In fact, your intrepid DRUM! reporter was reviewing the catalog while getting coffee’d up at a breakfast counter. To add to the dirt and funk of the sound, Sabian leaves most of the bells raw and all the finishes natural, and this aggressive look catches your eye right away. To that end, the HHX line sports a taller profile than traditional, hand-hammered cymbals like old-school Zildjian K’s, Sabian Hand Hammered, and several others of the ilk. The idea that Sabian had – which took some five or six years to bring to fruition – was to get the warm, slightly dirty sounds of hand hammered cymbals to speak up and kick ass.
The 14 types of cymbals in the HHX line are from the bloodline of Sabian’s Hand Hammered cymbals and AAX cymbals. Sabian calls the resultant secret mojo of their new HHX line “Tone Projection.” They sent us a couple boxes of cymbals and here’s what DRUM! found out when we searched beyond the brilliant buzzwords to ask the big questions and play the metal firsthand. Sabian’s new HHX cymbals are a fusion of old ideas pounded into a shape that projects in a new way.
