Zildjian 18″ K Medium Thin Dark Crash Cymbal

The “K” line of Zildjian cymbals have a characteristic “dark” sound, meaning there is quite a strong low frequency component. There is also a K Custom line which is stated to retain some of the original K sound, but with the addition of modern hammering techniques that “enhance the K character.” The Zildjian 18″ K Medium Thin Dark Crash Cymbal is reviewed here. It has mostly large hammer marks rather than the typical “K” hammer marks.

The sound is bright, but with dark undertones, and it has a very fast response. It sounds quite different than the K Custom Dark Crash. It rides nicely, and the bell is very musical.

The close-up photo shows the large hammer marks. Standard “K” hammer marks are not evident, and the bell is not hammered at all. The lathing is very fine across the entire cymbal.

Spectral analysis peaks occur at 100 Hz, 150 Hz, 180 Hz, and then several between 350 Hz and 480 Hz. These frequencies give the cymbal its “Dark” character. The response declines, and then rises again to have peaks near 1 kHz, followed by numerous peaks between 3 kHz and 8 kHz before declining to 45 kHz.

The attack is almost instantaneous, with the peak response at 0.02 seconds, followed by a slow decay (meaning it has a long sustain).

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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