Ok, so these have been out for a little while now, but hey, better late than never…!
15” hi hats
The Sweet hi hats have a thin top cymbal with an extra heavy bottom and un-lathed bells. This provides a dark sound and a nice solid chick.
I remember very early on in my playing career going to a rehearsal and then finding out I’d left my hi hats at home. Lucky, the studio had a set they could lend me – a pair of 15” Quick Beats. I hated them – it wasn’t so much the sound but the feel…they were huge and like nothing I’d played before.
Fast forward some 25 years and the 15” Sweet Hihats couldn’t feel any further from my first experience with some 15”s. Soft, warm and comfortable is how I would describe my experience with these. They have the type of sound that blends nicely into a track; present but not domineering. I genuinely enjoyed them, and from memory, they were just as nice to play as the 16” version I tried earlier in the year.
https://zildjian.com/cymbals/k-family/k-zildjian/15-k-sweet-hihats-pair
17 & 18” crashes
These crashes have ‘K’ style lathing, are extra thin in weight and have unlathed bells, all of which together provide a quick, dark sound.
To play, they are a bit lighter in touch and, as noted, very fast, but at the same time they provide a really nice full sound with an even build up. They would probably be ideal for lighter music up to more moderate volumes.
These are available in 16 to 20” sizes.
https://zildjian.com/cymbals/k-family/k-zildjian/17-k-sweet-crash
21” ride
The Sweet Ride is medium thin in weight and is fully lathed. It has a clear bell sound with a clean stick definition which Zildjian says is good for all genres of music.
The bow sound is indeed clean and has – just like the crashes – a good even spread and build up. The bell is clear but at the same time isn’t overly pronounced.
For me, this is a good mid-range, general purpose ride cymbal. It’ll probably do most things aside from ‘loud’ and is light and thin enough to provide a good full crash sound as well.
https://zildjian.com/cymbals/k-family/k-zildjian/21-k-sweet-ride
As you’ll probably have guessed by now, these are darker sounding and lighter weight cymbals, but that shouldn’t limit their potential use. Personally, I really liked them and while I couldn’t use them all of the time, these are exactly the type of thing I’d look to have in my bag where possible.
More overall info at https://zildjian.com/campaign/k-sweet-collection
David Bateman
June 2019
