Meinl HCS or Sabian B8's?
 

Which is better and why?

Meinl HCS. To my ears, they have fewer unpleasant overtones when compared to the Sabian B8s. Of course, you should try them out for yourself side by side because your ears may tell you something completely different.

HCS. had the ride once and it was pretty decent. the bell sounded really nice and it had a pretty good overall tone. I had B8s for hats and crashes and they don't seem very durable; not to mention i didn't like the tone all that well.

I use soultone cymbals now, it's not too hard to get endorsed and they are super solid cymbals. definitely recommend looking into that or some used ones :p

Thanks for the input, but let me add specifically what I'm looking for.

I want as little decay on the ride as possible. I know that the HCS is "ringy" and was really wondering about the B8 ride. Also, I prefer the crashes to be relatively low-pitched and have an average decay time, not really long, but not short.

Change anything?

I apologize ahead of time for the length of this.

If you want low pitches and a short decay, then you probably should avoid the B8s. The bronze they are made out of is awfully high in pitch. If the ride sounds nice but has too much decay for you, you can always slap a little square of moongel on the top side... or even use a bit of duct tape on the underside. I don't know how long you've been playing, so i hope i'm not getting too deep in the weeds here, but.... Generally, i find larger diameter crashes in a "traditional" finish to have a bit lower, darker tone than smaller crashes in a "brilliant" finish. As to rides, a medium weight ride cymbal will have a faster response, which essentially means that the overtones will show up and fade out a bit quicker (at least this is my experience). A heavier weight ride will give you a clearer "ping" sound when you hit it, but there is a significant delay with the overtones. I used to use a Zildjian A-Custom Ping Ride... which is pretty heavy... and this "delay" would result in an undercurrent of unpleasant mid range "hum."

As for the actual Meinl HCS ride cymbal... a friend of my brother's uses one (mostly due to budgetary issues) and i didn't find it to sound overly "ringy" myself. And if you're a beginner, i'm gonna give you the same advice i give every beginner... you can get away with cheap crashes and splashes longer than you can a cheap ride/hi-hat. The Meinl HCS will be a good bump when you're just getting off the ground, but i would recommend replacing it with a "professional" ride cymbal as soon as possible. And i second what bassdrum said about looking into used cymbals. You may be able to come away with some good high end cymbals for the same price you would have paid for decent mid range cymbals.

^^^
thanks man, so what rides would you recommend specifically? Try to stay on a budget here, I am starting out still. (but I know everything you're talking about with *brilliant* finishes and all.)

WhaWhat is the difference between Sabian B8 cymbals and Sabian B8 Pro cymbals?

B8 Pro cymbals have a "brilliant" finish, meaning that they are polished and have a much brighter sound to them.