Zildjian 18″ A. Zildjian & CIE Vintage Crash Cymbal

Nostalgia is something that we all feel now and then, including drummers. Zildjian recently released several models that reflect their cymbals of decades past. This one is an 18″ A. Zildjian & CIE Vintage Crash. It has less of a copper color than some of the more modern cymbals, and the sound does remind me of my college drumming days in the 1960’s. I don’t think Zildjian plans to keep making these for very long, so if you like vintage sound, get one while they last, because they sound great. We also reviewed another limited release, the Zildjian 18″ K Custom Session Crash, designed in conjunction with Steve Gadd.

The cymbal has medium depth lathing, including the bell.The hammer marks are large and cover the entire cymbal.

The sound is bright and fast. Riding the cymbal produces a ping that is about the same loudness as the wash, but the bell ride is very distinct.

There are spectral peaks at 140 Hz, 200 Hz, 320 Hz, 1.5 kHz, 2.6 kHz, and then a steady stream from 3 kHz to 8 kHz, from which it declines to 50 kHz.

The peak of the crash occurs at 0.12 seconds, followed by a moderately fast 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).

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

RETURN TO ZILDJIAN INDEX.