I recently paired a 14" K. Custom top/14" A.Mastersound bottom.DRY & LOUD

I watch shows on Palladia channel and the other night the drummer for the Killers had what looked to be about a set of 17" or 18" hats. They sounded good though and he sort of used the hats like a crash cymbal a good bit too. Must be a heck of a stand to handle those things!

One of my favourite pairs is an 8" Paiste Accent and an 8" Visions splash. Nice, tight chick and a cool splash sound. They are also surprisingly loud.

On a side note: isn't it funny that the Accent was not a 2K2, but as soon as they labelled it a 2K2, the price went up. Mind, the largest one is like $30 at Banjo Center, but still- they are quite a bit more expensive than they used to be. Yes, there used to be coloured Accents. We can thank Bruford for the Accent...

I am surprised that bigger hats haven't become the order of the day once again. I have to say that I like 'em smaller and smaller. But I'd love to try a set of 16's just once...

Again- the factory doesn't always know best what pairs to put together...

My "mixology" stories:

I too have a 13" K/Z from the 80's. I always liked the fact that Sabian had AA Fusion Hats/ AAX Fusion Hats etc. which were the same Leopard bottom, with different tops. So, I purchased a set of 13" A. Zildjian Quick Beats around '91 and just for kicks, paired the Quick Beat top with Z bottom. And hated it! However, I paired the K top with the Quick Beat bottom. Beautiful! Gorgeous! These were my go to hats for many years. Also, in 1996, Zildjian offered them in their catalouge as a standard item for one year only. I never got my royalties from Zildjian for discovering that combo!

My second story is from 2005. Musician's Friend was selling 12" Wuhan splashes (the old-non brilliant ones) at the blowout price of $9.99. I have a 12" Wuhan splash from that era, and it is one of the best sounding splashes I have ever heard. I also know that those Wuhans were VERY inconsistent, and out of a stack of 10, you might find one that is great, 2 that are ok and 7 that are garbage. So, I ordered 10 of them, with the intention of cherry picking the best ones, and returning the others.

I didn't find one of the 10 that I liked as a splash, and a few of them were God-awful. Two of them sounded so clangy, that they almost sounded like hi-hats. DING! The light bulb over my head went off and I tried them out as hats. They are beautiful! Light, crisp and dark. Horrible splashes, but wonderful hats. I use them on a lot of jazz gigs. $20 for one of my favorite sets of hats is a good deal!

My vintage 14" New Beats basically work for everything that comes my way these days, but prior to them I used a mixed combo and it was great. I still play em' when the situation arises that they would work better than the NB's. They are a 13" set made up of a K on top in brilliant finish and an Avedis Mastersound on the bottom. They are very articulate and dry with a great chick sound for keeping time with your left foot. I spent almost 3 hours at Guitar Center with a sales person who never heard of mixing hats and loved the idea he was willing to really go the extra mile when I was there and we tested way too many hats in different sizes, brands, and across all types and these were what we settled on. Until I heard my first set of vintage New Beats and that was that...

If there was a hi hat I like better than Paiste, it would be a '70s set of New Beats, for sure! But I love my 2K2 Wild top/alpha Joey Jordison bottom set.

I have a pair of New Sig Mark II's that I wouldn't ever try to match with anything...it's the best 14's I've ever owned. I also have a pair of 13" dark crisp that have been looking for a little thicker top just for giggles. The 13's have the classic Jeff Pocaro Studio "Rosanna" sound I've looked for years to find, but aren't right for everything. Due to the fact that I'm trying to go with a smaller setup, I've been in the search of a bit heavier top or a SE bottom so I can flip the bottom of the DC's to the top. Bottom line, if it sounds good DO IT. Last time I checked there weren't any rules set up by the Internet Police to stop you...even in theory. I do try not to mix alloys though, if it's Paiste sig Alloy I don't mix it with the B8 (or 2002), just my opinion.

I have two sets of 'hats that I use.

1) 15" A field cymbals (center grommets and everything) I got for next to nothing at a yard sale. (I had to drill two 1/4 inch holes in the bell of the bottom because they would suck the bottom cymbal off the stand due to wear)

2) 14" A new beats (80's vintage) I bought new, and since day one, have played "upside down" with the bottom on top. Better stick definition and bounce with the same chick. I also crash on my hi hat occasionally (this is the best way to get your engineer to crap his pants in the booth by the way) and in spite of the weight of this bottom cymbal, it crashes this way reasonably well.

I am keen to find the next big thing. I am thinking a 13" paper thin crash and 13" new beat top for a thin set, and try it with both cymbals on top. It stands to reason to have the lighter cymbal on top, but you may be surprised how good "wrong" can sound.

The other idea I want to try is different diameter cymbals. A 15" thin crash on top and a 14" medium crash on the bottom. When the 'hat is open, you have a straight-up 'crash' cymbal you didn't have when you were riding that hat. Since I crash the hat once in a while, it seems like a logical fit for me.