Meinl Byzance Vintage 14" Sand Hat

Group: Hi-Hats
Type: Sand Hat
Size: 14 Inch
Series: Byzance Vintage
Weight: Top: 816g / Bottom: 1519g

Top: 820g / Bottom: 1465g

Top: 820g / Bottom: 1470g

Top: 829g / Bottom: 1500g

Top: 830g / Bottom: 1511g

Top: 838g / Bottom: 1504g

Top: 845g / Bottom: 1503g

Top: 848g / Bottom: 1464g

Top: 850g / Bottom: 1492g

Top: 851g / Bottom: 1504g

Top: 854g / Bottom: 1488g

Top: 854g / Bottom: 1506g

Top: 855g / Bottom: 1488g

Top: 860g / Bottom: 1476g

Top: 861g / Bottom: 1517g

Top: 865g / Bottom: 1511g

Top: 866g / Bottom: 1501g

Top: 871g / Bottom: 1520g

At low dynamics they are almost feathery soft, responding deftly to the merest touch. Played into, they become more assertive, striking a perfect balance between defined and meaty. Relaxing the pedal finds them spreading to a sloshy wash."

Review written by Adam Jones ("Meinl Sand Cymbal Set review - Modern cymbals with a vintage finish", musicradar.com, December 18, 2012)

Review: "For the past nine years, the Meinl Sand Hi-Hats (14″) and Sand Ride (20″) cymbals have been my go-to-versatile combination for a variety of the recordings and gigs I’ve played.

With an all-terrain signature sound unique to all of the Benny Greb cymbals, the 14″ hi-hats and 20″ ride provide stick definition and tone necessary to work in a jazz and fusion scenario while having decay and dryness to make them also suitable in funk, R&B, hip hop, and rock situations.

The cymbals, both from the Byzance Vintage line, are made of B20 alloy and have a sandblasted surface that gives them a vintage patina and dry tone. The 20″ presents a medium weight with a partially lathed bottom and a sandblasted top surface that after years has aged beautifully, having the sides of the cymbal in which it’s played the most slowly, showing its differentiated wear.

On the other hand, the 14″ Sand hi-hats consist of a pretty heavy bottom cymbal with a surface similar to the sand ride—the likes of a traditional sandblasted cymbal.

The top cymbal is very thin and unlathed, similar to the extra dry look. Both have different hammering that creates its unique sound. Both cymbals are sandblasted; they are prone to have the unique signature look that a lot of Meinl Cymbals have, with not one cymbal looking the same as the other.

It would also be best if you didn’t clean any cymbals in the Byzance Vintage, as the process will get rid of some of the sandblasted patina that gives the line its dry yet full of tone sound.

Lastly, after coming across some other drummers with the same cymbals, I can ensure that they age beautifully. Comparing them to some other drummers’ same cymbals gives an inspiring insight into how one musician to another plays these cymbals.

As beautiful as they are, the sound is what matters, and there’s a lot to say about this line.

After being used to your typical mid-range brilliant finish hi-hats, getting this pair was a change of feel and sound that took me a while to get used to, but the payoff was worth it.

At that time, I was usually playing in rock, funk, and fusion settings and was used to the bright sound of the hi-hats I previously owned. My lack of proper technique at that time usually went under the radar, as the overall brightness and lack of tone gave the illusion of more even strokes than they were.

The Meinl Sand hats amplified the areas in which my playing lacked. I started noticing it when playing double strokes and higher subdivisions on the hi-hat. My lower strokes seemed way more sloppy and uneven than they did before with other hi-hats.

It took some time to get used to them. Still, after some weeks, I started seeing the benefits of playing them. The pair’s dryer and darker sound accentuated some more subtle flaws I wasn’t paying attention to in my playing.

That’s not to say that some other dry cymbals might introduce similar situations to drummers accustomed to that bright hi-hat sound. Still, these cymbals, combined with the thinness and fast decay of the cymbals, provided an enriching experience that enhanced my awareness of my playing flaws.

After some time of playing the mentioned genres, my taste in music and opportunities changed a bit. It started shifting more towards jazz and hip hop. These two musical scenarios give a very different approach and role to the hi-hat. That’s where I began to realize the potential of the pair.

When playing in jazz settings, the Sand hats didn’t provide the typical noticeable hi-hat pedal sound I was looking for while comping. The top hat’s dryness and thinness created a very dry and low volume chic sound when comping. Even though they’re perfect for subtleties between strokes, if used as a pulse while playing around the kit, they don’t have a lot of presence.

I discovered how versatile the pair is when playing the bottom hat on top and the top hat on the bottom. What was a very dry and low volume hi-hat sound becomes a girthy hi-hat sound with more presence, comparable to that classic “K” sound.

When playing the bottom cymbal on top, you also gain a bit more stick definition while compromising the controllable and pleasant dry open sound the thinner top cymbal offers.

But certainly, what the bottom cymbal adds on top is a very non-intrusive yet present hi-hat pedal sound, with a low-pitched tone that, for a 14″, mixes beautifully with the rest of the kit. The chic sound is very much felt, while not being annoying or piercing, though adding quite a bit of weight to the cymbal.

On the other hand, after getting to “know” the cymbal and all of the possibilities it has when used the top or bottom side, it’s clear to me that playing in genres such an RnB, hip hop, and funk is where these cymbals shine on their “original” position—having the thin and dryer cymbal on top with a non-intrusive low pitched cymbal sound that I relate more to 15″ cymbals.

It mixes perfectly with both super low and fat snares and high tuned, poppy snares very present in classic hip hop albums and today’s contemporary jazz scene. While having the dryer thinner cymbal on top, phrasing and opening the hi-hat also benefits from its low decay and dry sound.

Overall the cymbal pair offers various possibilities that I haven’t quite come across with other hi-hats, benefiting aware and tight playing, and punishing uneven and sloppy technique. It takes some time to get used to the feel of the cymbals. Still, the vast host of possibilities using the hats in both configurations will give any player all-terrain sound and feel that can fill an enormous array of musical situations."

Review written by Nick Cesarz ("Meinl Sand Cymbal Set Review: 14″ Hats and 20″ Ride", drumspy.com, April 7, 2025)

Artist/song where it can be heard: unknown

Meinl Byzance Vintage 14" Sand Hat

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