Categories: Cymbals

Sabian 18″ HH Thin Crash Cymbal

If you have a medium crash, and likely you do, there is always the decision whether to get a medium thin, or a thin crash to go with it. We have reviewed several medium crashes, and this review covers an 18″ thin crash in Sabian’s HH line. The sound is a bit dark, which thin cymbals tend to be, and it is a bright punchy crash, with short sustain. For my own preferences, I would balance a medium crash, at least in the 18″ size, with a thin rather than medium thin. The 18″ HH thin crash is not suitable for riding on the body of the cymbal (listen to the sound sample by clicking on the link at the bottom of the page), but the bell rides well.

Specifications

Manufacturer Line: HH
Type: Crash
Style: Thin
Alloy: B20 – CuSn20 – 80% Copper, 20% Tin
Diameter: 18″
Metal Work: Machine Hammered, Hand Lathed, Buffed Finish
Weight: 2.2 Pounds
MSRP: $ 508 USA; Street Price $305
Sabian

The lathing is deep and wide, while the hammer marks are small, but also quite deep.

The spectrum indicates a rather smooth response out to about 10 kHz, with peaks at 420 Hz, 550 Hz, 1.7 kHz, and 2.2 kHz, after which it declines to 50 kHz. The high frequencies decline at a faster rate than the low frequencies.

In the Level vs. Time spectrum, you can see the peak loudness at 0.18 seconds with a rapid decay.

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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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.