So, the fine folks at Cympad sent an assortment of their cymbal washers for me to review. Cympad washers are made from a cellular foam material and can be used in place of traditional felt washers. The Optimizer washers are pretty close to the same size as any typical felt washers for rides, crashes and hi hats, and effects cymbals. I thought that these would be a good starting place to do an A/B comparison with my felt washers. I used several different types of ride cymbals: My “holy grail” Bosphorus 21” Master Series ride/crash cymbal - extremely thin with a small bell, an old EAK Zildjian K 22” ride that is very low pitched and dark with a big bell , and an older 20” A Zildjian rock ride - pretty heavy and bright with a medium sized bell.
I tested these ride cymbals first with the 40 mm x 15mm Cympad Optimizer comparing them with a generic felt washer of the same size and also suspending the cymbal on the tip of my finger. I used a typical 5A wood tip stick. It is hard for me, with my veteran ears that have been battered by loud live music from amps and headphones, to tell the difference sonically between the felt and the Cympad Optimizer. I’m sure someone with perfect hearing could hear subtle differences between the two but the average Joe is not going to be able to tell much difference.
I could tell a difference in the way the cymbal moved/floated over the foam washer. Cympad claims that the washer isolates the cymbal from the stand and allows it to breathe, offers drummers a better sound with a more comfortable feel, and are consistent in size and density. Out of those three I think the consistency of the foam’s density and its characteristic of “remembering” its shape is the biggest advantage. It seems like it would be hard to wear these washers down. I tried the hi hat clutch and seat washers with much the same result. I imagine that an audio recording comparison would show the Cympad Optimizer to have less of a dampening effect on the cymbal than the felt washer.
Cympad Chromatics
Next up were the Chromatics washers which are slightly stiffer than the Optimizers and come in many different vibrant colors. They look pretty darn zowie. These come in one size; 40 mm x 15 mm and can be used underneath or on top of the cymbal for dramatic visual effect. The combination of the same size Optimizer underneath the cymbal and the Chromatics on top seemed like a good combination to me.
Cympad Moderators
The softer and larger Moderator foam washers are a different animal. They are meant to modify and control the sound of the cymbal and they do, in very practical and musical ways. Since the three ride cymbals I used had different size bells, I suspected that the five sizes of Moderators that I was sent would have significant differences in effect. First, I used the largest washer in the Moderator Super Set, the 90 mm, underneath the 22” EAK Zildjian ride. This is a cymbal that could be hard to control in a quiet setting. The biggest washer “chilled out” this large cymbal drastically. It filled up 2/3 of the very large bell and the washer conformed to the shape of the bell. The volume, sustain/spread was reduced when played pretty hard on the bell, at the ride area and when crashing the edge. There was no loss of stick articulation - the tip sound. The reduction of the volume and sustain actually enhanced the stick sound; brought it out more. I was impressed. I went through the other sizes with this cymbal and the effect was reduced proportionally, but even the smallest 50 mm Moderator reduced the same characteristics, probably due to the softness of the material and the way it conforms to the shape of the bell.
The next Moderator guinea pig was the A Zildjian 20” rock ride, an almost uncontrollable cymbal. I started with the 90MM size. This reduced the volume and sustain of the cymbal a bit, but not as much as I wanted it to. I would like to try the 100 mm size on this monster. I tried the combination of a 90 underneath and a 90 on top clamped down to conform to the bell’s shape. This produced enough control to make the cymbal bearable in a rock band’s small practice room. it reduced the volume and the sustain. The smaller size Moderators didn’t have as much as effect on this cymbal as they did on the 22” K medium.
The cymbal with the smallest bell, the Bosphorus 21” Masters Crash/Ride is a painfully thin cymbal and it is one of those “holy grail” jazz cymbals that drummers search for. When struck it vibrates and shakes almost forever. One of my friends said that it “if you just walk by it, it trembles like a chihuahua”! :-) I was hoping some subtle control could be gained. I started with the smallest 50 MM Moderator which had a subtle effect of bringing out more of the articulation/stick tip sound, As I went through all five of the sizes, the 70mm seemed to be the one that I would use if the cymbal needed to be controlled in a quiet piano trio setting or in a small rehearsal room. The two largest sizes were too drastic for this light cymbal.
I think the Moderators are a better way to control cymbals as opposed to putting tape or other material on them, which has been the tradition.
All in all, the Cympad washer products are a high tech solution to old problems: how to isolate the cymbal from the stand, and how to tone down the cymbal when it’s required. Cympads can do the job that we’ve relied on felts and tape to do for decades, using better and more durable technology. These are definitely worth a try.
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For more information go to WWW.Cympad.com