Cymbals with Holes – Why They Have Holes & Top Ones to Buy

If you’ve been watching modern drummers for long enough, you would have noticed that some of them have cymbals in their setup that have several holes in them. These types of cymbals have become increasingly popular in recent times and it’s very common to see in many pro drummer setups.

If you’re wondering what the point of these cymbals is, stick around because I’m going to explain what they’re for and why they’re used. I’ll also mention a few popular ones that you should consider getting for yourself.

Why Do Some Cymbals Have Holes?

All cymbals that have holes are called effects cymbals. They look and sound vastly different from your traditional cymbals. The more holes a cymbal has, the trashier it’s going to sound. You could think of the sound landing somewhere between a crash and a china cymbal.

Cymbals with holes have less sustain and get out of the way very quickly. When you have a full set of cymbals, it’s often great to have one or two cymbals that have quick attacking sounds. They’re great for playing quick jabs. Cymbals with holes are the best way of achieving that sound.

Not all cymbals with holes are made the same. Some have circular holes while others have longer or wider pieces of them cut out from the cymbal. They’re designed like that to achieve very specific sound qualities.

Popular Effects Cymbals from Different Brands

Most of the popular cymbal brands have effects cymbals available in their lines of products. While some of them sound the same between each brand, many of them have unique qualities that are worth looking out for.

Here are a few popular lines of effects cymbals.

Zildjian EFX

Zildjian’s EFX series of cymbals are a collection of their standard lines that have had holes drilled into them to achieve special sounds. They basically take the classic Zildjian cymbals that we know and love and add trashy and dry tones to them.

For example, the Zildjian 18-inch K EFX is a drier version of the standard K Custom Dark cymbal. I love how punchy and short this cymbal sound is. It’s especially good for making cymbal stacks.

Meinl Trash Crash

Meinl has the trash crashes. These cymbals have been made popular by drummers such as Benny Greb and Anika Nilles. Their trashy tones are iconic in the Meinl setup and you’ll find that most pro drummers that play Meinl have at least one of these in their setup.

My favorite is the Byzance 18-inch Vintage Trash Crash. It’s incredibly dry and I love how you can hit it as hard as you want without it ever making too loud of a sound.

Sabian O-Zone

Similar to the Zildjians, the Sabian O-Zones are popular Sabian cymbals with added holes for unique sounds. These O-Zone cymbals are incredibly popular amongst Gospel drummers. I think it’s due to how well they fit within fast chopping patterns. The short tones are incredibly effective.

A standout cymbal for me is the Sabian HHX 18-inch O-Zone crash. While the Zildjian cymbal I mentioned was dark and the Meinl was dry, this cymbal sits somewhere in between both of those.

Different Types of Cymbals with Holes

Although I’ve only given a few examples of crash cymbals, all kinds of cymbals can have holes in them. The most popular types to have holes are crashes and splashes. Splash cymbals are typically used as effects cymbals anyway, so having holes in one is a great way of adding further sound dynamics to your setup.

One cymbal that I can think of off the top of my head that is famous for having holes is the Chad Smith Holy China. It doesn’t quite follow the same characteristics as the other cymbals with holes, though. In fact, it’s arguably the loudest cymbal I’ve ever heard. The trashiness of the china mixed with the added trashiness of the holes makes it a seriously heavyweight cymbal.

I’ve even seen drummers use hi-hat cymbals with holes in them. I wouldn’t recommend doing that as your stick could get caught in a hole when you’re playing on the surface, but it works if your playing is accurate.

Creating Stacks

Apart from adding trashy sounds to your cymbal setup, the other main use for cymbals with holes is to create stacks. A stack is when you use two or more cymbals and layer them on each other to create a new sound. The stack sound is short but typically a bit longer than what a hi-hat would sound like.

Cymbals with holes work incredibly well in stacks because their trashy tones mix well with other cymbals. Not all cymbals can be used in a stack, though. You need to have cymbals that comfortably fit on top of each other on a cymbal stand.

One of my favorite stacks is the Zildjian FX Stack. I saw Larnell Lewis using this thing and I fell in love with how it sounded. If you tighten it well enough, it sounds like a more aggressive and higher-pitched hi-hat. Using that stack along with your standard hi-hat to play grooves is an incredibly fun thing to do.

While you can buy ready-made stacks from cymbal companies, most people just experiment on their own with different cymbals to make them. Just know that adding a cymbal with holes to your stack will give it some trashy sound qualities that are awesome to hear.

Should You Use Cymbals with Holes?

I’d suggest using cymbals with holes if you play in modern styles of music. Styles like hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and pop, all have places in them where an effects cymbal can make a huge difference to the drum sound.

You won’t often see traditional jazz or rock players using stacks or cymbals with holes. It’s completely up to you whether you should use one of these cymbals. I don’t think you should rule it out for yourself, though. You can create some great drum parts with them.

Low Volume Cymbals

One thing that is worth mentioning is that you get one type of cymbals with an incredible number of holes in them. These are called low-volume cymbals and they’re designed to eliminate most of the cymbal sound so that you can practice quietly. They’re intended to be practice options and not cymbals that you play at proper gigs.

The most popular low-volume cymbals are the Zildjian L80s. If you’re looking to get cymbals with holes, don’t get these thinking that they’ll sound like unique trash crashes.

Wrap Up

I love effects cymbals. I see them as a representation of the evolving drum world and I think that they’re allowing drummers to create new sounds behind the kit that weren’t available to use decades ago.

You should give one of these cymbals a go and see how much character it can add to your overall drum sound. If you’re not a fan of how it sounds on its own, you can always try to stack it up with another cymbal to get a secondary hi hat option on your drum kit.

One useful side note to give you is that all cymbals with holes work well as stacks, even the ones that you gave holes to yourself by breaking them.