A Paiste line up

[Luddite]

I bought a Giant Beat 15/18/18 thin/20/24 set at Drum Center of Portsmouth and absolutely love them. They are definitely the warmest cymbals that I have ever owned, smooth and glassy. They make my Zildjian A’s and Sabian AA’s sound harsh in comparison. I took them to a couple of outings with my jam band, and I used my normal setup of mixed A’s and AA’s after that. One of the guitarists asked, “Why didn’t you bring the Paiste’s?” The bass player chimed in and said, “Yeah, they have a softer sound, I really liked them.”
I love 2002’s too, played them through the 80’s and into the early 90’s. I a/b’d the Giant Beats, Big Beats, 2002’s and Meinl Pure’s while at DCP (kudos to the staff there for their patience!) and the Giant Beats were really what I was looking for. I might order a 20” thin eventually, the 18 thin is absolutely killer.

 

[GMFrancis]

I'm listening to as many videos as I can - I am not going to be able to try these out as none of the shops near me carry the stock

Try the Paiste website player videos with good quality headphones. That will at least give you some idea of the differences between the ranges. The great or not so great thing ( depending on your opinion) is the consistency of Paiste. The way they are made makes for very small differences in the sound. I’m not saying all 20” 2002 crashes sound the same but the variations in them are much smaller compared to other brands. I remember a friend who had a drum store got an 18” Zildjian crash out ( which he’d kept for himself ) and let me play it. It was absolutely magnificent, breathtaking , still one of the best cymbals I’ve ever heard. He also had 2 other Z 18”s in stock that were not a patch on his.
Thats when I started to go down the Paiste route!