crash cymbals though. When I read about a drummer’s experience with the 2002 ride cymbal on a drum forum, I decided to obtain one and see (hear) if I liked it as well as he did. I did.

The 2002’s are a B8 alloy, meaning that they are 8% tin and 92% copper. The version I had for review was the Power Ride, which is very heavy at 3550 grams, almost 8 pounds. In the close-up photo below you can see that it is heavily hammered and lathed (the bell is lathed but not hammered). The ride sound delivers a distinct, but long lasting, ping (the main body of the ping lasts a long time, relatively), compared to a ride cymbal that has a very tight short ping, like a flat ride for example. This cymbal would work beautifully in any rock situation and big band. It has a bit too much ping for small jazz group (quintet). The bell is very musical.

All in all, a terrific cymbal. In fact, an executive from one of the other cymbal manufacturers who was visiting my lab told me he thought it was a beautiful ride cymbal. That says a lot.

Specifications

Manufacturer Line: 2002
Type: Ride
Style: Heavy
Alloy: B8 – CuSn8 – 92% Copper, 8% Tin
Diameter: 22″
Metal Work: Machine Hammered, Hand Lathed, Buffed Finish
Weight: 3550 gm
MSRP: $594 USA; Street Price $339
Paiste

The spectrum does not have very much low frequency information (below 100 Hz), but has strong peaks at 320 Hz, 440 Hz, and 850 Hz, which give the cymbal its tonality. The rising series of peaks from about 2 kHz up to 10 kHz are the body of the sound. It then drops off quickly and has some significant – but much lower energy – between 10 kHz and 65 kHz.

The ping declines slowly for a ride cymbal, i.e., there is still substantial energy at 0.1 seconds.

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).

If your sound card cannot play the high resolution file, click HERE to listen to an MP3 sound file.

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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.