Assuming he's going to play low-volume gigs, I think he might even go with smaller cymbals. With light sticks, even 16-17" crash is usable as crash/ride. Also, cheaper splashes often sound more like small crashes, so some 12" b8 splash could do, if it fitted in with others, of course.

By going a little heavier on 12" hats, you can get surprising stick definition and not a hint of trash------depending on the maker. I use a pair of new beat A's , quite a lot ---------bottom is quite heavy.

I got a bunch of Diril's in recently and one surprising cymbal was an 18" at around 1400gm. I targeted the weight as a crash but it turned out to be a very sweet small ride for mounting on a bass drum. It outperforms many not shabby 20's that I have used or own.

On crash cymbals----I would aim at 14's but again the maker and formulation is critical.

im going to go off the normal response a little here and tell u what i discovered this weekend at the drum show since i had a booth i had a lot of dead air time and started playing with the older cymbals that ive acquired over the years and the 20's through 40's brass was my experiment and early A's hats i actually sold a pair of 8 in. hats with a paper thin i mean paper thin top that sounded really great from the 20's and some of the other brass was very sweet sounding especially the high bell top 8 inch hats i have, the surprise was a 10 in ride that had almost no bell at all, it has a sword mark on it, it's really is one nice sounding cymbal i could not believe its real thick too and no over ring and a great warm ride. so what im saying here is maybe some small vintage brass would be great for that cocktail kit i'm just saying i was not the only one that heard these great vintage brass and the other thing is the old cymbal stands that mount to the bd's would be great for your application less to move around and smaller good luck hope this helps gary

I'm not sure exactly what hardware the kit came with, but it's typical for a cocktail kit to have one or two "z" shaped cymbal arms for both the crash/ride and a closed hihat. Sometimes the cymbals "stack" above each other on the same rod. All of that is generally mounted on the side of the cocktail by a floor tom leg mount. You have to be cogiscent of the size and weight of the cymbals you are putting on there. It's not uncommon to see two 10" splash cymbals used as hi hats and as small as a 14" or 16" crash used as a crash ride. Since the cymbals and other percussion instruments are directly attached to the side of the drum, you probably aren't going to have a lot of room for that amount and size of cymbals to be mounted on the drum that you are describing. It would probably work, but it would be a tight fit.

Typically cocktail drums are played while standing (though they certianly don't have to be), so there isn't usually more than the bass pedal for the right foot. The left foot is used for balance/standing.

Although a cocktail kit is similar to a normal drum kit, you have to remember that they are not the same. They look different and they will definetly sound different. Treat it like a totally different instrument and make it sound the best for what it is. Have fun!

By the way, get some pics of it when you are there!

Tan

He brought me a tama pedal which I reversed to hit upward. I had a slingy expresso kit. it looked real cool, but I didnt like the way it sounded so I sold it. I have regretted selling it, because it is very unique and looked so cool. It had 2 cymbal arms and came with a real hi hat. What this guy is wanting is least amount as possible. I have acouple of plashes but different sizes. I have a pair of 13" ZBT's. I have a real heavy 16" crash that might work for a ride and 2 orphan 14" hats that could work as a crash.

Been lurking here for a long time now.

I love my little cocktail kit.

These are the cymbals I use..

Cat bowl..dog bowl..cow bell.

[IMG]http://i170.photobucket.com/albums/u276/scrump_2007/catdog_o_zps895d668a.jpg[/IMG]

I'll wager that your pets ain't too happy when you go on tour..

Cheers

Laughing H

That's what I was thinking. I would use 12" hats, or 13" at the most, and a thin 16" or 17" crash/ride. And...I'm old school here...a cowbell! For a cocktail set I don't think he needs a separate crash. One less cymbal, one less stand, less to pack up and less to carry. The stand for the crash/ride could be a very light weight and compact Gibraltar or DW flat base stand.

Cool. Haven't seen one of these in a very long time. It looks like the top head is not fitted for snares unless I'm missing something.