That is not a bad sounding cymbal.

OK. OK. I did it. The Kerope just came out this week. I went to my local Sam Ash store and they had the entire set. The 22", 20", 19", 18", 15" hats and 14" inches. I ended up buying some for my son for his upcoming birthday. I got him the 22", the 20" and the pair of 15" hats. You heard Drumaholics sound clip. What else can I say? They all sound fabulous, including the hats. I got them all for around the cost of a single good vintage 20" Istanbul K. They all have weights marked under their bells. The 20" is 2034g. The 22" is 2386g. The 22" is lighter than the prototype Drumaholic pictured which was 2530g. They come pre-aged with a bit of a patina and without all the stenciling of the prototype above. A label with the bag cautions owners not to use cymbal cleaners of even water since the patina is integral to the sound. All that's on top, besides the stamp, is a fairly small stenciled K in a new font with "Kerope" underneath in in small letters. Very tasteful. The bell is shaped, and sounds, like an old K bell. There is a bit of odd hammering on all the bells that in the right light looks a little like a four bladed propeller with the hole at the center, but its very subtle and not at all objectionable. All in all we're psyched. Dan played them several hours over the past two days, and he'll be using them for the first time in a jazz gig tomorrow night. We culled out about dozen of our little used A's, K's and Bosphorus rides for sale. He's a player, not a collector, and so we'll be offering them here shortly before they go on eBay. Apparently Zildjian is still capable of making great cymbals!

BTW,the K font was previously used on Canadian K's.

Here is the pic:

[IMG]http://www.rarevintagecymbals.com/images/cymbals/1070_btm_big.jpg[/IMG]

You are correct, that is the font. However on the Kerope the K is a fraction of the size on your example and "Kerope" is much smaller than the K, and both are not "in you face" at all. I believe they were going for the look of an old K in every respect and wanted the result to be "clean" and vintage looking, which it is. I'll try to post some photos as soon as I get a chance, perhaps yoday.

Interesting thought. New Trans stamps. Now that would be nice. I would be surprised if it happened though.

Some things just aren't possible to resurrect. But as long as the originals are still available, we're alright.

As promised, here are some shots of the 22". Click on them to see them in larger sizes on Flickr. To recap, we got the 22", the 20", and the 15" hats. Of the three, the 20" is the best, in my and my son's opinion. I have a pretty good 20" New Stamp that cost over 3 times as much but by comparison its brighter, has less woody sounding sticking and a brighter, and more metallic sounding bell. Its simply not as good as this Kerope. In short, the 20" Kerope sounds more like a good old K than my 20" old K does! This is the woodiest cymbal I've ever owned. The wash under the sticking is perfect. Every stick I tried, including the VF AJ6's, the Zildjian John, Riley's and the VF 5A's, among others, all sounded incredible and resulted in wonderfully articulate sticking with no hint of hardness or metallic ringing. The cymbals have a beautifully buttery feel. They are sensitive to the stands they are played on. I used both the 20" and the 22" on DW stands with the boom extended and the boom rod, although tight, vibrated in sympathy and added an audible pingy harshness to the sticking while riding the cymbals. The effect was particularity annoying on the 22". Putting both cymbals on straight stands eliminated the problem. My hat is off to Zildjian. I never would have believed they could or would make a cymbal as good as this.

The first shot of the Kerope 22" was taken in "normal" room lighting so you can see the pre-aged patina. If you click and go to Flickr, you can see a hint of the "propeller" effect I referred to in an earlier post. The marking at 10 o'clock almost looks like a crease in the metal, but it isn't. This same bell hammering can be seen on the 20" the 15" hats and the rest of the line which we saw in two stores, so its definitely a standard feature of the line and not specific to a particular cymbal. The bells are not bright or metallic and have that sort of clunky old K bell sound which I personally love. I don't know if this strange bell hammering was present on the prototype.

[img]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7318/13990934276_6eabe34743.jpg[/img]IMG_6331 by mwsilver, on Flickr

In this shot you can the "propeller" effect more prominently. Close up under different lighting it's easier to see. I referred to this in post #12. This photo was taken under bright lighting.

[img]https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2899/14010845262_855c9ce41d.jpg[/img]IMG_6314 by mwsilver, on Flickr

[img]https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2921/14010860021_ef66374405.jpg[/img]IMG_6322 by mwsilver, on Flickr

[img]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5025/14010848192_390b3d7f28.jpg[/img]IMG_6316 by mwsilver, on Flickr

Based on this video I'd select the 18/19/20".

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7ImFlNnLNc&feature=player_detailpage"]Product Close-Up: Zildjian Kerope Series Rides (From the May 2014 Issue) - YouTube[/ame]

I'm thinking of also getting the 18 or 19 to have an 18/19. 20, 22 combo.

Couldn't agree more, the Keropes are amazing cymbals! I'm happy to help anyone get 1 or some, with a VDF discount :)

-Kevin