SABIAN- Making Big Waves
On The Cymbal Market
SABIAN cymbals are well known around the world. Compared to Zildjian and Paiste, they're basically newcomers. Yet how do they capture such a large share of the cymbal market? To find out, let's take a closer look...
The SABIAN cymbal company has only been making cymbals since 1981 in the same location- Meductic, New Brunswick, located in eastern Canada. However, ths was not a "new" company, but rather a split from Zildjian, who had been operating their Azco plant at this location for some time prior. This plant actually performed the hammering processes for the K Zildjian line. Sabian was created by Robert Zildjian after concept differences with his brother Armand. It's interesting to note that the name SABIAN comes from Robert's children's names: Sally, Billy, and Andy, using the first two letters of each child's name.
When the plant first began operations under the SABIAN name, Kerope Zildjian and his son were responsible for the HH line of cymbals.
An interesting thing to note is that the SABIAN company still has a relatively small workforce . This means they have had to work very hard to produce excellent cymbals over the past 20+ years in order to achieve such ranking.
The following section presents the cymbal classes (cast/stamped) and the models found in each. For pictures of each model and current pricing- just click on the blue colored names!
Cymbal Models
Cast Bronze
SABIAN fashions their cast bronze cymbal lines in the ancient Turkish style and offer seven models to cover all musical genre. These include:
- HH Series- HH stands for "hand hammered". These hae a traditional turkish sound and can be considered middle of the road.
- HHX Series- takes the HHX design and modfies it some to create greater projection for demanding music styles. The HHX Evolution model was designed in part by Dave Weckl.
- AA Series- designed with energy in mind, they have a full sound. The AA Metal-X Series has been crafted for heavy hitters and agressive styles.
- AAX Series- a shimmering and pure cymbal similar to the Zildjian A Custom, designed for studio and a wide range of musical variety. used across a wide range of modern music.
- Signature Series- influenced by some of the most well known drummers around, these include: Paragon Series- SABIAN teamed up with Neil Peart of Rush to design their latest series. Max Series- designed in part by Mik Portnoy. Crashes by Chad Smith and Virgil Donati.
Sheet Bronze
In order fill the niche of student drummers and those of us who don't have $1,000 to throw at a set of cymbals, SABIAN created the stamped bronze models. These include:
FINAL THOUGHTS: SABIAN has created a line of cymbals that aim to please drummers of all playing levels and musical genre. With the influence of several well known artists such as Neil Peart, Dave Weckl, and Mike Portnoy- you can be sure sound and durability are a priority at Sabian. For this reason, SABIAN has become a top player in the cymbal market.
For a well-informed choice, be sure to check out information on other cymbal companies here.
DrumJunction would like to give a special "thanks" to Rob Mendoza for his contribution to historical information on SABIAN!
