Believe it or not, it's exactly three years since my first (and last) review of Sabian products. This means that it's quite a bit longer than that since the two Zildjian brothers, Bob and Armand, split up (Just in case you don't know, Armand retained control of the Zildjian company in Boston, and Bob moved to Canada to found his Sabian company.)

These particular Sabians are not produced in Canada but in Pistoia, Italy, which has been quite a large centre for cymbal-smithing for at least the last decade. The cymbals are called B20 and built in the Tosco factory to Bob Zildjian's specifications. B20 is a shorthand formula for the metallic content of the instrument, 20% copper and 80% tin. Unlike the other Sabians or Zildjians which are rolled from an ingot of roughly the same constituents, these B20 are actually cast in a cymbal-shaped mould. Once they've 'set', they are hammered by a machine and planished on a horizontal lathe. I haven't actually seen the whole process, but there's presumably a hardening procedure goes on at some stage too. (The B in that shorthand stands for Bronze by the way.) This is the alloy that results when one mixes copper and tin together.)

The test set which I had consisted of 14" hi hats, 16 and 18" 'crash', 20" ride and 20" 'regular' Chinese. Sabian, of course, make a whole range of cymbals from 8" in diameter up to 22".

Overall, the cymbals I was sent were somewhat Jazzy sounding — they had a lot of middle frequencies without a great deal of cutting edge. The hi hats were reminiscent of old 'Ks' but without so much expensive dirt in their sound. When played half-open they were plenty filling, but when closed I missed quite a bit of cutting edge. The bottom cymbal was, as usual, slightly heavier than the top, but I feel perhaps a little more weight for both would have given them more definition. I don't want to be too destructive in my criticism because they are not meant to sell to the top end of the market and at £95 are priced accordingly. However, for really strong playing they're not aggressive enough.

The two cymbals which I used as 'crashes' were not both the same. The larger one was actually a 'Crash/Ride' and for my money was an excellent 'Crash'. (A hybrid cymbal is meant to do both chores, and is invariably a thickness in between Crash and Ride.) It would seem that Sabian only produce a medium weight cymbal which inevitably results in a medium pitch too. The 16" was gongy as per all cheap crash cymbals but for all that they were both nice and meaty with a good deal of 'shimmer'.

The ride was 20" in diameter, had a lot of Jazz tone in its makeup, and was very delicate at low volume. Once I began to lay into it, I began to notice a certain amount of definition was lost. Funnily enough it worked reasonably well as a crash. The Chinese cymbal was the same size as the ride, although larger and smaller versions are available from Italy. It had a reasonable amount of overtone but needed to be really well struck to get the maximum from it. (When you hit it hard, the Oriental sound becomes more prevalent, but it's just a bit too soft the wrong way up. It actually works better when suspended like a normal cymbal.) Sabian's Oriental cymbals have a normal 'cup' which has a very dirty sound.

These Italian Sabians have a very traditional shape. They're not too shallow in profile and I think I detected a slight flat on the very last ⅛" or so.

Sabian are promoting this B20 product as being the first alternative to pressed or cast and rolled cymbals at a reasonably reasonable price. They certainly have their own sound and could be just what you've been looking for.

Hi hats are £95, Crashes are £65 and £75, Ride is £87 and the Regular China is£99.

For: Medium price, dirty sounds
Against: Lack of top end, lack of shimmer

SABIAN B20 CYMBALS - RRP: FROM £65-£99