14" Byzance Sand Hi-Hat : Oh yes. Oh yes indeed.

I bought these after listening to a lot of demos on YouTube, including several featuring the man himself. Well. What a treat. These hi hats look and sound amazing. The top is quite golden in tone, quite raucous really. With Its big hammer marks it looks almost feral. The bottom cymbal is much heavier and more refined in texture. It has a silvery tone - somewhere between a cymbal and a bell. Benny Greb generally uses the word buttery when talking about these sand blasted cymbals. I think the word glassy is nearer the mark in this case.

With both cymbals there are quiite a spread of layered tones to be heard. I'm looking forward to really getting to know these cymbals and learning how to pull the different sounds from them at different volume levels. You can see in the videos how Benny does just that by using different parts of his sticks and also different 'attitudes' in the way he strikes them.

One immediate observation: they sound best on a sturdy, solid hi hat stand. They are so lively that anything lightweight tends to pick up their vibrations which can create some unwanted and rather nasty undertones.