Yamaha PCY135 3-Zone Electronic Cymbal

The Yamaha E-Cymbal is very durable. The problem I have is you can't get a true sizzle sound, when you roll on these cymbals. What I did is real Sabian cymbals in place of the Yamaha cymbals, and miked them. With the Dtx kit & real cymbals, it just sounds and feels better. Maybe in another 5-10 yrs. E-Cymbals will sound better.

I've been using Roland cymbal pads for a while now, and while I love the way they play, I needed an auxiliary hi-hat pad for (gasp!) gaming, and I didn't want to spend enough for a [used] CY-12 or -14. I had read about Yamaha's, but never tried one. After a week of solid wailing away at this one, I'm pleased to say that it works well: it triggers flawlessly and seems to be holding up well to the punishment that I dish out. A note: I do not use the 3-way triggering abilities of this pad, so I can't comment on how well they work. I do know that all three zones do trigger. I don't really like Yamaha's rotation stopper (compared to the Roland solution, anyway), but it works. If you enjoy the way Roland pads swing a bit when struck, know that the Yamaha doesn't. Appearance is a little on the delicate side, and the three zones are marked with differing patterns in the rubber coating. Stick noise is a bit sharper than what I get from the Rolands, but it only seems to annoy my wife (the Rolands do that, too). I have my PCY-135 plugged into the Aux input of a TD-9 module, and found that calling it a CY-5 seems to work best. Had to crank up the sensitivity a bit in order to get the edge/cup to trigger accurately. Overall, I'm very happy with this pad.