If you’re looking to get a new set of cymbals, you may find everything you need in one place with a cymbal pack. Cymbal packs are great options to go for if you want to save money.
One of the top cymbal packs on the market is the Zildjian K Sweet Set. It’s a set of versatile Zildjian cymbals that fit in most situations. What makes them so good and versatile, you ask? Let’s find out.
The cymbal pack comes with 4 cymbals for you to dig your sticks into. Like most packs, you get a pair of hi-hats, two crash cymbals, and a ride cymbal. However, one of the defining features of the K Sweet pack is the arbitrary sizes of the cymbals.
The hi-hats are 15”, the crashes are 17” and 19”, and the ride cymbal is 21”. This means all the cymbals are slightly bigger than most cymbals that you’d get in a cymbal set.
In terms of sound, the K Sweet cymbals have a warm tone with a sweet touch. They’re not too aggressive, yet they’re powerful enough to handle most situations. We’ll get into the specifics of each individual cymbal in the set a bit later.
You may think that these cymbals aren’t as high-quality as any of the cymbals in the Zildjian K Custom line. However, they’re just as good and arguably have even more uses thanks to their versatility.
The versatility of these cymbals is their main selling point. You may be a drummer who plays many styles of music. If you’re playing jazz this weekend and then a rock gig next weekend, the K Sweet cymbals are going to help you tremendously.
Starting off with the 15” hi-hats, they have a very tight chick sound. While it’s tight and cutting, the hats open up very nicely when you loosen your foot. The washiness is quite warm, and it blends very nicely with the rest of the cymbals. The sound when you press your foot down on the pedal is also quite strong.
The crash cymbals are fantastic. We love how you get a 17” crash in this set instead of a 16” crash. Smaller crashes aren’t everyone’s preference, so a larger crash appeals to more drummers. Both the 17” and 19” crashes are very warm and lively.
The 21” ride is arguably the darkest sounding cymbal of the pack. It has an earthy tone underneath the sweet sound. This makes it great for crash/riding on. The bell has a very strong punch to it, and can clearly be heard whenever you’re hitting it.
The sound qualities of these cymbals are universal. Having a warm, yet cutting, pair of hi-hats will suit you well in any playing situation you find yourself in. The same can be said with all the other cymbals.
The Zildjian K Sweet cymbals are definitely upper-tier cymbals. They sit on the same level as the K and A Custom cymbals. Most professionals and endorsees who use Zildjian have used these cymbals at some point. So, the quality of them is extraordinarily high.
We’ll first mention the visual quality. They have a very clean look that is topped off by the unlathed bells. They’re earthy in the center, but have the classic cymbal appearance around the edges. We think they look very aesthetically pleasing, especially if you keep them polished and shining.
In terms of build quality, the cymbals are quite thin. However, they seem to be very durable. You can lay into them fairly heavily and they won’t crack under the pressure. The harder you hit them, the more they sing out, yet they keep the sweet tones when played softly as well.
They’ll most probably last you a long time. Especially if you hit them with good technique and you keep them protected with felts and cymbal sleeves.
While cymbal packs can get fairly expensive, it’s important to remember that you save quite a bit of cash in the long run. If you were to buy each of these K Sweet Zildjian cymbals individually, you’d end up spending more than you would for the pack. So, buying the set of them with one purchase is arguably the best way to go.
To give a practical example of that, the 15” hi-hats would cost just over $500 if you bought them separately. The crashes cost around $350 each while the ride cymbal costs around $420. You’d be paying close to $2000 to get all the cymbals separately.
The K Sweet cymbal pack costs just over $1200. So, you’re saving $800. You could use that saved money to buy an entire drum set. Something like a Yamaha Stage Custom would be your best option at that price.
The price-to-value ratio is incredibly high with these cymbals. Not only because they’re a cymbal pack, but also because of the versatility of them.
Many drummers have different cymbals for varying playing situations. They’ll use bright cymbals for rock and dark cymbals for jazz. You don’t need to have more cymbals once you have this set, meaning you don’t need to spend more money. This further boosts their price-to-value.
Overall, they’re a fantastic investment if you’re looking to get the best bang for your buck with cymbals.
The K Sweet ride cymbal has a well-known reputation for being one of the most recorded ride cymbals in the business. There are so many albums in different genres that have been recorded with the drummer using the Sweet ride.
While the rest of the cymbals in the set aren’t as popular in the recording space, they definitely hold their own. Since the cymbals have a sweet tone that isn’t too bright, the sounds transfer very well through microphones. They’re easy for sound engineers to work with, making them great studio recording options.
They sit very nicely in the drum mix without sounding too harsh or punchy. Those are the types of cymbals that you need in studio environments. If the cymbals are too bright, they’ll sound too aggressive in the mix and they’ll be hard to work with. This is even true when you’re recording more aggressive styles of music.
So, the Zildjian Sweet K cymbals are a worthy choice if you plan on recording drums in the studio. The ride cymbal is the most popular recording tool out of the pack, followed closely by the hi-hats. The crashes are great too. They’re just not as popular as the other cymbals in the pack.
While the K Sweet cymbals are good for studio environments, they also work well in most live gigging settings. Since they’re so versatile, you can use them as your go-to cymbals for most styles of music.
They also work perfectly for gigs where you play multiple styles of music. It’s very common for drummers who play in musicals or cover bands to use these cymbals as the gigs have multiple styles of music being played in them.
While they work well for rock and metal settings, the crash cymbals are the weak points in those styles. They’re warm and sweet, so they don’t cut too strongly through the mix. When you have distorted guitars being played, you need to have cymbals that cut through those loud guitar lines.
So, you’ll need to add some brighter crash cymbals into the mix if you’re playing very hard and rocking styles of music. Apart from that, these cymbals are a fantastic option for most live settings. They have a sound that most drummers and musicians love to hear.
Zildjian has a tier system with their cymbals that you can follow to understand where each one is valued. Most cymbal companies run like this, so it’s easy to compare different types of cymbals.
Most people are aware of the Zildjian K and A Custom lines, but many don’t have experience with the K or A lines. The Zildjian A Customs are bright cymbals that have very punchy tones. The K Customs are much darker and more complex.
The Zildjian K cymbals sit in between A and K Customs in terms of tone. They’re not as bright as the A Customs, but they’re not as dark as the K Customs.
Overall, the Zildjian K cymbals are pro-quality cymbals that professionals use. They’re some of the best sounding cymbals on the market, and they’ve been around for decades.
You’ve undoubtedly heard many albums where the drummer was using Zildjian K cymbals.
You could argue that Zildjian K cymbals are slightly better than Zildjian Ks. However, they both have distinct sounds that can be used in different scenarios, so you might choose Zildjian As for one gig and Zildjian Ks for another.
Even though the Ks are slightly better, they won’t be as good of an option as Zildjian As would be for certain settings. So, it’s good to have both types of cymbals for whenever you need them.
The Zildjian K Sweet cymbals are undoubtedly the most versatile cymbals in Zildjian’s lineup. You could get a set of them and not worry about having a mixture of A and K cymbals.
If you’re looking for higher-quality cymbals, then you should look to the A Custom and K Custom lines from Zildjian.
Any drummer who wants the distinct Zildjian K sound will use the Zildjian Ks. Whether you’re a professional or a beginner, these are great cymbals to get your hands on.
The Zildjian K Sweet cymbals, in particular, are fantastic for all kinds of drummers.
While the K Sweet cymbal pack offers a diverse selection of cymbals, there are a few more K Sweet cymbals that are worth taking note of. You may want to add a few of these to your setup along with the cymbals from the pack.
If you aren’t a fan of the 15” hi-hats, you could get the standard 14” K Sweet hi-hats. They have a more traditional sound thanks to the size of them. You could also go even bigger than the 15” hats and get the 16” K Sweet hi-hats. They’re a lot more washy than the other hats, giving you an excellent open and warm sound.
You could also consider getting a bigger or smaller ride cymbal. The 23” Zildjian Sweet K cymbal is incredibly popular in the drumming world. It’s a sizeable cymbal, so it’s not as versatile as the one that comes in the pack. However, it’s a fantastic cymbal if you’re looking for a huge sound.
Zildjian also has a fairly wide range of Sweet cymbals in their A line. They’re slightly brighter than the K cymbals, so they work well for bright and heavy styles of music.
We highly suggest you consider getting the Zildjian Sweet K cymbal pack if you’re looking for a new set of cymbals. Whether you play jazz, hip-hop, or rock music, these cymbals will serve you very well. They have such high-quality tones, and they feel great to play.
If you want to check out some different options for cymbal packs, have a look at our guide here where we go through some of the best packs on the market.
We also have a guide on some of the best Zildjian cymbals available. Zildjian is such a high-quality company that it’s no surprise that they’re the most popular cymbal brand in the world.
Drum Teacher
Brett Clur has a Drum Performance Diploma from Trinity College London has been playing drums for over 20 years. He is passionate about advanced concepts and uses his years of experience to teach his students about them. While he is a full-time drum teacher, he is also working on growing a YouTube channel where shares his insights. You can see him playing there, or on Instagram where he posts daily videos.
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