Zildjian K Custom Session Hi-Hats: the Steve Gadd studio pair
Zildjian K Custom Session Hi-Hats (K0993). Modeled on Steve Gadd's personal pair: a 13 15/16 inch medium-weight top over a 14 inch medium-thin bottom, brilliant finish. Built for controlled studio work, reversing the usual heavier-bottom hi-hat formula.
Reviewed by the Change Your Strings editorial team ·
Zildjian's 14-inch K Custom Session Hi-Hats (K0993) are modeled on Steve Gadd's own personal pair: a slightly undersized 13 15/16-inch medium-weight top over a 14-inch medium-thin bottom, brilliant finish. Unlike most hi-hats, the top runs heavier than the bottom, logged weight data shows a median 1,084g top against a 993g bottom, the reverse of Zildjian's own New Beat formula. Built for controlled studio work, not stage volume.
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What this hi-hat pair is
Zildjian's 14-inch K Custom Session Hi-Hats pair a slightly undersized top cymbal over a full-size bottom, a design modeled on the personal hi-hats Steve Gadd has played across five decades of session work. Zildjian's own product page describes the pairing as "very controlled and custom-made for studio use," a narrower brief than most hi-hats, which also have to cut through a loud room.
A retailer listing carrying Zildjian's own marketing copy fills in the development story: Gadd "worked with the Zildjian Sound Lab for several years to reproduce the classic and sought-after sound of his cymbals." The result is a 13 15/16 inch medium-weight top over a 14 inch medium-thin bottom, in a brilliant finish, brighter and shinier than the natural finish on Zildjian's own New Beat and Quick Beat pairs.
The inverted weight formula
Most mismatched hi-hat pairs put the heavier cymbal on the bottom. Zildjian's own New Beat hats set the standard for that layout: a medium top rides a heavy bottom, the formula jazz and big-band drummer Louie Bellson helped popularize in the 1960s. K Custom Session runs the opposite. Modern Drummer's own review of the pair describes the top as the heavier cymbal of the two, the reverse of New Beat's design.
Community-logged weights back it up. Cymbal Wiki's log of 10 individually weighed pairs puts the median top at 1,084 grams against a 993-gram bottom, a real, if modest, top-heavy pairing. Modern Drummer's T. Bruce Wittet confirmed the same thing by ear in a 2004 review of the pair:
When you place a heavy cymbal on top of a lighter one, you gain articulation and clarity that punches through.
Modern Drummer, August 2004, p. 29
Neither official product page spells this comparison out on its own. It only shows up once you put Zildjian's two hi-hat pages, and the logged weights, side by side.
Anatomy
- Model
- Zildjian K Custom Session Hi-Hats
- Catalog #
- K0993 (pair); K0994 (top cymbal only); K0995 (bottom cymbal only)
- Sizes offered
- 14 inch (top runs a slightly undersized 13 15/16 inch)
- Weight pairing
- Medium top, medium-thin bottom, inverted from most hi-hat pairs
- Median weight, 14"
- Top approx. 1,084 g / bottom approx. 993 g (10 logged pairs)
- Alloy
- B20 bronze (80% copper, 20% tin)
- Finish
- Brilliant
- Design origin
- Modeled on Steve Gadd's personal pair, developed with Zildjian's Sound Lab
- Made in
- Norwell, Massachusetts, USA (Zildjian's K family production moved fully to Norwell by 1980)
- In production
- Documented since at least 2003; reviewed in Modern Drummer's August 2004 issue
K Custom Session vs. New Beat vs. Quick Beat
All three pair a lighter cymbal against a heavier one. K Custom Session is the only one of the three that puts the heavier cymbal on top instead of the bottom.
| K Custom Session (K0993) | A New Beat (A0133) | A Quick Beat | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Top weight | Medium, 13 15/16" undersized | Medium | Medium |
| Bottom weight | Medium-thin (the lighter piece) | Heavy, traditional wide groove | Heavy, 4 extra suction-relief holes |
| Finish | Brilliant | Natural | Natural |
| Designed around | Steve Gadd's personal pair | Louie Bellson's 1965 concept | A snappier update to New Beat |
| Character | Controlled, close-mic'd studio tone | Full, versatile, all-purpose chick | Faster-opening, snappier action |
| Best for | Session recording, low-volume control | The default choice, any genre | Fast stick work, funk and fusion |
If you already own a New Beat pair and mostly play loud rooms, there's little reason to add K Custom Session on top of it. It earns its place in a different setting: a home or commercial studio chasing a specific, documented session sound, not a second all-purpose pair.
What it sounds like, and who it's for
Modern Drummer's reviewer put it plainly after gigging the pair across a mixed set list:
Three words describe the Session hats: drop dead gorgeous.
Modern Drummer, August 2004, p. 29
The same review documents the pair working in more than one setting: light foot splashes in an acoustic jazz context, and holding up through "a particularly loud version of 'I Will Survive'" in a variety-show gig. Equipboard's aggregated listing for the product describes a similar spread, citing jazz, fusion, and pop as the styles players reach for it in most.
Best fits: session and studio drummers recording close-mic'd hi-hat tracks, jazz and fusion players who want a controlled foot feel over raw volume, and any working drummer curious about the Gadd sound who wants the cheapest entry point into the K Custom Session line.
Worst for
Loud rock and metal rooms where the hi-hat has to cut over a wall of guitar amps. Zildjian designed this pairing for studio control, not maximum stage volume, and Modern Drummer's own review notes the chick sound "wasn't as predominant as" Zildjian's own Mastersound design. Players chasing that kind of cut generally reach for a heavier-bottom or Mastersound-style pair instead, or Zildjian's own New Beat.
Budget-conscious buyers should also look elsewhere first: this sits in Zildjian's premium, boutique-tier pricing, well above its own mainstream A-series pairs. And availability isn't guaranteed everywhere; one retailer checked for this review currently lists the pair as no longer in stock, so confirm current availability before ordering rather than assuming every drum shop carries it.
Verdict
K Custom Session earns its niche honestly. It's not trying to be an all-genre pair the way New Beat is, and it says so on Zildjian's own product page: built for controlled studio work, modeled on one specific session drummer's personal cymbals. For the player it's built for, someone recording hi-hat tracks that need to sit cleanly under a microphone, or a Gadd student chasing that exact documented sound, it delivers on a narrow, well-defined promise. For everyone else, Zildjian's own broader-purpose pairs are the safer first buy.
I'd recommend that if you want to get your feet wet with the Gadd Session series, go with the hats first.
Modern Drummer, August 2004, p. 29
Drummers documented using this cymbal
Each drummer profile cites this product in their stick / head / cymbal / kit frontmatter. Click through for the full editorial profile + sourcing.