Meinl Artist Concept Model Stacks

94
| SEPTEMBER 2018 WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM
GEAR REVIEW
S
t acking cymbals is by no means a
new idea, but in recent times, it has
certainly gained a lot of popularity.
The idea being that a pair (or more)
of stacked cymbals can offer an alternative to
your regular splashes, crashes or china
cymbals when it comes to keeping time or
accenting parts within your grooves or fi lls: it’s
another voice. As with any ‘effect’ sound, the
beauty of stacks is that it’s the resulting sound
that matters, and they can often add up to a lot
more than the sum of their parts. This means
that inexpensive or even damaged cymbals
can be given a new lease of life by pairing them
up with other cymbals, rather than being
discarded or moved on. However, it doesn’t
always work, and varying sizes, profi les and
metals don’t always mix well, resulting in
clangy overtones rather than percussive tone.
Plenty of companies offer a range of stacks –
Meinl included – however this latest collection
has been selected to match and put together
by Meinl’s stack-whacking artist roster: Luke
Holland, Anika Nilles, Matt Halpern, Thomas
Lang, Matt Garstka and Benny Greb.
Build
With a total of 14 pieces of metal in the
line-up, there’s a lot of variation with sizes,
materials and fi nishes all being blended to
achieve the trashy, tonal cocktail. In order of
size is Benny Greb’s 8" Crasher Hats (three
mini-hats and a doughnut-style ‘crasher’),
next is the Luke Holland Bullet Stack (12"
Classics Custom vented splash, 16" slotted/
vented crash). Matt Garstka’s Fat Stack pairs
16" vented china with an 18" crash, while Matt
Halpern’s Double Down Stack is an 18" China
and a 16" crash. Thomas Lang’s Super Stack is
a brace of Classics Custom (18" china, 18"
crash) while Anika Nilles has opted for a
whopping 18" pair of Deep Hats.
In a brilliant move, which means you won’t
need to order additional stands for the hi-hat
From £309 Want trash? Meinl’s signature
stacks will have you looking for a new accent
MEINL ARTIST
CONCEPT MODEL
STAC KS
WORDS: STUART WILLIAMS
EVERY ONE OF THESE PAIRINGS
HAS ITS OWN VOICE, AND THAT
COULDN’T BE MORE IMPORTANT
WITH ARTIST MODELS
models, Meinl has also supplied a
fi xed-clutch, clamp-mounted X-hat with
the Anika Nilles and Benny Greb models.
Hands On
These being artist-designed models, there are
obviously ‘preferred’ confi gurations for the
default placement of top/bottom cymbals in
each stack. Indeed, they’re all labelled too.
Logic also dictates this for the most part, but
the lack of visual clues provided by Meinl
means that it is quite easy to place the
cymbals in different inversions and orders
(which isn’t necessarily a bad thing at all).
For the purposes of this, however, we
started by checking we had the cymbals
‘correct’ before experimenting with
alternative placements. The Crasher Hats are
tight yet trashy sounding, with a sound that
lends itself to emulating electronic hats,
without the overbearing brightness of some
mini-hats. Meanwhile the Deep Hats deliver a
huge – yet still soft – closed sound. They’re
dark, thick and have an old-school vibe that
made us want to play the intro to
2
SABIAN EFFECTS
RANGE
We say: “With the
exception of the Ballistic
crash, these cymbals
will work in any style,
and make a
complementary
addition to any set-up.”
PAIRING
While there are ‘correct’ ways to
couple the stacks together, there is
also a lot of room within this to try
different configurations, including
separating the cymbals entirely!
models, Meinl has also supplied a
fi xed-clutch, clamp-mounted X-hat with
the Anika Nilles and Benny Greb models.
clangy overtones rather than percussive tone.
Also try…
1
PAISTE PSTX
We say: “These effects
cymbals from Paiste are
available on a budget,
and feature plenty of
trash-inducing holes. ”
RHY285.gear_meinl.indd 94 8/10/18 2:11 PM