Zultan Cymbals sets its sights on metal with its “loud, aggressive and biting” F5 18” Mega Bell Ride

Zultan F5 Mega Bell Ride
(Image credit: Zultan)

There are a couple of ingredients required for a great metal ride cymbal: it needs to be loud enough to cut through a wall of guitars, bright enough to produce a strong attack, and dry enough to retain its note definition with fast patterns.

That’s exactly what Zultan is aiming for with its new F5 series 18” Mega Bell ride cymbal, which it says achieves all of these things for a “loud, aggressive and biting” ride sound, designed to deliver a quintessential ride sound for heavy music on a budget.

Zultan F5 Mega Bell Ride

(Image credit: Zultan)
F5 Mega Bell Ride I Overview I Zultan Cymbals - YouTube F5 Mega Bell Ride I Overview I Zultan Cymbals - YouTube
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It’s 100% handcrafted, and is made of the same B20 Bronze alloy found in higher-priced cymbals.  The huge bell is lathed and polished, while the bow and underside of the cymbal is hammered by hand to produce the large hammer marks you can see, before being polished to a brilliant finish.

At the time of launch, the F5 Mega Bell Ride is only available as an 18” cymbal, priced at £167/€191/$208. For more information, visit the Zultan website, or to check the latest price at Thomann, click here.

Stuart Williams
Drums

I'm a freelance member of the MusicRadar team, specialising in drum news, interviews and reviews. I formerly edited Rhythm and Total Guitar here in the UK and have been playing drums for more than 25 years (my arms are very tired). When I'm not working on the site, I can be found on my electronic kit at home, or gigging and depping in function bands and the odd original project.