Zultan 21" Raw Jazz Ride

I've owned one of these cymbals for a few weeks now. I purchased it after taking a punt on a pair of Dune 15" hihats a few months ago, and being pleasantly surprised at the quality of sound and value for money.

I'm a big Richard Spaven fan and have been trying to augment my fairly middle-of-the-road cymbal collection with some unlathed cymbals to get
some of that dark, dry sound going on.

I've been blown away by the quality and versatility of this cymbal since I bought it. It's exactly what I was looking for at a fraction of the price I'd expect to pay from Sabian, Zildjian or Meinl.

This cymbal has a lovely low pitch and warm sound that blends very well with other instruments when playing acoustic music, with plenty of stick attack and playability at a lower volume. I use the Vic Firth Maple 5A's for lower volume and acoustic music and never feel like the cymbal is washing out, even when giving it one on Blakey-style shuffles!

If you were to try and use it as your main ride on a rock gig I would recommend some gel or tape, as it opens up to a roar very quickly especially with heavier sticks. The bell probably wouldn't cut through in a higher volume scenario as it has a very low profile and is not very resonant. This is a big reason why it's such a great cymbal to play with an upright bassist or acoustic piano. Probably best used as an out-and-out crash on a rock gig.

I would previously have held the opinion that it can be a recipe for disaster to buy cymbals sight-unseen, but at this price point any cymbal in the Zultan range is worth a punt. I've been delighted with both of my Zultan purchases having played the cymbals regularly for a few months now. I'll be adding a crash or two from the RAW range in due course, as they represent a great way to add diversity to your cymbal collection at a lower price point. Hats off to Zultan!

One hobby of mine is to search for unique cymbals. The Zultan 21” Raw Jazz Ride is one of my favorites.

There's a lot of raw un-hammered cymbals out there, however this one just sounds fantastic & represents the genre of this general type in my collection of roughly 80 cymbals. I have about 25 of what I would basically call “lo-fi trashy cymbals” ranging from cheap old brass, B8, B20, NS12, to vintage China’s, to expensive contemporary designs for complex dirty sounds.

This is my largest size of these, and is a foundation for the other trashy cymbals to blend with and my awesome non-trashy ones! ; ) It has a balanced, high-quality sound… & has the effect of making the other ones seem to sound better than, perhaps, they actually are! On my Raw Jazz Ride I like especially to hit hard on the bell; it activates the rest of the cymbal the same as when you strike in the middle or edge. It creates a wide percussive sound with no initial attack. very cool. (I use a thick mallet when doing this.) It's one of the few cymbals I own that behaves in this way. When using a normal drumstick on the bell, it has a Beautiful ping/ring, and also excites the rest of the cymbal in a very dynamic and controllable way. The wash is excellent. Whoever designed this instrument did an excellent job.

I purchased three of them, and chose the one that fit best with my main cymbals. And as is with handmade Instruments, all three were very different in tone and pitch. But each possessed the DNA of the series… none sounded inferior, just different.

Highly recommended!