Those are air-holes as used for hi-hats which some drummers believe eliminates "airlock".

Let's see the trademark on the dirty one.

this is the only pic I have access to. They are for sale and I'm trying to see if they are something I would like to buy

Appears to be B8 IMHO. Lathing looks similar to Sabians.

That's not all a bad thing I must say.

My od 15" field cymbals I used as hats for awhile locked up all the time because the underside was polished smooth from crashing on the field.

I drilled two 1/4" holes in the bell in the "bottom" cymbal and that was enough to keep them from sticking together. It doesn't take much of a hole to let the air in.

Thanks for the info!

So the left one is most likely a vintage zildjian correct? I have already bought them and should get them this coming week.

This picture sucks, but it is a 15" Zildjian Quick Beat bottom. Can't tell if yours is the same... are those factory holes or did somebody drill them. This one is close in color to your picture. I stepped outside to take the shot and it is overcast and about to rain... so the picture is dark.

I had an odd ball 60s crash or hat top and I picked this up for $45. Gotta say I like it. My favorite hats have been put aside for a couple months now and I'm still using these.

Hope you are getting a winner, too! Please share when yours show up.

Maybe Zen or somebody knows the Quick Beat history? I think I read late 70s to early 90s... ???

That time frame sounds about right to me.

I always thought they were cool with the holes but I ended up with new beats, although I play those upside down.

My current favorite are a nasty looking used set of k custom dark 13's. They just have such a great sound and the feel is very soft like a really old set of hats. They re-inspired me to look at Zildjian again after a decade or so hiatus due to the proliferation of duds coming out of the factory.

I added a k custom dark 20" ride, 18" crash and a 18" k custom session crash. I found a 17" EAK dark crash (for a steal) that I absolutely love. Now I "get" the whole EAK thing. But really it comes down to the particular cymbal. I do look out for a distinct edge wobble now. That 17 has it and my mid 50's block stamp 22" ride has it. There really is something to that. I bought a cracked 20" that has the wobble. It sounds great in spite of several cracks.

Ok rambling here. Sorry about that!

thanks for the info guys! I will definitely post pics and how they sound when they come in

Not a factory Quick Beat bottom Tris. Quick Beat bottoms have no bell and the 4 holes are 1/2" in diameter which is the same diameter as the mounting hole. Your cymbal has a bell and the holes look smaller than the mounting hole.

[img]https://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTc2WDEwMjQ=/z/CAwAAOSweuxWRGsL/$_86.JPG[/img]

Apologies for the picture quality, but I'm travelling and can't do anthing else at the moment.

The picture which started this thread off is also not a Quick Beat bottom for the same two reasons. Once they arrive and we get good quality images we might be able to shed light on the question of whether either of them is a Zildjian cymbal.

As to production years, if you have ink you can use my work on New Beat ink changes to get the aproximate production era of Quick Beats: http://black.net.nz/avedis/new-beats.html#NBtop

They came along in the later half of the 1970s (1977) as far as I have pinned it down:

http://black.net.nz/avedis/avedis-by-years.html