Amedia Shaban Classic 18" Crash

[Seafroggys]

Manufactered by: Amedia

Price: $187

Now this is a rare gem that I happened to have found. Amedia is a one year old cymbal company in Turkey founded by some of the smiths at the Istanbul Agop factory. They have been marketting to the European marketplace but haven't broken the pond barrier yet. Amedia chose one store in the US to try out their cymbal line, and that store happened to be Rhythm Traders in Portland, OR; the drum shop that I buy everything at

I was on the quest to find a warm, dark cymbal to add to my lineup of AA and 2002 crashes. I was a fan of the 14" Istanbul Agop I had, but it was way too small, so I figured I'd try out some of the other Istanbuls. I was also a huge fan of the 17" K Thin Dark Crash, having played on one in high school jazz band and loving every minute of it.

I go the Guitar Center, I try out a few K Customs, they were good, but wanted to check elsewhere. Went to another local store, they had an HHX Evolution, good but I wanted to try elsewhere. So I go to my favorite store, Rhythm Traders, and try out their awesome cymbal collection. They didn't have any Istanbul crashes, but did have several 17" K Thin Darks, as well as a 19" A Custom crash that was even darker then the Ks! I liked both of them quite well.

Then the guy showed me a display of Amedias, a brand I had never heard of before. He told me a little bit about them, and I tried those out and absolutly loved them. Plus they were cheaper: the store had them at 50% list instead of the usually 40% off list of their other cymbals. I was tempted to buy one of their Arzat lines because they were the coolest cymbal I had ever seen (http://www.pacifier.com/~drum/rtsc/html/arzat.html) but I preferred the Shaban Classic that I eventually bought.

Its a beautiful cymbal. Very warm, dark, and musical. Crashes great, cymbal rolls are orgasmic. Think it is a thin weight. I feared it might not go well with the machine hammered AA and 2002 crashes I had, but it did much better then I thought: when I heard a recording of myself playing all 3 crashes, it blended right in with the other two.

For those in Europe, Amedia is a definite line to try out. They are quite unique cymbals, and sound fantastic. If you're in America, move to Portland, or tough luck!