I'm a bit of a newbie around here, but my advise is this:

Buy the best cymbals you can afford. As has been mentioned around here before, inexpensive drums can be tweaked and tuned to sound decent fairly easily. But, crappy cymbals are always going to sound crappy. And, they are hard to unload without losing your shirt when you are ready to upgrade.

Also, don't buy retail. Take a look at craigslist in your area, there are always lots of cymbals for sale, usualy at a fraction of retail prices. You can also check out what those B8's go for on the resale market...;)

Me? I'd be looking for older Zildjian A's. The older the better, but even with the modern versions you can't really go to far wrong with these. 80's and 90's A's usualy go for pretty short cash on c-list, at least in my area. 60's and 70's A's go for a bit more, but you'd be surprised.

Only by cymbals that you like the sound of, play em before you buy em.

Good luck,

-Jon

There is a thread in the for sale section by Mountainhick. He said he was going on vacation then he would repost it but he had a ton of used cymbals for sale in that thread. You may want to look at some of those and at least see what kind of prices and stuff to get reacquainted. Just a thought.

toodles

drumhack Sumo DudeEye BallCar Driving2D' DrummerStorm Trooper

I would check out Craigslist.

If you can use trashy sounding cymbals, to my ears Wuhan are very musical but for sure not for all types of music. If you can use them they are a bargain.

I wouldn't be scared of cymbals with cracks as that's an opportunity to get something you couldn't normally afford and many of my favorite cymbals have cracks. Just make sure they aren't totaled.

You could even buy a batch of cymbals on Craigslist and keep the ones you want and sell the rest and come out ahead.

jbones1 is right on the money. Buying new entry-level cymbals like B8's is like flushing money down the toilet. You'll have shiny new cymbals, but they won't sound very good and have almost zero resale value when you're ready for an upgrade. (And that shouldn't take long once you hear them!)

Quality used cymbals tend to be a much better value. You can get some great used cymbals in the same price range as new beginner cymbals. Not only do you get much better cymbals for the same dough, but they hold their value in case you ever want to resell them.

You'll find plenty of used cymbals in the "For Sale" sections of drum forums like this one, often for great prices and from forum regulars I'd be more inclined to trust. (You know these guys don't abuse their gear and they're not likely to scr** you since they'll still be hanging out here.) Drumhack mentioned mountainhick's cymbal sale... I bought some of those cymbals. Spent less than what a B8 starter pack would cost and came away with a pretty d*** good set of cymbals to outfit a kit. Once he's back from vacation, it wouldn't hurt to check in and see what he's got left. There's also a heck of a deal in our "For Sale" forum right now: A. Zildjian hats, crash, & ride for $200. (If I didn't just buy cymbals myself, I would've been all over that!)

Not that much to add to what's already been said except to agree whole heartedly, do not buy the pack, take your time on cymbals.

A few years back I bought a new(used) kit and really wanted to have an entire set of cymbals fast, I thought about one of those cymbal packs, the retailer was pushing. I'm so glad I waited.

While I was pondering, an old timer who was listening to the sales pitch gave me some advice, he said search for as long as it takes for the perfect cymbal, then add another which sounds good with the first, and so on until you have a complete set, he said you may go through drum sets, or buy several, but you can use the same cymbals with each kit forever.

I'm really happy with my cymbals, and I bought all but 1 used, by the way, I now have over 50 cymbals, and usually paid less than 25% of retail or less.

I live near a major retailer and usually watch for people bringing in trades, I then tell them if I like the cymbal that I'll give them more than they'll get in trade, I bought a set of 13" New Beats for 60 bucks. That's just an example.

I'm going to take the advice and seek and search for cymbals I like the sound and price of...

I'm a simple man, I only need a ride, maybe two crashes and a set of hats...

should be easy enough.

x-mas2

Good plan................