Small price - Big impact
I
bought a few Cympads a few months ago, just to try (and managed to lose all but
one on the way home; so much for "I don't need a bag; I'll just stick 'em
in my pocket.") I was not blown away by the device, but when I went to the
company's website, I discovered that my expectations were out of whack. It
seems these trinkets were originally developed for studio work, so my style of
banging around might not be the best test.
I decided to look around for a sample pack, which has a number of the
disks in different diameters and thicknesses.
Well
my local drum shop didn't have the sample pack, but they did have the hi-hat
pack. I was in the market for new clutch felts anyway, so for a few dollars
more I got two clutch washers and a bottom plate washer.
Now,
before we go any further I'd better tell you about my hi-hat set up. I use an
old Ludwig Atlas hi-hat that is the sweetest thing going. I bought a pair of
13" "Dyno Beat" cymbals about 15 years ago. The top cymbal just
says "Top Hi-hat"; the bottom cymbal weighs about as much as a
refrigerator. The sound is awesome, but they've always been a bit
temperamental. I have to get the clutch tension just right, and then I'm always
fussing with the bottom cymbal. Worth it? Usually.
So,
back to the Cympads ... They are made
from hard, dense, closed-cell foam and look pretty ordinary. The bottom washer
is rather thick, but not too thick to fit on my antique stand. Putting the
clutch together was a bit of a chore as the washers tend to grip the metal
rather than slide like felt does. But without too much straining I got it all
back together.
And
the result? Remarkable! I love the authoritative "chup" sound of
these hats, but in the past I had to be content to hear it only about 75% of
the time. A bigger annoyance was up-tempos. The cymbals tended to lag, which
could be quite off-putting. Now with the Cympad washers, every note is crisp, clear and well
defined. At faster tempos, the left foot no longer sounds like it's playing
with some other band. And I'm not always trying to "fix" the bottom
cymbal.
I'll
definitely keep any eye out for that sample pack and see if it can tame another
problem child cymbal I have.
Cympad “Optimizer Hi-hat Clutch & Seat
Set”
Price: $9.95
Website:
http://www.cympad.com
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