I've used this cymbal off and on for a while now. Everything from the K Custom series are well-made cymbals and sound wise are a cut above your average cymbal, but the K Custom Dry Ride stands out as a great choice (if it fits your prejudices in a ride cymbal). What I like most about it is its complexity, like a fine wine. This is probably the best dry ride I've ever played, because most dry rides are too dry and bland but not this one. This cymbal IS pretty dry, but it still has some "sizzle" too it, which give it a smoky sound and dark overtones. Its mellow but not wimpy, with a very defined "ping" and a subtle shimmer underneath it. Being a dry ride, of course, it has minimal sustain but riding it hard to try and build up some "wash" and "shimmer" underneath will leave you pleasantly suprised. Its all in how you play this cymbal.
I doubt that I would play this cymbal in a very agressive rock band, but I suppose you could if you wanted to. Being a dry ride and as dark as it is, I doubt I would use it in a jazz or fusion setting either. I think the perfect situation for using this cymbal would be a progressive rock band, or a more mellower rock band where you demand some complexity in the tone of your cymbals, and still want it to cut through.
Everything in the K Custom line is going to cost you some green, but if you are looking in this price range for cymbals then you must be discriminating enough to pay K Custom prices. I doubt you would be disapointed. I don't think Sabian or even my beloved Paiste makes a dry ride to compete with this one.

Good ole' Carvin. Made in the USA. 24 frets, ebony fretboard, Wilkinson tremolo. C22N and C22B, volume, tone, 3 way toggle switch. Mini toggles for coil tapping. Sperzel locking tuners. Sweet mahogany neck with Tung-oil finish. I also had a mahogany body model with a reverse headstock. Very fast. This guitar is built to burn.

The neck has a GREAT feel. Overall "C" shape neck... not super thin like an Ibanez Wizard... but every bit as fast. Maybe with even a greater range of control for serious bends.. more thumb pivot. Access to upper frets is without parallel. Smooth as butter and prices that compete with imports. Very balanced instrument.. comfortable weight distribution for long sets. This guitar does get a nice sound right out of the box, but I did change the bridge pickup out. More in "Sounds"

This guitar should be able to suit anyone's style except for maybe die-hard Jazz guys. (and gals ) It can pull off ANYTHING. Funk, Metal, Blues, Hard rock, etc. Perfect for studio use. It CAN do jazz as well... make no mistake! It just may not suit someone who lives for that semi hollow body sound. You can achieve loads of styles, and the coil taps increase your options greatly. Really decent single coil approximations... not exactly Strat-like.. but close enough.. maybe even brighter! I needed a guitar that had a little hotter bridge pickup, and the C22 would have to be my least favorite aspect of this guitar. Not a great pickup. Not horrible... but a bit lifeless and low output.. hard to describe. The M22T pickup from Carvin is great.. don't know why they came up with this thing. Anyway... switched it out for a Seymour Duncan JB (which coil taps on a mahogany bodied guitar very, very well.) and had much more gain. The C22N pickup is nice... I guess they are trying to get a 50's guitar sound. Not sure it was a success, but the neck pickup was worth keeping. Taps nicely.. and responds to cleans extremely well. Distortions..mmm.. well, certainly good enough. Quiet. Not super fat with a lot of distortion, but it can hang.
Hard to pick a favorite sound.. the cleans are very nice.. but with the JB... it definitely lends itself to shredding.

Using this on and off for like... 15 years? I have always had one of these in one guitar or another.. lol. I like this pickup overall. It is pretty balanced.. pretty hot.... but backs off nicely. Not scorching like a Gibson 500T for example, but still has enough gas in the tank to rock.. without the spikey trebles. Things I like least about it..hmmm. Well, it could have a bit more character.. I would not call it a bland pickup per se, nor would I call it a blank canvas. The overall characteristic would be the fact that it is balanced.. probably a good choice for a studio guitarist.. an inoffensive tone that can do heavy or clean. Ultimately, the benefit of this is versatility.
I've had this in basswood, alder, mahogany, alder with maple tops, mahogany with maple tops, etc, etc. guitars. It has a different character with all of them, but you always know it is a JB. There is always speculation, and reference that this is a "Jeff Beck" signature pickup... it has never been. Not sure, but there was some controversy regarding this as to Seymour trying to pass it off as a a signature model.. not sure how the legend goes. LOL! It actually stands for "Jazz Bridge". Hence, the fact that it is very balanced... good for fusion.

As I mentioned.. I have always had this in one or more of my guitars for over a decade. I would say I am fairly sold on this pickup. I think this is a good value given the prices for Gibson pickups for example... which are no better than this. I would make the same choice.... owning this pickup does not stop me from owning other pickups... if I could only own ONE pickup, I might reconsider .. then again.. I might not! It covers a lot of bases.. it could be considered an all-in-one solution.

Made in Japan, 22 frets (no fret markers...just side dots. Nice look!), maple neck, rosewood fretboard. Proprietary Yamaha piezo tremolo.. very smooth with great tone. A mix between an AM Strat and Wilkinson trem. Blend controls as well as tone and volume. Flamed maple top on alder body. Sweet. Sperzel locking tuners. Seymour Duncan JB and 59' pickups stock. Sculpted bolt on neck heel. I don't know what else you could ask of a normal electric guitar.

Neck feels GREAT. Very playable... playability of an Ibanez, with a bit more slight "C" shape profile. Love it. Great neck heel...easy,easy access to upper registers. Body weight is less than my Strat. Very manageable.

Heavy music is what I play in general, but I do like playing blues,funk,acoustic... this guitar can pull it all off. Smoking incendiary tones are where it excels, however. Nice balanced hi gain when I run it through my Voodoo Labs Preamp... with a Digitech GSP2101 running effects and parametric e.q., and a Keeley TS9 in front.. I get some decent proximity of Eric Johnson's early tones... (back when he wanted to rip and played with distortion).. fuzzy, but focused.. with a singing roundness to my notes. Honest.. this was the last guitar I expected to pull off that type of tone.
My favorite tones are thru the JB with high gain. Very rewarding.. the 59' is a bit muddy and unfocused..not crazy about it, but it is decent for soloing as well if I need a flubby Yngwie-ish tone. The piezo is great for cleans, chicken' picken' and live approximations of acoustic stuff. I am thinking of throwing in a new neck pickup.. but the JB in the bridge STAYS.

USA made Strat.. 22 frets.. 2001 model. 2 point fulcrum tremolo. 3 single coil pickups.."Deltatone" I think.. switched out the bridge for an HS-3... GREAT for lead.. but I will review the original pickup... which is very nice.. biting.. good single coil tone. 1 volume, 2 tone controls.. C shaped neck.. very sweet playability.

Very easy playing neck. Like a glove. There are better necks out there (Ernie Ball Musicman. Sooo simple, but unmatched.) but.. not being a huge Strat fan previously.. this was a really nice surprise.
Note access is good. I have had Ibanez, Carvin.. great bolt on and neck thru body guitars.. their access was better (obviously) but... this makes up for it in vibe. Just stretch that pinky!
Classic design. Ergonomic.. but even though there are certainly more balanced and ergonomic guitars... the vibe compensates!
Natural classic tones right out of the case. This is the guitar you have heard on thousands of albums.

I play heavy music... with the stock pickup... Mmmm.. I could certainly get heavy sounds, but they were accompanied by 60 cycle hum. I switched the bridge out with a Dimarzio HS-3 (Yes, kiddies.. I DID a review on it) which has served me quite well for balanced, noiseless hi gain tones. If you are using this guitar for medium gain or clean stuff... I would keep the original bridge pickup. Functions better with the middle pickup (sweeter) and certainly has much more character than the HS-3.. I just needed something upon which I could heap gain and get metal tones. The stock bridge is great for up to medium gain stuff... The mid and neck pickup stock are quite sweet. Relatively quiet for singles, and do their job... which is deliver sweet Strat tone. I got this guitar for 600 bucks... and honestly (and this is sacrilege.. lol) I like it more overall.. tonewise and comfort/playability than my 2500 Les Paul. (Don't shoot me) Using it thru a Voodoo Lab preamp, Digitech GSP2101 for effects.. Carvin T100 poweramp. Eminence Cannabis Rex cabinets.
Favorite tones are hi gain (with HS-3) BUT I liked my hi gain tone with the original bridge as well.. truly.. a lot! The tones I still like with the stock p/u's are cleans. They reveal the complexity of tone available here.. I used to think "I would only buy either a Deluxe American or a cheapo Squier".. I thought everything in-between was not worth it. I consider myself proven wrong. Got a great piece of wood on this one.. and I would be heartbroken if I lost this guitar. "9" for solid, classic vibe, great tones, look and feel. Olympic white. Jimi would approve.

Had this puppy installed in a Telecaster for about 3 years now. I am a bit of a Metalhead, so.. this does not always get a a lot of play.. but it is certainly a classic guitar and brought to higher levels of versatility with this modification. The Powerbridge gives a decent approximation of an acoustic... in a pinch. The piezo sound is a great option if you need to pull off Stairway To Heaven live... but it also lends itself to great chicken' pickin' tones.And sweet quasi single coil tones for Blues.. Actually.. better on the latter. Believe it or not.. I have tried other setups.. as I need the versatility. I also own a Yamaha RGX820Z.. with Seymour Duncan JB bridge and 59' in the neck.. This is also equipped with an active, battery munching piezo circuit in the tremolo system. Also very sweet.. I would say this has a bit more control over the tone shaping aspects than the Fishman, but this is also a proprietary Yamaha product.. the Fishman is a great alternative to something you can install into your Tele. ( I think they also have a trem version of this for Strats. I have also tried the Parker Fly stuff.. they are all kind of the same result. The signature piezo sound... somewhere between an acoustic and an electric single coil clean tone.

I find this to be a good value... *IF* you need this specific type of versatility from your equipment. Certainly better than an acoustic modeler pedal or even that found in the Boss GT8.. now, if you go Full Monty and get a VG88 or some other high end guitar synth, you can get more realistic, true acoustic tones. It really depends. If you hate those, love your tube amp and like the organic interplay between your Tele and your amp... Get this. If you would use everything in a Roland VG88, for instance... then the Fishman may not be the way to go.. and just pony up on the outboard gear. I would buy this again.. perhaps. I am not a huge Telecaster fan.. and would possibly opt for the Tremolo version for my Stratocasters. It is a great tool to have in your belt if you love your amp and don't want visual modifications done to your guitar.(i.e. Roland GK pickup,etc).. and still bridging acoustic and electric tones for live sets. This is probably not what you would ever consider using in the studio as an acoustic unless you were looking for a very specific piezo tone... It could happen..

Used this pickup in an Ibanez RG550 for over a year... Basswood has a very balanced smooth tone, so.. I think it was a forgiving canvas for a pickup to make an impression. I have had extensive experience in tone dissatisfaction.. so I am always changing stuff in and out of guitars.. It IS a disease! I have used Fender, Gibson, Paul Reed Smith, EMG, Dimarzio, Seymour Duncan, Carvin, etc, etc.
Alright. So, now the pickup. EMG81. The pre-eminent metal pickup of choice for all the Nu-Metal kiddies. This pickup has been around FOREVER. I think I was using this 12 years ago.. maybe longer... so this is definitely not the new piece of gear lots of people think it is. Very high output, neutrally voiced pickup. It has a lot of clear, boosted signal. Kind of the opposite gain approach of the Dimarzio HS-3.. which is a low output... very, VERY neutral pickup. Zakk Wylde seems to love this in a Les Paul.. I imagine it might be a good choice in that guitar.. as the maple may add brightness.Let me also add that he has a maple neck, so.. this has a small bit of impact as well. In the Ibanez, it was opaque. Flat. Neutral. Can't think of any other boring adjectives to describe it. The good news is.. it should take on the characteristics of your rig. If you have a good preamp... or a Marshall JCM800.. with a bunch of Boss pedals in front of it.. you might be able to get a nice dark, heavy tone. (like Zakk) Not particularly complex.. pretty straightforward, high gain. Easy pinched harmonics, but not rich and detailed sounding. The best way to get a rich sound would be if you have a crunchy amp.. and use this to push it into higher gain. I'm sure Zakk Wylde's rig would not scream quite so loudly if you played a Strat thru it. The best part about this is that it is verbose. Huge. Fat. Like playing a regular humbucker with a clean boost. (One good way to avoid buying this, changing your pots and adding batteries) But if you want a dead quiet, high output solution.. need your notes thick and meaty (and your rig provides the character you want) this is the way to go. You hear it on lots of heavy albums nowadays... the question one has to pose themselves is... Do I want to create my OWN sound? This might be it... but there are lots of other options.

I owned my Wuhan China for a couple years, I should have never let it go.

Wuhan makes the trashiest China cymbals ever! This is what a china is supposed to sound like! Zildjian, Sabian, and even my beloved Paiste have never made a China cymbal that could touch a Wuhan. The other cymbal makers make what sounds like a crash cymbal with an identity crisis, but Wuhan makes trashy, dark, explosive, punchy cymbals with low harmonic overtones, and minimal sustain! The other cymbal makers just don't have the punchiness and lower harmonic tone, and don't sound all that Oriental either. These do.
Amazing, they are dirt cheap too, everyone should own one. I had a 14" but always lusted for a 16" or even 18" for more volume. I played melodic indie rock with a hardcore/metal influence and this cymbal added a lot of character and aggressive tone to our sound. Metal drummers have known for years what a china cymbal can do for a blast beat, and I quickly learned what a good trashy China can do for heavy music, like hitting it with the snare for accented upbeats, breakdowns, or crazy accents.
They are fairly thin and its possible to crack them, but I never did and I played mine pretty hard, so my personal experience with durability is positive.
The 12" has little to no sustain, and the 14" is a little more washy sounding, and the sustain increases as you go up in size. These are such a steal at under 20 bucks for a 14" and under 30 bucks for a 16".
You will either love 'em or hate 'em but at least try one out.