Maybe you'll get lucky. Every once in a while, you'll find a set of Camber hats that can rival many of the great Zildjians. Cheap? Then it's worth a shot. I had a great set on my junker set, my friend's son liked them so much that he's taking them to Eastman School of Music next semester.

I will get them Thursday. I will post an update and may do a sound test via my youtube channel. Fingers crossed :)

Here is a sound demo along with a few other pairs of hi-hats I own. Pretty pleased with the Cambers :) [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoceCEfYoR8"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoceCEfYoR8[/ame]

Cool. Those Cambers sounded great, almost like Zildjian Mastersounds. Thought the first set sounded the best.

I agree...the Cambers' surprised me! Those AMIR hats do have a great sound....those first gen. amirs are surprising good sounding cymbals that are getting harder and harder to find.

I don`t know if it was your foot but the cambers seemed to get drowned out.

It could have been partly my playing...but they are definitely quieter than my other hats.

Hey ar,

I just picked up some of these for a very cheap price. I had some new Camber cymbals back in the late 80's when I was in high school (Camber II with the red logo) and I remember seeing ads in Modern Drummer for these. It was trying to be Camber's version of a Paiste Rude or a Zildjian Impulse.

I was struck by how non-heavy they were. My particular cymbals weigh 896 Top and 1000 bottom, not all that heavy for 14" hats. As a comparison, I recently picked up a pair of 13" New Beats from the 80's or early 90's (Block Ink Stamp) and the 13" New Beat Bottom weighs 1026, and that's a 13".

As far as the sound, I really dig them. Because they are brass, they are more subtle and have a lower maximum volume than bronze (true for all brass cymbals). I would describe them as a good, all-purpose set of hats that are a little darker and more subdued than most "medium-type" hats. You won't confuse them for K. Constantinoples, but they definitely have a good quality sound like a B20 cymbal and not brass. Another thing I find with most brass hi-hat cymbals (Like Sabian Powerbeats, Planet Z or some of the brass Paiste stuff) is that they have an annoying "schoomp" sound that slightly rises in pitch when played as a "chick" with the foot. It's hard to describe, but hopefully you know what I'm talking about. This is the only pair of brass hi-hats I have ever played that DON'T do that.

Finally, I remember seeing these Savages with three different labels. The ones in Modern Drummer I saw all those years ago had a dragon or pterodactyl next to the word mark (Photo 1), I've seen some that just simply say "Savage" (like yours in the video-Photo 2), and mine say "Savage" and has a demon or monster next to the word mark (Photo 3). Doing a Google Image Search, I also found a wolf (Photo 4) and a T-Rex looking logo (photo 5). I wonder how many variations there were?

EDIT: By examining the pictures more closely, I wonder if the pterodactyl was the ride, the T-Rex was the crash/ride, the wolf was the crash and the monster was the hi-hats? Also, All of the animals/monsters have "Made In Germany" in small font below "Camber", where as the label that just says "Savage" just has "Germany" more prominently underneath. Makes me think that the non-monster logo came later on and the monster logos were first. (By the way, was there a worse, or genuinely more terrifying or upsetting cymbal logo than these? They were right to scrap them). Also, we could assume they had to have been introduced no earlier than 1990, because the Berlin Wall officially came down on November 9, 1989. Prior to that, the Cambers would have said "Made in West Germany", right? Well, not exactly. I know that I had my Camber II's before 1989, and although I don't recall exactly, every Google Image search I have done for Camber II's all say "Made In Germany". I wonder if it was just assumed West Germany if they were exporting them to North America?

I wonder when they were discontinued? I'm curious to hear what the ride sounds like. I've been on the lookout for one for a while. A cool find for sure. I think both ar and myself (and a few others as well) subscribe to the theory of the sound of the cymbal matters, not the name. I judge cymbals with my ears, even though your eyes usually want to do the judging!

With regards to ears vs. eyes judging, I picked up an early/mid 60’s 20” with center hole and edge cracks that sounds great. I may drill the cracks to stop them but I’m concerned I may “ruin” it.

It has that edge “wobble” going on like my 17” EAK and mid-50’s block stamp 22” ride. Needless to say, it pairs well with those cymbals.

I am an admitted Zildjian snob, but I’ll take a great sounding cracked cymbal over a **** sounding ancient K all day long. And keep the major cost disparity for the next dozen cracked cymbals.