I should start with a short info about my concept, set and playing. Well my main (and only) set is miniature 4 peace; 16" bass, 12" snare, 8 and 12" toms, set. I was into that idea because of the small night clubs and piano bars in my country - Bulgaria. In such setting I would definitely go for a small set I can put trough the PA. Bigger drum sizes, bigger cymbals will sound more or less acoustically which in most cases is not pleasant for the human ear. Unfortunately Zildjian produced not that many small sized cymbals I can experiment with. Until that moment! The only small hi hat they produced was the 12" A Special Recording hi hat. Really tight and warm sound, but "thin" a little bit, especially when it's played a bit open and in the end "splashy" sound is not what we are looking for from a hi hat. That particular hi hat was designed to be played closed. Although Denis Chambers use the Special Recording hi hat in his firs instructional video "In the pocket". For a ride I used 18" K crash-ride. Great bell but it has a body of a crash cymbal. That's why I trade it for a really old 18" K Custom brilliant ride - too harsh for such a small drum set, loud, aggressive, hitting it with 7A drumsticks was like hitting concrete - totally unpleasant feeling. Sanded down the brilliant finish, then sand blasted the top first, then the bottom of the cymbal - nothing changed, just "ping" and no "music". I'm into thinner ride cymbals I can lay in to it while I'm playing, it feels like the ride accept the energy from the drumstick and it spreads it trough cymbal's body. So my hi hat and my ride cymbal were not the "ones". My crash was an old 14" K Dark crash thin brilliant - a lot of metal, harshness, unpleasant overtones, project too well next to the really quiet hi hat. In the end my cymbals didn't blend well together. That's why I decided to try the City Pack. Keep in mind that all the reviews on Youtube were made from people who don't play on such small sizes. Most of them use thicker drumsticks. Zildjian did great job on that kit. The Uptown ride is all around cymbal - it's on the medium thinner side, but really easy controlled, good stick definition, you can lay in to it, nice crashability and perfect bell - which (according to the videos) I tough is small wondering If I'd be able to hit it or not, but the size of the bell is ok. The 12" New Beat hi hat...is just normal, perfect balanced hi hat. The 14" Fast crash blends really well with the ride and the hi hat. I didn't expect to be that thick - probably medium, or the "new" thin; the cymbals from the 90's were quite thinner than the cymbals now days. But it's really fast, some splashiness in it too. Which is a great contrast to the Uptown ride crashability. Both of them fit really good together. In the end I'll say that Zildjian got me again ;) And I'm really glad for their decision to start producing those sizes. I actually never though that my idea for 12" hi hat, 18" ride and 14" crash will be ever made as a set. It worked fine to me and I hope it'll work fine to you too. Thanks to Thomann's great service :)
