Meinl Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride

Group: Rides
Type: Sand Ride
Size: 20 Inch
Series: Byzance Vintage
Weight: 2356g, 2364g, 2368g, 2370g, 2371g, 2374g, 2377g, 2378g, 2378g, 2378g (2018 Serial Number), 2379g, 2384g
Median Weight: 2376g (n=12)
Years of production: 2010 - Present
Sound file: Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Byzance Vintage 20" Sand Ride
Meinl's Description: <<< - >>>
Review: "The 20" Sand ride is the original Sand cymbal. As a ride, it gives a tight, clean stick sound. The bell is juicy and the cymbal opens to crash readily, leaving an expansive decay."

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

Review: "Meinl turned every detail of Greb's aforementioned dream into reality, in the form of the 20" Byzance Sand ride. Hand hammered in Turkey and finished in Germany, the cymbal has a partially lathed bot- tom with an unusual rutty texture, while the top is sandblasted to give a gritty feel and a timeworn appearance. The best way to put the Sand ride to the test was to set my MP3 player on shuffle and see how the cymbal fared against whatever came up. Played along with everything from Kings Of Leon to Mastodon, Dave Brubeck to Sting, the ride never sounded amiss. The lower midrange crash explosions and the accent overtones don't drown out softer notes, while every detail of faster and more complex stickings was articulated clearly. The bell had a great presence that tied together the ride's intricate and powerful elements. A quick decay accentuated the dryness of the medium-size bell and held a solid high pitch that nicely offset the substance of the body of the cymbal.

The Sand ride had a ton of character, an aspect essential to Greb's cymbal setup. "The ride is the most important cymbal in my drumkit," Benny says. "It defines the overall sound of the drummer and the whole band immensely."

Review written by David Ciauro ("Meinl Byzance Benny Greb Signature Sand Ride", Modern Drummer, January 2010, p.23)

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.

Moving on to the 20″ Sand Ride, it offers the same versatility characteristic of the hi-hats and the rest of the line. I have used it for funk, jazz, rock, pop, and even metal gigs, performing and fitting in in all of them.

The nuances and more exciting characteristics of this cymbal affect when and where you use it, for better or for worse.

Starting with the benefits I’ve seen from using the cymbal for almost a decade now, its medium thickness and sandblasted surface make it have a very earthy tone. It’s a very non-intrusive cymbal sound that doesn’t take over the rest of the kit’s sound when playing at high volumes.

The signature patina makes for a short decay, that as we will mention later, for me, ended up being one of the flaws of the cymbal. For live settings where you have to use the cymbal both as a crash and ride, it works either way, as the crash itself goes out quickly.

Much like the versatility of the hi-hats, original position or inverted, the Sand Ride can be modified to each player’s needs without losing much of its identity.

I wanted a bit of dryer sound and stick definition in some recordings or gigs without much harmonics. With just the minimum amount of tape on the underside, you can achieve a very similar sound to a Meinl Extra Dry cymbal while keeping the Sand line’s earthy tone.

One of the selling points for me about this cymbal is that it has one of the best bell sounds I’ve ever heard, if not the best—especially when hitting the bell with the stick’s shaft. You get beautiful and defined bell sounds that never sound too loud or “pingy,” that mix perfectly in live and studio settings, and one that compliments the ride sound.

With some other cymbals, I’ve experienced excellent stick definition and tones. When hitting the bell, you get this annoying, high pitched ping that doesn’t sit in well with the drums and moves all of the focus to its sound With the Sand Ride, I haven’t heard a bell sound that mixes in better with the drums, and that doesn’t sound like a gimmick or unmusical choice, but a color in itself that can have its own musical purpose.

Now, this is not a ride for everyone, as it’s impressively versatile, but I’ve seen that it trades many specific attributes of other types of rides to meet in a middle ground in which it fills the general function of most of them.

I like to think of this ride as a middle ground between an extra dry cymbal (like the K Custom Dry Cymbals from Zildjian or the Extra Dry Line from Meinl) and the dark full of tone rides from lines such as the Zildjian K or Constantinople. It does the job for both, yet it compromises some of the mentioned lines’ unique attributes.

On one side, it delivers a short decay and earthy that would make it fit in situations in which you need a ride with few harmonics and a dark tone. Yet, at the same time, it’s tonal qualities, and vintage sound make it “too” musical for those trashy qualities.

Its tone and stick definition, in conjunction with its beautiful bell sound, presents many possibilities for using it as a very melodic and dark ride. It can be your main cymbal for recordings and gigs in which you want that classic old K sound. Its short decay and general dryness disable it from achieving that spotlight.

It may be a ride that is hard to get accustomed to, or it could be the most incredible sounding cymbal you’ve heard. After spending many practice hours and gigs/recordings, you start developing a very keen ear for what it can offer.

In my case, I’ve found that it’s the perfect “quiet” ride. It has subtleties and low volume details. You can take advantage of its beautiful tone and bell and its short decay, providing enough space to make it shine in situations when needed.

After some years of using it, I drilled three holes and installed some rivets. Much like when I found out about the possibilities of putting the hi-hat upside down, I found this tweak (Meinl does this on their 22″ Sand Crash/Ride) enables the cymbal to gain a little bit of needed decay and body to its strokes. I now get enhanced stick definition between the notes, reduced harmonics when crashing, and a gentle sizzle that gives the cymbal just a bit more presence."

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