bellson came up with the concept a little earlier. ive read 63 ish. I think they started marketing them and selling as a pair in 68.mike
Yes. 1963 and Bellson, according to the timeline in the Zildjian site. And yes they started out having the New Beat name referred to just the bottom which was like a special order heavy bottom to go with a medium top. Later the New Beat name became the pair marketed as such. Although to this day Zildjian still sell single tops or bottoms for hats. This info came to Magnus in an email from Zildjian when he asked about the early ones. I don't know how quickly things moved from the name "New Beat" being referring to just the bottom vs referring to the pair, although I know how the ink changed. Somebody with catalogs from back in the mid through late 60s/early 70s might shed some light on that.
@ Black Label: if they weigh about the same then they aren't New Beats. New Beats are a pairing of a medium top over a heavy bottom. The target weight ratio is about 2:3 so an 800g top would have 1200g bottom. The weight ratio isn't exact. For example, I have an early 14" pair (judged by the specific ink on the bottom) and they are 975g over 1300g. If both hats are a similar weight and light to medium then they are just...hats.
If it matters to you, the pressed in die stamps can distinguish between late 50s, 60s, and 70s. I wrote this up yesterday or the day before so. See:
http://www.vintagedrumforum.com/showpost.php?p=298299&postcount=5
We get a question along these lines quite frequently. Drumaholic is the expert but he leaves us novices to answer the easy questions while he does deeper research. If we mess up, then he steps in.