Sabian Signature Carmine Appice 18" Chinese
Group: Chinese
Type: Chinese
Size: 18 Inch
Series: Signature
Alloy: Nickel Silver
Weight: 1000g, 1005g, 1034g, 1050g, 1150g, 1298g, 1300g
Years of production: 1989 - ?
Sound file: Signature Carmine Appice 18" Chinese
Signature Carmine Appice 18" Chinese
Signature Carmine Appice 18" Chinese
Sabian's Description: <<< - >>>
Review: "As the name indicates, the cymbal was developed for, and in association with, Carmine Appice, who had a very specific idea of what he wanted. The goal was a China cymbal that could provide the volume and projection that Carmine required, take the abuse that powerful hard rock drumming delivered, and yet produce the spreading, "trashy" sound that characterized the best authentic Chinese-made China cymbals.
Working together with Carmine, Sabian's Nort Hargrove theorized that perhaps the normal Sabian cymbal alloy was a bit too good- too musical- to produce the trashy sound being sought. So he experimented with different alloys, finally settling on one called nickel-silver, which is often used to make budget-level cymbals.
If you've ever really walloped a nickel-silver crash cymbal, you'll find that it doesn't have the body, character, or sustain of a cymbal made of bronze. But that very tendency to "break up" lends itself exactly to what is best about Chinese cymbals. As any metallurgist will tell you, the alloys used in authentic Chinese-made cymbals are generally pretty crude and impure. Using nickel-silver for a China cymbal, and combining that with high-quality craftsmanship and machining, seemed to Nort to be a logical way to approach Carmine's goal. From there, Nort tried different shapes, different hammering methods, and different lathings, until he ultimately got the cymbal that Carmine was looking for.
So what was that ultimate outcome? An outstanding China cymbal, with qualities that read like a description of a bad little boy: loud, brash (approaching obnoxious), disturbing, and unavoidable. Some Chinas "crash" when struck; this cymbal explodes. It's available only in an 18" size, and would seem to be designed as a crash/punctuation cymbal, rather than as a China you'd want to ride on. (I certainly can't imagine riding on it; it would be like trying to laydown steady time with a box of hand grenades!) I tried the cymbal in situations where my band was really smoking, and there was just no denying it; it sound blasted through above all else. My tendency was to use the cymbal sparingly, so that its impact was all the more dramatic when I did use it. (I also wanted to keep what's left of my hearing.)
There is absolutely nothing "pretty" about the sound of the Carmine Appice Signature China cymbal. But it is totally effective at what it is designed to do. If you want a cymbal that will make its presence felt no matter what is going on around it, this is the one to use."
Review written by Rick Van Horn ("Product Close-Up", Modern Drummer, Nov. '89, p. 39)
Artist/song where it can be heard:
