A mix of K’s and A’s for rock

[mfry2112]

Along with an 18 inch oriental China trash
What would you use?

 

[DWSlingerland45]

K 22" Heavy ride
A 19" med thin crash
A Custom 18" crash
K Custom Dark crash 18"
A new beat hats or K dark hats 15"

 

[Houndog]

I somehow have all Ks on my Rock kit now except for my hi hats and China ……
Not sure where Crash Of Doom fits as far as A or K ??

 

[mfry2112]

I was thinking this
20 A custom ping
16&18 K custom dark crashes
20 inch A thin crash
14 inch new beats
plus the china and some a custom splashes

 

[hsosdrum]

My (permanent) cymbal setup is indeed a mix of K's and A's:

K's:
22" K Ride
22" K-Con Bounce
17" K China Boy
15" K Sweet Hats

A's:
22" A Swish Knocker
Two 18" A Med-Thin Crashes
18" A Thin Crash
17" A Thin Crash
16" A Thin Crash
12" A Splash

 

[AtlantaDrumGuy]

No rules, and I’ve used a K light ride, a K Heavy ride, or a K Dark Medium and A new beats. Typically I use various K crashes, but I do have an Armand thin. The assortment of K crashes remain my favorite for any situation. I’ve also used a few different vintage A rides with K crashes.

 

[varatrodder]

Building out a versatile dream set of A’s and K’s for a straight ahead rock gig…

22” K ride (the regular one)
Or 22” K Dark Medium ride (Weezer’s drummer uses one)
Or 22” K Custom Medium ride (this thing is killer)
15” A Avedis hats
Or 15” K light hats top over New Beat bottom
18” K medium thin crash
18” A thin crash
20” crash of doom
22” swish knocker

 

[type85]

"Rock" means you need cymbals with a strong midrange, hi end and overall higher volume, "dark" thin cymbals will just sound hashy/white noise-ish because the low frequencies the cymbal produces will NOT cut through the guitars!
You need a large med/heavy to heavy ride: strong ping and bell, overall large size keep fundamental pitch low so wash is separated quite a bit from the ping also, the large size and weight means the ride will not "wash out" during hard accents across the bow of the cymbal.

Conventional finish, no brillant, platinum, custom etc!

14" A. rock hi hats
17" A. Med. crash
18" A. Med. crash
19" A. Med. crash
22" or 24" Ping ride
19" K china

 

[Whitten]

I used K's on very loud rock gigs for years. I'm not a huge fan of the A line in general.
Use whatever you enjoy using, but yes, K's are perfectly capable of being played in a loud rock scenario.

 

[mfry2112]

Type85, I’m not buying your response.

 

[type85]

Type85, I’m not buying your response.

It's free, so you didn't pay for it!

 

[DBT]

"Rock" means you need cymbals with a strong midrange, hi end and overall higher volume, "dark" thin cymbals will just sound hashy/white noise-ish because the low frequencies the cymbal produces will NOT cut through the guitars!
You need a large med/heavy to heavy ride: strong ping and bell, overall large size keep fundamental pitch low so wash is separated quite a bit from the ping also, the large size and weight means the ride will not "wash out" during hard accents across the bow of the cymbal.

Conventional finish, no brillant, platinum, custom etc!

14" A. rock hi hats
17" A. Med. crash
18" A. Med. crash
19" A. Med. crash
22" or 24" Ping ride
19" K china

17” Dark K’s fit right in between 16” and 18” A’s nicely .

 

[blueshadow]

I think any of the K series would be fine for rock, getting into K customs they seem to sit lower in the mix and might not be as good for rock. Really depends on the venues though. When I was in a rock band about ten years ago we were playing same small stages as the country bands so I just used my K's. I did also have some 18" A crashes at the time that I used but they were older and similar in sound to my newer K's

 

[Whitten]

Roger Taylor was using EAKs for huge stadium shows with Queen in the mid-80's.

 

[bpaluzzi]

I think any of the K series would be fine for rock, getting into K customs they seem to sit lower in the mix and might not be as good for rock. Really depends on the venues though. When I was in a rock band about ten years ago we were playing same small stages as the country bands so I just used my K's. I did also have some 18" A crashes at the time that I used but they were older and similar in sound to my newer K's

Depends on the model. The original K Customs were significantly louder / heavier than the Ks of the time. The plain "K Custom" ride, for example, is a KILLER rock ride.

FWIW, my arena setup was a set of 15" K hats, an 18" K Dark Thin Crash, a 24" K Light (or a 22" A Custom Smitty prototype if I needed a bit less spread in a specific room), and a 22" A Swish Knocker. No issues with being heard.

 

[blueshadow]

Depends on the model. The original K Customs were significantly louder / heavier than the Ks of the time. The plain "K Custom" ride, for example, is a KILLER rock ride.

FWIW, my arena setup was a set of 15" K hats, an 18" K Dark Thin Crash, a 24" K Light (or a 22" A Custom Smitty prototype if I needed a bit less spread in a specific room), and a 22" A Swish Knocker. No issues with being heard.

Yeaaaahhhh....I forgot about those. Was thinking mostly the K custom Dark crashes, Hybrids and Dark Rides all are somewhat on the lighter side. Don't know why I forgot when I was just looking at a 16" K custom last night on ebay. The original that just says "Custom" not ride not crash etc....good price too at $170

 

[bpaluzzi]

Yeaaaahhhh....I forgot about those. Was thinking mostly the K custom Dark crashes, Hybrids and Dark Rides all are somewhat on the lighter side. Don't know why I forgot when I was just looking at a 16" K custom last night on ebay. The original that just says "Custom" not ride not crash etc....good price too at $170

Yup, they've moved a lot of their "Meinl-competing" lines into the K Custom umbrella, but it's always seemed like a weird fit. Seems like at some point they should just combine the "K" and "K Custom" lines (especially since they also have the K Constantinople and Kerope series playing in that same sandbox.

 

[varatrodder]

I used K's on very loud rock gigs for years. I'm not a huge fan of the A line in general.
Use whatever you enjoy using, but yes, K's are perfectly capable of being played in a loud rock scenario.

I used an 18" K medium thin crash for a number of years in some pretty loud bands, and it worked perfectly. Plenty of volume and cut, but not harsh on the ears.

 

[mfry2112]

By the way, I’m not asking permission here lol. I’m asking that if you were putting a set together of A and K cymbals for rock music what would you use.

 

[Whitten]

All Ks, because to me they are loud enough and sound better than As.