Categories: Cymbals

Sabian 22″ HHX Legacy Heavy Ride Cymbal

Cymbals that jazz drummers often seek, but have a difficult time finding are rides that have a dark wash, and a ping that is just above the wash to be heard but not distract from the soloist. The Sabian 22″ HHX Legacy Heavy Ride is just such as cymbal. It is hand hammered and finely lathed, and even though it is a heavy cymbal, the ping is not too bright. In fact, I thought it was perfect for my own style. There is also a 21″ version that most likely would have a slightly higher frequency of wash.

Specifications

Manufacturer Line: HHX Legacy
Type: Ride
Style: Heavy
Alloy: B20 – CuSn20 – 802% Copper, 20% Tin
Diameter: 22″
Metal Work: Hand Hammered and Lathed, Buffed Finish
Weight: 7 Pounds
MSRP: $696 USA; Street Price $419
Sabian

This close-up photo shows the lathing that is very close together and quite shallow. The irregular hammering pattern is typical of hand hammering. The bell is lathed but not hammered.

The spectrum of a single ping shows that the main body of the sound is between 200 Hz and 13 kHz, which then declines and levels off at 15 kHz to 50 kHz. There are peaks at 275 Hz and 1.6 kHz that give the ride its personality. The decay is mainly in the 4 kHz and above region. Notice that there is not a lot of energy in the frequencies from 200 Hz and below. This means the cymbal will deliver a wash with less force from the stick, because less is being used in frequencies that are not as important to the sound of the cymbal (and those low frequencies are less likely to be heard by an audience).

The Level vs. Time graph shows a moderate decay speed.

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 SABIAN 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.