IN THE NEVER ending quest for decent cymbals at a roughly affordable price one company stands out as a shining beacon of hope. Well, several do nowadays but for the purpose of this review one stands out slightly shinier than the rest!

That company is Ufip, who are one of at least two Italian companies who decided long ago that metal alloys could be put to good use making cymbals rather than wasting it all on the production of highly erotic sports cars. Since then they have been a Godsend to drummers on a budget (myself included), with a vast range of lowly priced excellent sounding cymbals.

A new distribution deal in this country (through Percussion Plus) has already resulted in a higher profile, and if you haven't checked them out already you should do so immediately.

In the meantime since space is limited and the review sample is substantially the opposite we'll get on with it.

Under scrutiny this month is the Ufip top of the range Solid Ride 88s which although priced some way out of truly 'budget' parameters still deliver a ridiculously high ratio of sound compared to cost.

To begin with a pair of 14" Hi-Hats will set you back £105 — not cheap but when compared to a pair of Zildjians still excellent value for money. And even more so when compared sound for sound, because although they sell for about 50 per cent less than established professional metals, in no way do they sound 50 per cent worse.

The Hi-Hats were extremely crisp with a lot of definition and allowed as many tonal variations as you could ever need. I found them a very well matched pair with the bottom cymbal heavier and lower pitched than the top. The bottom hat sports a pair of holes drilled approximately one inch from the bell. This allows air to escape more efficiently when bringing them together and adds greatly to their accuracy. No complaints at all, by any standards an excellent pair of Hi-Hats. Next!

Splashes have always been something of an obsession with me and the 8" and 11" Solid Rides were everything fine splashes should be and more. With a lot of volume for their size they projected at least as well as any I've played before, they also possessed a colourful almost trashy quality that added greatly to their punctuatory appeal. They did everything splash cymbals should but with a degree of individual panache that would not seem out of place amongst even the most expensive cymbal set up.

Providing something of a bridge between the splashes and the out and out crashes was a 13" Medium crash. I thought this might possibly be one of those annoying cymbals that give every impression of an interesting hybrid but then fail utterly to deliver because they cannot decide which side of the fence they are supposed to be on. However I was pleased to discover an excellent cymbal with enough power and projection to be used as a standard crash but that still retained the explosive stab of a loud splash. The sustain was minimal and the initial voice was loud and full of depth, again with some dark and intriguing undertones.

On then to some crashes proper and the more familiar dimensions of 16" and 18". Once again more than useful cymbals with the 18" winning out slightly over the 16" in terms of brightness and overall tone. The 16" I found a little on the thin side without quite the power of the 18". Even so, as a fast crash it couldn't really be faulted and it's shimmering upper frequencies might appeal to you more than they did to me. The 18" had a much fuller spread of sound and to my ears was richer and less harsh than the 16". More powerful too, which may or may not be important to you. Nevertheless, both are excellent in their own right and they are probably a better complimentary pair because of their differences rather than in spite of them.

Another intermediary cymbal is the Crash Ride which I must admit has never been my favourite incarnation. This one however, yielded a few surprises in that it almost fulfilled both sides of it's descriptive title. The crash sound was very good indeed; full bodied and with a lot of ring, possibly too much for most applications but as a power crash nothing short of exemplorary!

Ride characteristics were not a complete wash out, as they so often are with crash rides, and offered up a fairly controlled Ringo-esque wash of noise that didn't quite overwhelm the stick definition. Not usable as an unaccompanied ride but as an extra, or for large punctuation marks, it certainly has its place.

Fully fledged no nonsense rides next and again two superb examples of the breed. No messing around with combination sounds here — just brilliantly piercing, hard as nails pinging and clanging. The stick definition was excellent on both the 20" and the 22" although for my money the 22" had slightly more to offer in terms of depth. Both were sonorous and full of character and displayed more noticeably the almost exotic resonance that all the Solid Rides had to various extents. The bell sounds were penetrating, lively and seemed well capable of cutting through the most obnoxious of power chords — which is what ride cymbals are all about after all.

The remaining oddity was a 20" Flat Top, undoubtedly aimed at Rockabilly drummers who not only require a ride cymbal with no build up of overtones but who also want one that goes with their hair. A weird cymbal with no bell that works well as a dry ride and has an excellent dark spreading crash.

So there it is. Not a lot to say in conclusion other than to reiterate the fact that these are definitely not cheap cymbals. But in terms of sound delivery compared to price they are among the best value around. My advice is to give them a try — they ought to have you rushing to the piggy-bank, hammer in hand.

UFIP CYMBALS: 14" Hi-Hat £105 / 8" Splash £34 / II" Splash £38 / 13" Crash £47 / 16" Crash £72 / 18" Crash £89 / 18" China £104 / 18" Crash Ride £89 / 20" Ride £115 / 20" Flat Top £126 / 22" Ride £137

INFO: Percussion Plus, (Contact Details).