Sabian B8 Pro Cymbals

The Sabian B8 range has been around for ages, about 20 years actually, but it’s recently been revised and upgraded to feature the cymbals which I now find in front of me.

The B8 and B8 Pro lines are student/entry level cymbals made from, not surprisingly, B8 bronze alloy (92% copper/8% tin). The B8 Pro line comes in a brilliant finish and are available in thin, medium and rock models.

All of the models I saw, except the china which I‘ll come to below, were very lightly hammered on both sides, with uniform but light lathing on the bottom and thick heavy lathing on the top.

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The review models were:

14” Medium hi hats - these were clear and cutting and had a moderate weight. They produced a definite note with both stick and pedal.

16” & 18” Medium crashes - these had a focused sound without any residual unpleasant overtones and produced an initial sound which exploded and then died away fairly quickly.

20” Medium ride - this was bright and clear but also quite dry in respect of any underlying tones from the bow. The bell was nice and clear and cutting and was quite crashable when struck with some force.

18” Chinese - This was slightly different to the other models as it had a small bell, fairly flat profile with uniform and distinct hammering around the flange which continued inwards. This was all more pronounced on the top side, however, on both sides the lathing was quite tight around the centre. When played lightly/with a mallet I found it produced a fairly deep tone, but it was loud and trashy when hit with more force. I felt it sounded better when struck with conviction. Loud!

Sabian says that the line’s sound is bright with a medium to high pitch and a focused style and I would agree with that as all of the cymbals I checked out definitely had those qualities.

I have to say that while I have been aware of the line itself ever since it was launched some two decades ago, I was a little oblivious as to the depth of the B8 Pro line itself and after looking at the number of individual models available I was quite impressed with how large the selection is. There are some eleven crashes, four splashes, three chinas and even some marching cymbals amongst the other models in the series which is great given that sometimes you don’t get much in the way of choice at the lower end of the scale.

All in all, nice value and choice for the player looking to take the plunge on their first decent cymbals or upgrade to something higher up the scale.

www.sabian.com

David Bateman
September 2011