Paiste 24″ RUDE Mega Power Ride Cymbal

Paiste’s RUDE cymbal line, which debuted in 1980, and went through being incorporated into several other model names, emerged again in 1999 with its own separate identity. It was developed as part of the need for a heavy cymbal line that could take a pounding and produce volume that would cut through the high output amplifier stacks that were piled on the stages for Metal band performances. It has endured over the years, and the king of this line is the 24″ Mega Power Ride. It has a ping that is razor sharp and will have the guitarists trying to turn their volume knobs past the end point.

Although classic cymbal bronze is 80% copper and 20% tin, a number of different alloys have been developed in the last several decades. In general, the more copper, the brighter the sound, other things being equal (hammering and lathing). They are often referred to as the letter B followed by the percentage of tin in the alloy, so in the case of the RUDE cymbals, which are 8% tin, it would be classified as being made from B8 alloy. There is also B10, B12, B15, and the classic B20.

Unlike some of the other RUDE cymbals, the 24″ Mega Power Ride is lathed as well as hammered (others are not lathed).

The RUDE Mega Power Ride very well may be the most powerful ride cymbal out there. The ping can be heard above any other instrument being played regardless of volume. It has a roar instead of a wash. Its burnished unique looks will have other drummers staring. The sound will drop their jaws.

Shown below is a spectrum of one ping on the cymbal. The magenta graph line indicates the response at the initial strike from the drumstick (5B with nylon tip), and the yellow line is the spectrum 2 seconds later. The second graph shows Level vs. Time. You can see from the spectrum that the frequencies are pretty level out to about 9 kHz, followed by a sharp drop-off by about 30 dB, where the level stays the same out to 40 kHz, with some material out to 60 kHz. Even after 2 seconds, the main ping frequencies up to 8 kHz are almost at the original level, but above 8 kHz, the frequencies have decayed, so you can ride it hard without worrying about the ping getting lost in the cymbal’s wash.

Level vs. Time shows the very short intense attack.

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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