I bought many cympads in the past, some to try, some to use. After a certain size, it will work against you (works against the swing of the cymbal), but if you only want to alter the sound, this is great. I'm only using 18"-19" crashes, so a small acoustic gig, or a very small pub-gig can be quite challenging with those. I put big Cympads below my crashes, so their volume and sustain get reduced to a usable level. You only need to understand how to use something, and this is no exeption. Works for what I need! And quality-wise, this is a Cympad. There will be no issues whatsoever!