Sabian B8 hats are great. Make me change my mind.

[drumsforme]

I do! I think that if I bought a brand new pair of B8 hats today, I probably wouldn't like them. The fact that they've been through the ringer and back have definitely tamed them to a point where they sit so beautifully in the mix.

About 15 years ago or so, I used to go weekly to an open Jam at a place called Kevro's .....The jam had been going for about 10 years prior- They had a house kit with cymbals- an old beat to death MIJ kit with a 20" Sabian B8 ride, an 18" crash and 14" hats, The cymbals were filthy and VERY well abused for over a decade and the 18" and the hats sounded well beyond what you would expect. Funny how cheap cymbals get affected that way

 

[p83]

i had a set of 14'' B8's that pretty much sounded like a set of newbeats. played them for years...........

...........but the crashes are manhole covers, and the rides are one trick ponies.

 

[Toast Tee]

If that's how you feel, and you've had success with them, nobody can change your mind, and if they're working for you, why change?
They were the 1st set of hats I've ever owned, and I hated them. I've heard B8's sound incredible, along with a Swingstar kit. The drummer playing them was incredible though.

 

[Pibroch]

Love my Sabian 12" VFX hats - versatile for loud hats with a unique and delightful sound, as you probably know.

(Being B8 Sabian won't make them in their custom shop so I'd be distraught if I ever lost them. My drum teacher also has a pair which he never gigs with for the same reason.)

 

[Lamontsdad]

I have found hidden gems in low end offerings. Sometimes, it’s in a pile of them, other times the manufacturer didn’t mean to make them as nice as they turned out to be.

 

[Stickclick]

We have Sabian B8's on our practice drum kit (Yamaha Stage Custom). I always enjoy playing that kit. B8's work well for the classic rock music that we play.

 

[TonyVazquez]

I own at least ten pair of hi-hats, from just about every major cymbal company...
Zildjian A Quick Beat, Sabian Manhattan, Paiste Signature Light hats, Sabian AA Medium, Paiste Dimensions, plus a few sets of hats from Soultone and Istanbul. I’m probably forgetting some other brands here.

BUT...The one pair I’ve used the most for rock drumming, on many sessions, including some recordings that have appeared in the soundtrack of a major video game (probably sold millions of copies?), on mega commercial radio in cities like LA, and on some large network TV shows, is my pair of Sabian B8 hats that I bought used for something like $50 when I needed some hats in a pinch while I was on tour in 2001. (I had accidentally left my Paiste Dimensions hats at home, so the other drummer at my first gig sold me these.)

It’s not supposed to be that way. My vastly more expensive hats should be getting heard in these high profile places. But they sit in my cymbal cases, languishing in the dark, while the B8 gets all the glory. These B8s are not pretty, they’ve been treated roughly, their sheen is gone, a million stick marks, looks like the hats you’d get with a beat up kit in an hourly rehearsal room. But they just work so well for what I do.

Do any of you use really, really, really entry level gear for very high profile sessions or gigs?

As far as Entry-level gear goes, my entire drum kit is entry-level...

My Tama Rockstar DX 16" kick, 14" floor tom, and two rack toms (12", and 10")
is a kit that I pieced together with shells and hardware from that same model line;
it originated from a typical 5-piece kit that had a 22" kick drum, but I ditched the 22" in favor of converting my 16" floor tom into a kick drum.

Next, my cymbals... all Zildjian ZBT cymbals, and a Sabian B8 16" china,
and a toy Mars Music 10" "crash" cymbal that I use as a splash.
My hi-hats are also ZBT's, both are bottom cymbals... thicker chick with a brighter attack. I then use the 14" top ZBT hi-hat cymbal as a crash.
My 20" ZBT crash. And then my 18" crash-ride cymbal.
My cymbal setup gives me good volume and they cut through the mix during a live show, as well as in the studio.
They're heard on all three of my recent CD albums with my band.

Next up is my snare... Up to now I've been using my bassist's snare drum. It's a 14" steel shell CB snare drum. It's loud, and cuts like a knife through everything.
Yesterday MY own new snare arrived via Facebook Marketplace... it's a wood-shell Sound Percussion 13"×5" snare that has 8 lugs, perfect for a nice "311" sound, lol.
I'll put new heads on it and it will sound fierce!

Next up, my hardware. I put aside all of my traditional cymbal stands so that I could build my own custom drum rack using pipe and clamp hardware from a Gibraltar drum rack that I bought Used through Reverb.com... I think the rack was designed for electronic drum kits, but as long as the pipes are steel and the clamps are metal it's good enough for my drum kit. I added Pearl cymbal stand tops to the rack.
I kept my Tama snare stand, and my
cheapo Tama hi-hat stand.

Next up is my kick pedals... DW3000 double-kick pedals with a Ludwig Atlas Pro link shaft, and Trick Dominator aluminum beaters.
It's a step down from my DW5000 pedals,
but its double-chain pulls feel much more solid than my dw5000's single-chain junk.
I plan to modify my DW3000 pedals with a DW5000 delta hinge, and a set of Pearl Demon direct-drive cams.

When I am not using my acoustic toms, I have several large roto-toms from Steveweissmusic.com...
All 3 of my roto-toms have Evans Hydraulic clear red batter heads.

So, there I am, with my entry-level kit.
I play it out at live shows, and spectators who Know about drums become amazed at how nice my kit sounds and how it's custom assembled.

If your B8 cymbals are giving you satisfaction, milk them to the last clash and ping!

I'd like to have a higher end drum kit.
But, I'm frugal... therefore I value practicality over fancy expensive product name brands.
I enjoy the project of turning an entry-level drum kit into a practical drum kit that sounds as good as it looks, and I absolutely feel NO shame about it.
*wink wink*

 

[FLratrodder]

i had a set of 14'' B8's that pretty much sounded like a set of newbeats. played them for years...........

...........but the crashes are manhole covers, and the rides are one trick ponies.

I think it depends on the era. My first set of cymbals was a Sabian B8 set purchased around 1988. They were the red label version. Those things sounded great! I played those hi hats for years until they finally broke and I replaced them with New Beats. The ride and crash sounded a lot like Paiste.

 

[drummerjohn333]

Someone could very easily read this thread - then go buy a bunch of Sabian B8 hats and land in a swamp of frustration having never found some that sound like New Beats. This is possible (and perhaps quite likely because over the years there have been several different generations in that model. Add to that the fact you say they have been treated.

Yet no pic, weights, vids.

I will resist the temptation. I counted my hihat cymbals last week.....67 is enough.

 

[1988fxlr]

Someone could very easily read this thread - then go buy a bunch of Sabian B8 hats and land in a swamp of frustration having never found some that sound like New Beats. This is possible (and perhaps quite likely because over the years there have been several different generations in that model. Add to that the fact you say they have been treated.

Yet no pic, weights, vids.

I will resist the temptation. I counted my hihat cymbals last week.....67 is enough.

I’m in awe at your self restraint. I would have to go for number 68 so in my head there are an even number of pairs, with no lone stray

 

[s s76]

If you like any cymbal, great, I will never want to change anyones mind.
I had Sabian B8 hats a long time ago, I beat the bottom to death and created my own sound edge and hammered the top here and there, then they sounded decent.

 

[crash]

I picked up a set of B8's for my practice set. The band loved them. They became my regular gigging cymbals for that gig. R&B cover band. That bright, tight sound just worked for what we were doing. My jazz gig, I used old, thin, washy A-Z's. OTOH, also used different rides. Raw bell dry ride for the R&B. Vintage Tosco with three rivets for the jazz gig. Horses for courses.....

 

[TonyVazquez]

I had a set of B8s back in the 90s. I loved them, they took fierce beatings from me
as a drummer in my first ever thrashmetal band.

Today I'm bangin on Zildjian ZBTs, a B8 china, and a toy Marz Music "splash". LMAO...

I miss beating my B8s. To me they have such a nostalgic factor. Among my old B8s, the hats and the ride were my favorites.

I'll continue playing my ZBTs.
But, every time I browse through Reverb
I feel an urge to buy a set of B8s.
I just... wanna hit stuff, ya know.
I may as well have a B8.