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'Volcano' cup has an inner dip rather than rising to a normal, rounded dome.

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• Review

Curiously named, the 22-inch Swish Knocker is based on the particular cymbal Mel Lewis played weekly at the Village Vanguard club in New York with his celebrated jazz orchestra over a quarter-century up till 1990.

The other two Chinas are new additions to the noisy Z3 brigade - cymbals aimed more towards tattooed rockers and metal heads. Z3, introduced in 2009, is the third generation of Zs, designed with increased flex so as to be more easily playable.

Build

Zildjian has already offered a 22-inch Swish Knocker for several years, but it was evidently not exactly the same as the inspirational Mel Lewis prototype. Mel's actual (Turkish 'K') cymbal had been passed on to his successor, John Riley, and Zildjian Director of Research and Design, Paul Francis, managed to borrow it in order to copy it precisely.

"I took some measurements from Mel's Knocker," explains Paul, "and built some tooling where we would get the same curvature every time." Consequently this new model has a slightly higher profile and a less curvaceous cup.

It also features 20 rivets and a traditional 'A' Zildjian satin finish. The two other Ultra-hammered Chinas are additions to the already extensive Z3 line of B20 bronze professional cymbals.

Although aimed at our brasher brethren, these two Chinas are thin, yet designed specifically to project and cut. This is achieved via the extensive hammering and unique 'volcano' profile bells.

Paul Francis explains that "the 19-inch and 21-inch Z3 Ultra-hammered Chinas were an experiment with new cup designs. Zildjian was working on four new cup designs and decided to see which one worked well in a China cymbal".

The cup Zildjian settled on is called the Volcano since it has an inner dip rather than rising to a normal rounded dome. Compared with the existing 18-inch and 20-inch Z3 Chinas, these Ultra Chinas have noticeably wider flanged rims which are heavily hammered, while in the body of the cymbal there are four hammer rows which serve to interrupt the curvature and accentuate the trashiness.

With the brilliant finish and the dashing logo this all adds up to a striking look.

Hands On

The Swish Knocker is certainly an atypical cymbal, one which will get you noticed. Played as a straight ride with stick tip near the midpoint of the body it has a bell-like chiming tone over the darker, mysterious body, with the chattering rivets following on.

The rivets add sizzle but die quickly once you stop playing. Crash the upturned brim and you get a pretty harsh trash-can sound. The bell is flattened on the top and if you strike here it is surprisingly deep and nutty, but glance just to the side and it is high-pitched and piercing. A double bell sound, then.

As for how to use it, it's instructive to seek out Mel's understated, musical playing on YouTube, eg: with the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis big band where he positioned his Knocker on the extreme right of his kit.