"Sabian were launching their APX line of cymbals which they describe as cutting and heavy, and are aimed at the harder hitting drummer. Normally this means thick and unresponsive, but these sounded great, with a glassy high end and even though we were 6 meters or so from them when they were being demonstrated, they sounded loud enough to make us blink. In addition to ride, splash, crash, hats, and Chinese in two sizes, the APX series also has two O-Zone crashes with six holes, heavier Solid models for the very heavy hitters and pre-packs in 14” hats, 16” crash, 20” ride or 14” hats, 18” crash, 22” ride and an Effects Pack with 10” splash, 18” Chinese.
Alu Bells are two thick sand cast aluminium bells in 7” and 9”. Aluminium is generally associated with cymbals and bells but these sounded like mini church bells and rang forever (well, a long time). With a few more you could play an accurate version of the Westminster chimes. With a little help from Jojo Mayer, the 13” Fierce hats are now in general production after Sabian had loads of requests after Jojo used them in his ‘Weapons for the Modern Drummer’ DVD. These are thin, dark hats which match the Fierce ride and are part of the Vault series. The 23” Ltd Edition Over Ride has a massive bell and will be limited to just 200 cymbals. It has a massive 8 ½ bell and is aimed at the heavier drummer. The 21” Vault Cross Over ride is a general purpose cymbal which caught our ear in the press launch. It’s quite shallow with a very sticky sound over a low HH roar and almost sounded like two cymbals being played at once."
