Meinl is a German brand of cymbals and percussion instruments that is carving out a place among the leading names. To do so, it experiments and works with all kinds of materials and alloys in order to improve its products. In Spain, we got to know them in the eighties. Those of us who were just starting out as musicians back then remember the Meteor series with nostalgia; while they weren't excellent cymbals, they got more than one of us out of a jam during that decade.
After that we lost track of them until a few years ago, when they began to be distributed here again. This second time around there was a certain understandable wariness, since most of us only knew the Meteor series and thought Meinl was strictly a beginner's brand. Now it's well known that the brand offers cymbals for every kind of need and budget.
The Custom Shop series was, at least as far as Spain is concerned, the confirmation that Meteor was not the most representative line of the brand. Personally, though, I think the arrival of the Byzance series was the real turning point for seeing Meinl as a fully professional and competitive brand. For all of us, what matters is that brands keep striving to improve their cymbals, and Meinl, like almost every company, is working on it.
An interesting facet of Meinl is its eagerness to follow the latest trends. Together with musicians such as Marco Minnemann, Johnny Rabb and Thomas Lang, they have explored electronic sounds and how to bring them to acoustic cymbals, achieving some unusual results. The "Generation X," "Tom´s Becken" and "Alien Hihats" series are the result of this search.
Meinl also offers a range of cymbals for percussionists: the Candela series
Another curiosity: in the percussion line, these are different cymbals whose distinctive feature is that they are designed to be played by hand to get the most out of them.
As we can see, Meinl is a brand with a large catalog that we intend to reveal to you in this article, since it is still somewhat unknown. We're going to analyze the different models and their sounds. To finish, I'll tell you about the cymbal setup I used on Carlos Baute's tour this past summer. If there's one valid source of information, it's undoubtedly your fellow musicians, so I hope my personal experience is of some use to you.
A little history
Roland Meinl founded the Meinl company in 1951, although cymbal production didn't start until a year later, and mass production in 1959. Throughout its history, Meinl has been a pioneer in certain respects, such as selling cymbals in packs of hi-hat, crash and ride. This happened for the first time back in 1974.
The first cymbals with professional aspirations arrived in 1976 with the "King Beat" series, although its most famous line, Meteor, didn't come until 1983. A year later, in 1984, it launched an interesting range of cymbals called Dragon, from which I own a China that has held up all this time. It has a few battle scars, but it still has a very musical dark timbre.
In 1984 they also began using the first robotic hammering machine. A year later they launched the "Rakes" range, which they still make and which represents Meinl's commitment to cymbals by and for rock drummers. In 1987 came the "Laser" series, which I had the chance to play and which I remember as very refined and elegant-sounding cymbals.
But the real revolution came in 1995 with the "Custom Cymbal Shop" range, which signaled Meinl's intention to create fully professional-grade cymbals. As I mentioned in the introduction, until then many of us perhaps knew the brand for lines like Meteor, cheap and practical. That's why Meinl was considered a good brand for beginners and little more. With Custom Cymbal Shop, many people changed their minds about the German brand. Proof of this is that from 1995 until today it has been developing new cymbal lines that almost always surpassed the previous ones.
The concept of the "exclusive cymbal" appeared with the "one of a kind" series, which offered the possibility of owning completely unique cymbals. They made one and broke the mold, to put it simply but vividly. That was in 1997, while in 1999 they launched one of their best cymbal lines: "Amun." But if there's one line of cymbals that aims to put Meinl at the top, it is undoubtedly "Byzance," which appeared in 2001.
In recent years, from 2001 to today, a lot has happened: the arrival of the "Generation X" series, the construction of a new factory in Gutenstetten, the launch of the "Soundcaster" cymbals, and so on.
In this brief review of Meinl's history we've left out a lot of details, but it gives us an idea that this is not a new brand and that it is constantly evolving.
Cymbal models
To analyze the models Meinl offers, we'll start with the entry-level ranges and work our way up in quality and, of course, in price. Meinl's most affordable line of cymbals is called "HEADLINER" and is available in two alloys: FX9 and MS63 (Brass model). FX9 is made of 69% copper, 15% zinc, 15% manganese and 1% aluminum. The MS63 alloy, in turn, consists of 63% copper and 37% zinc. Although these may seem like overly technical details, the truth is that knowing the alloy of a cymbal gives us an idea of the sound it may have. For example, the same alloys give practically the same sound to cymbals from different brands. This can help us save money if we find the same alloy in a cheaper brand. Of course, the treatment each cymbal receives varies from brand to brand, so even with the same alloy they don't sound exactly the same.
Now that we've explained why it's worth knowing the alloys, let's get back to Headliner. This range offers very affordable cymbals with an acceptable sound. Obviously, they're not meant for a professional to build a career on, though I do find a use for them. For me, because they're quieter than the more expensive ones, they let me play at a lower volume when I'm teaching or practicing somewhere I can't make much noise. Like almost all Meinl cymbals, they can be bought in boxed sets of crash, ride and hi-hat, which helps anyone who's just starting out and doesn't know much about all this. They're starter cymbals, plain and simple.
The next range up in quality is called "MCS". These cymbals stand out for their good value for money. The alloy is 92% copper and 8% tin. These cymbals can hold up well to bar gigs and intense rehearsals. For my taste, in terms of sound, they're a bit harsh. Still, for the money they cost, they're pretty good.
The "CLASSICS" series offers semi-professional quality cymbals. The alloy is the same as in the MCS model but, perhaps because of the subsequent treatment, the result is a less harsh cymbal that's more pleasant to the ear. For someone who intends to take drumming as more than a hobby, it can be a good starting point. Personally, I find the bells and Chinas very interesting, since I can include them in a professional setup without their "humble origins" showing. To give you an idea, they're somewhat similar to Paiste's Alpha line. Take these comparisons with due caution.
The "RAKES" cymbals have some very unusual features. You'll easily recognize them by the dark finish on the bell. The alloy, once again, is the same as in the previous models, but the result is different. The hammering is computerized, and the bell undergoes heat processes that give it a very particular sound and color. Rakes includes conventional crashes and some special ones. The latter are the XL and the LIGHTNING. The former are half an inch larger in diameter than standard cymbals. For example, a 14" XL crash actually measures 14.5", and so on for the other sizes. The Rakes Lightning cymbals are characterized by their wavy edge. This gives the cymbal a fast attack but a very short decay. It's as if the cymbal's sound "ends quickly," to put it crudely but clearly. The Rakes series is designed, in principle, for rock drummers.
The "AMUN" series is aimed at professionals. The truth is that most of Meinl's endorsers mix cymbals from different ranges in their setups, and it's not unusual to find all sorts of things. But in principle, as I say, Amun marks the start of the fully professional range for this brand. From what I've found, they're fairly versatile cymbals. Among its offerings I've found models I love and others I can't stand. Though I have to admit that's down to each person's way of playing more than the cymbal itself. For example, the "Powerful Big Bell" ride is the favorite of people like Mike Terrana, yet to me it's excessive in volume and brightness. Obviously, each player's style drives their choice. In any case, I consider the Amun series to be cymbals worthy of any stage.
"SOUNDCASTER" is the most recent new line Meinl has offered, at least as far as I know. The alloy sits between Byzance and Amun and consists of 88% copper and 12% tin. These are professional-grade cymbals, ideal for pop and rock. They don't have the warmth of Byzance, but they give Meinl a sound it didn't have before. They're cymbals with quite good brightness and response that work very well on large outdoor stages, as I had the chance to test. To put it simply, they're much closer to the Paiste sound than to Zildjian.
"BYZANCE" is, without a doubt and so far, the jewel in the crown. The alloy of these cymbals is the well-known B20 (80% copper and 20% tin), and it represents the typical sound of the Turkish tradition. They could be placed alongside the Zildjian K line, although each brand has its own particular timbre. Meinl begins production of these cymbals at a factory it owns in Turkey and finishes them in Germany. They are very musical cymbals, generally dark, with a fully professional sound. Until not long ago they were only available in a finish called "regular finish," but recently they've been made in three other finishes. I haven't been able to try them all yet, but, for example, the "brilliant" finish, which I have heard, brings Byzance closer to the Zildjian A Custom than to the K series.
The reason I make these comparisons is so you have a reference point with respect to cymbals almost all of us know well. That way, this article is more informative. Other models are "GENERATION X" and "CANDELA". The former are inexpensive cymbals because of their raw material, but that's precisely what helps them in their basic function: imitating electronic sounds. Meinl has developed a whole bunch of models, each more unusual than the last. The sound of Generation X is so geared toward one type of music that it makes them hard to use in other circumstances. Still, most of us use them as effects, which are so necessary nowadays to imitate current music productions. Candela, for its part, was conceived for percussionists who play cymbals by hand. This range has some very unusual effects.
Test bench on a Meinl setup
First of all, I should say that my setup changes depending on the type of music I'm playing. The most recent thing I've done is Carlos Baute's latest tour, so I'll use that as the reference for this article. I used two hi-hats. The main one is the 14" Medium Byzance model, which won me over from the start for several reasons. The stick sound is sweet and gritty, without standing out for volume or brightness. When struck with the hi-hat open, on the other hand, it's powerful and full-bodied. This combination makes this hi-hat ideal for me. Plus, it works for almost any situation I play in. The other hi-hat I use is a 12" Marco Minnemann Alien Hat, which has tambourine jingles attached to the bottom cymbal. The sound is a mix of hi-hat and tambourine, ideal for imitating loops and electronic drums. It works great combined with a 10" snare that I also use regularly.
The songs I had to play with Baute have few arrangements with ride, so I didn't need any particular one. So I used a Custom Cymbal Shop, which has a very standard sound with medium brightness and sustain. As for crashes, we added four: two 16", one 18" and one 17", all from the Byzance series. One of the 16" crashes has a Dry finish, with a rough sound and less sustain, which makes it ideal for supporting horn arrangements. The others are thin, plus an 18" medium thin. In my opinion, the Byzance Thin crashes perform the best of the entire series.
For effect cymbals I added a 20" Byzance China, which explodes forcefully when struck but isn't bothersome at all, thanks to its not-too-bright sound. We added a splash from the Candela series, which has a huge bell for a cymbal of this type. Maybe that's why it has such a "bell-like" sound. It's not a typical splash sound at all, but that's exactly why I love it. Combined with a 10" rumbera snare that I also use, the result is tremendously unusual.
I hope this whole article is useful to you. Keep in mind that what really guides us when choosing gear are our specific needs and tastes. What's gospel to one player may be useless to another. These articles simply try to show you what's out there on the market so you have more options to choose from. Cheers and good luck.
