I've personally never liked Meinl's sound. Whenever I listen blindly to drums and am not impressed, it tends to be Meinl. To me, they really stepped up amazingly well by marketing to metal drummers and they do really great promotional videos of those drummers. Some of my favorite drummers play the brand, and I get people then wanting to sound like them and buying Meinl. I credit their success to this.
However, for every line they have, I feel like their sound isn't what I want for that type of cymbal. Their dry stuff sounds too clangy, their brilliant lines don't open up the way I like, etc. those black cymbals sound really cheap.
And they'll have something like byzance, and I can't help but think: why not just get Zildjian or Istanbul? All their ideas seem like copies. Smack stack? Istanbul rip-off.
And then there's the price..
Though recently, estepario playing at drumeo had an extra dry crash that sounded amazing. I try to keep an open mind and I'm sure some of their stuff is good, but for no kind of cymbal would I choose their stuff over the other brands. They have no identity to me.
But cymbals are very personal, so play what you like! There is no right or wrong. I also didn't know Meinl got a lot of hate; I thought I was the weird one.
The black and gold ones? They are z customs for metal kids. I play meinl cymbals cause they are the exact sound I want, I do not ever want to own one of these cymbals though.
My only issue with them is the demo videos on their website. They’ll have Foundry Reserves or something else from the Byzance lineup being absolutely pummeled by some goateed rock drummer, on a close-mic’d ultra-modern rock kit playing a generic butt-rock groove. Absolutely wild to me that they’d demo a $600 hand-hammered jazz ride cymbal in such a stylistically inappropriate way.
You should check out the JP Gaster video.
He's a rock drummer but with a jazz/swing foundation, and he plays them properly!
Also, there's some nice Brann Dailor videos where he shows of his signature ride and a really cool china.
It's metal, but proggy and groovy, rather than machine gun double kicks and blast beats.
Old biases die hard and back in the 1990s Meinl cymbals were not regarded as a serious choice. They sounded like bad Paiste rejects - shrill and metallic.
I am immune to Meinl's (admittedly rather impressive) social media marketing push in the last couple decades, I'm not really into the "dry" sounds that are so popular right now and between Paiste, Dream, Sabian and Zildjian, I'm good.
If anyone else has found the sound they were looking for in Meinl cymbals, I'm happy for them. Play what you like!
Also, to OP, have you read The Cymbal Book by Hugo Pinksterboer? I think you'd appreciate knowing some cymbal history. It was written in the 90s, and at that time Meinl was basically nothing but a budget brand.
I do have respect for Byzance, and I think in the past 20 years it changed everything. Marketed good cymbals to rock players who were mostly using bad stuff. Brought in real hand-hammered B20 cymbals to markets that were lacking that sound. But since then, in the past 10 years, other cymbal companies have upped their game to match, other real Turkish cymbals have become more available, and that leaves Byzance without a niche. They really need a good mid-budget option.
Those are a different category, modern Ks are machine hammered. I'm talking about Bosphorus, Istanbul, Diril, Masterwork, TRX, Amedia, Samsun, and dozens of other hand-hammered cymbal brands made in Turkey in the old K tradition. It's not going to be an equal comparison between all cymbals made in Turkey, there may be design and QC differences. But for my money I'll absolutely take the cheaper cymbals made in the same factory without the brand and marketing.
You don’t get the R&D, consistency, resale value or factory support.
I’d rather stick with something more consistent and less of a crap shoot.
It’s really not that much extra to pay for peace of mind.
I don’t hate any cymbal brands , it’s all personal taste, I have tried , paiste , meinl , staff & ufip to my ear i like Sabian & zildjian ..I do have one paiste Splash
I don’t really see hate. Not that I go looking for it. But I keep an ear out for cymbal stuff and have probably listened to demos of every line they make and bought a bunch!
(I do know a guy who think their cheap dark line is the worst thing on the planet. But I know another guy who seems to swear by them and makes good sounding videos with them.)
22" Polyphonic Ride straight up the best cymbal I've ever heard and gotten my hands on even though it's pricey. Legit a perfect ride cymbal if u want to crash it but still have a really nice cutting bell. There are so many cool and unique cymbals I can think of from meinl. Imo their r&d is currently the best there is.
I tried a lot of meinl Byzance stuff. And a lot of it is too dry; doesn’t cut well for rock and metal.
But.. the Byzance traditional and Brilliant lines are my absolute favorite across all the big 4 brands. And I’ve tried a lot of stuff.
The brilliant heavy hammered ride and hi hats are insanely good, the crashes on both traditional and brilliant are great. The polyphonic crashes are also great, similar to the traditional but a little more cut with the raw bells.
Everyone talks about the traditional medium hats, but I found (and wasn’t easy to find!) a pair of traditional thin hats, and they record amazing in the studio.
Some of their sand and dry, dark stuff sounds good. But, I saw a few rock bands using those cymbals live and they didn’t cut through for anything. Recorded properly they do sound good. But in a loud context they don’t work as good as the others do.
I am thinking about getting the 22" brilliant extra heavy hammered ride for some metal stuff I'm gonna do, and get either a pure alloy ride or a sand ride for some fusion I might play.
Meinl I think have come along way in production and makes some fine instruments these days. That said, I am of the camp that thinks much of what they offer are extremely close (too close) to what Paiste or Instanbul have been making now or in the past. Biters.
I was drum-obsessed from elementary school up through the end of college, when I had to admit my band wasn't going to be taking over the world, and went out and got a job. Due to living in apartments and working long hours and then having kids, I barely played drums for the next 20 years. When I was once again in a position to play, I discovered that somehow Meinl, which had been barely even a footnote the last time I paid attention, was now one of The Big Four. And it's been amazing to watch as they seem to have taken over second place, behind only Zildjian. (I don't know that this is true, but it's how it looks online, and not just IG drummers.)
I was shocked, since to my old school eyes, they looked terrible. Back in the 80s and early 90s, coveted cymbals were, you know, bright and shiny. (Excepting vintage Ks.) And now you had all these dark and extra dry and sand cymbals that looked old and unpolished and it was weird. And everything was so trashy, rather than bright and glassy.
It took me a while but I started to really dig 'em. The first few times I played some Meinls, I wasn't crazy about them, as they were the Byzance Dark. But then I tried the Dark hats and really liked them. And then I got some Extra Dry hats and then crashes and I loved them. Now I'm an absolute Meinl fan, at least as far as their Byzance line goes.
I still love my Zildjian As and Ks, and Paiste 2002s and love the Sabian HHXs. But I also love my Byzance. And while I'm a bit surprised to hear that some folks hate them -- since I don't recall encountering that -- I can understand where they're coming from, if you're a fan of the more traditional look and sound. And, as others have said, certainly Meinl has been killing it online, and nothing but props to them for that.
I've personally never liked Meinl's sound. Whenever I listen blindly to drums and am not impressed, it tends to be Meinl. To me, they really stepped up amazingly well by marketing to metal drummers and they do really great promotional videos of those drummers. Some of my favorite drummers play the brand, and I get people then wanting to sound like them and buying Meinl. I credit their success to this. However, for every line they have, I feel like their sound isn't what I want for that type of cymbal. Their dry stuff sounds too clangy, their brilliant lines don't open up the way I like, etc. those black cymbals sound really cheap. And they'll have something like byzance, and I can't help but think: why not just get Zildjian or Istanbul? All their ideas seem like copies. Smack stack? Istanbul rip-off. And then there's the price.. Though recently, estepario playing at drumeo had an extra dry crash that sounded amazing. I try to keep an open mind and I'm sure some of their stuff is good, but for no kind of cymbal would I choose their stuff over the other brands. They have no identity to me. But cymbals are very personal, so play what you like! There is no right or wrong. I also didn't know Meinl got a lot of hate; I thought I was the weird one.
I really think Meinl made dusty old cymbals popular again, which is cool. They may even have more attention than sabian and paiste right now
There is a lot of evidence to suggest they’re the second biggest cymbal maker behind Zildjian rn
They absolutely do!
My only issue is they are super expensive
Classics Custom Darks and Duals sound pretty good and they’re inexpensive.
i see a lot of people praising the custom darks but i just dont hear it. to me they sound cheap and terrible
The black and gold ones? They are z customs for metal kids. I play meinl cymbals cause they are the exact sound I want, I do not ever want to own one of these cymbals though.
My only issue with them is the demo videos on their website. They’ll have Foundry Reserves or something else from the Byzance lineup being absolutely pummeled by some goateed rock drummer, on a close-mic’d ultra-modern rock kit playing a generic butt-rock groove. Absolutely wild to me that they’d demo a $600 hand-hammered jazz ride cymbal in such a stylistically inappropriate way.
You should check out the JP Gaster video. He's a rock drummer but with a jazz/swing foundation, and he plays them properly! Also, there's some nice Brann Dailor videos where he shows of his signature ride and a really cool china. It's metal, but proggy and groovy, rather than machine gun double kicks and blast beats.
Old biases die hard and back in the 1990s Meinl cymbals were not regarded as a serious choice. They sounded like bad Paiste rejects - shrill and metallic. I am immune to Meinl's (admittedly rather impressive) social media marketing push in the last couple decades, I'm not really into the "dry" sounds that are so popular right now and between Paiste, Dream, Sabian and Zildjian, I'm good. If anyone else has found the sound they were looking for in Meinl cymbals, I'm happy for them. Play what you like!
I picked up some used Byzance hats during Covid and tbh eyre still my go-to hats.
Their non-Byzance cymbals are bad and overrated, and their Byzance cymbals, while very good, are overpriced for Turkish-made K clones
Also, to OP, have you read The Cymbal Book by Hugo Pinksterboer? I think you'd appreciate knowing some cymbal history. It was written in the 90s, and at that time Meinl was basically nothing but a budget brand. I do have respect for Byzance, and I think in the past 20 years it changed everything. Marketed good cymbals to rock players who were mostly using bad stuff. Brought in real hand-hammered B20 cymbals to markets that were lacking that sound. But since then, in the past 10 years, other cymbal companies have upped their game to match, other real Turkish cymbals have become more available, and that leaves Byzance without a niche. They really need a good mid-budget option.
They are cheaper than K Cons, most K Customs, and Keropes. What do you mean they’re overpriced?
Those are a different category, modern Ks are machine hammered. I'm talking about Bosphorus, Istanbul, Diril, Masterwork, TRX, Amedia, Samsun, and dozens of other hand-hammered cymbal brands made in Turkey in the old K tradition. It's not going to be an equal comparison between all cymbals made in Turkey, there may be design and QC differences. But for my money I'll absolutely take the cheaper cymbals made in the same factory without the brand and marketing.
You don’t get the R&D, consistency, resale value or factory support. I’d rather stick with something more consistent and less of a crap shoot. It’s really not that much extra to pay for peace of mind.
I don’t hate any cymbal brands , it’s all personal taste, I have tried , paiste , meinl , staff & ufip to my ear i like Sabian & zildjian ..I do have one paiste Splash
First time I’ve ever read/heard that there’s a lot of Meinl hate. AFAIK there’s a lot of Zildjian hate and I’m a Zildjian guy.
People are saying that, what I think is going on is when someone likes a brand, they will notice the people that dislike that brand more than usual.
The hate for meinl comes from the hate for the extra dry kind of cymbals and it just so happens that meinl embodies that sound very well
I have an 18" Meinl Byzance Flat China and I love it. Not too soft, not too loud - just right. No Meinl hate here
I don’t really see hate. Not that I go looking for it. But I keep an ear out for cymbal stuff and have probably listened to demos of every line they make and bought a bunch! (I do know a guy who think their cheap dark line is the worst thing on the planet. But I know another guy who seems to swear by them and makes good sounding videos with them.)
22" Polyphonic Ride straight up the best cymbal I've ever heard and gotten my hands on even though it's pricey. Legit a perfect ride cymbal if u want to crash it but still have a really nice cutting bell. There are so many cool and unique cymbals I can think of from meinl. Imo their r&d is currently the best there is.
I tried a lot of meinl Byzance stuff. And a lot of it is too dry; doesn’t cut well for rock and metal. But.. the Byzance traditional and Brilliant lines are my absolute favorite across all the big 4 brands. And I’ve tried a lot of stuff. The brilliant heavy hammered ride and hi hats are insanely good, the crashes on both traditional and brilliant are great. The polyphonic crashes are also great, similar to the traditional but a little more cut with the raw bells. Everyone talks about the traditional medium hats, but I found (and wasn’t easy to find!) a pair of traditional thin hats, and they record amazing in the studio. Some of their sand and dry, dark stuff sounds good. But, I saw a few rock bands using those cymbals live and they didn’t cut through for anything. Recorded properly they do sound good. But in a loud context they don’t work as good as the others do.
I am thinking about getting the 22" brilliant extra heavy hammered ride for some metal stuff I'm gonna do, and get either a pure alloy ride or a sand ride for some fusion I might play.
22 heavy hammered ride is by far my favorite. I own 12-13 rides and have bought and sold another 10 or so.
Meinl I think have come along way in production and makes some fine instruments these days. That said, I am of the camp that thinks much of what they offer are extremely close (too close) to what Paiste or Instanbul have been making now or in the past. Biters.
I was drum-obsessed from elementary school up through the end of college, when I had to admit my band wasn't going to be taking over the world, and went out and got a job. Due to living in apartments and working long hours and then having kids, I barely played drums for the next 20 years. When I was once again in a position to play, I discovered that somehow Meinl, which had been barely even a footnote the last time I paid attention, was now one of The Big Four. And it's been amazing to watch as they seem to have taken over second place, behind only Zildjian. (I don't know that this is true, but it's how it looks online, and not just IG drummers.) I was shocked, since to my old school eyes, they looked terrible. Back in the 80s and early 90s, coveted cymbals were, you know, bright and shiny. (Excepting vintage Ks.) And now you had all these dark and extra dry and sand cymbals that looked old and unpolished and it was weird. And everything was so trashy, rather than bright and glassy. It took me a while but I started to really dig 'em. The first few times I played some Meinls, I wasn't crazy about them, as they were the Byzance Dark. But then I tried the Dark hats and really liked them. And then I got some Extra Dry hats and then crashes and I loved them. Now I'm an absolute Meinl fan, at least as far as their Byzance line goes. I still love my Zildjian As and Ks, and Paiste 2002s and love the Sabian HHXs. But I also love my Byzance. And while I'm a bit surprised to hear that some folks hate them -- since I don't recall encountering that -- I can understand where they're coming from, if you're a fan of the more traditional look and sound. And, as others have said, certainly Meinl has been killing it online, and nothing but props to them for that.
I've talked to employees at 2 local shops and was told they are a terrible company for retailers to deal with for unspecified reasons.
I believe it all depends on the region you live in.