FULL REVIEW: LEMON 18" INCH 3 ZONE RIDE CYMBAL

I Take a look at Lemon's 18" inch 3 zone ride cymbal and compare it to the closest priced Roland 3 zone ride. If you're thinking about buying a Lemon ride cymbal, check this video out first!
0:00 Introduction
1:00 Background
1:35 Why compare Lemon to Roland?
4:18 Unboxing
4:57 Technical Specs
5:29 Build Quality Comparison
6:11 Difference in wing-nut seating
6:40 responsiveness comparison
6:59 Rolls and Double Stroke responsiveness
7:31 pickup location comparison (bow, edge, bell)
8:31 Bell Playability, Choke Feature, movement
9:05 Overall Review & Final Thoughts
10:53 What's next?

[@micahkorson7218]

What a profoundly in depth and comprehensive review of the actual product. If anyone did any drum gear with this level of review they would be touching an audience who appreciate the instrument to its full potential and extent. Absolutely excellent video. Just bought one!

[@8bitbrawler61]

Lets get this guy a Subscription and more likes dude deserves it.

[@tomgaydos9128]

This review is very well done and made me try the Lemon 15" crash/ride (using as a crash) and the 15" china. So props for the high-quality content that literally proves the value of influencers and reviewers such as yourself, both to the community and to these brands. My experience has been that both cymbals are usable, but there are very obvious quality differences between the Lemon and Roland variants. The Lemon crash is MUCH louder in the room and feels a bit like hitting a heavy plastic trash can lid. The feel of striking the edge hard is immediately evident on my arthritic joints than on the Rolands. It's a night and day difference, although one that younger hands may not even notice. While I returned the 15" crash/ride, I kept the china. It's 15.4" across, is shaped like a china cymbal, and because of the shape they added a lot more thicker rubber to the contact point. This made it quieter (although still louder than the Rolands) and reduces the impact feel significantly. It'll be interesting to see if if it holds up.

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Thanks for your insight! Let us know how the China continues to hold up.

[@Yankees121205]

Agree totally, I have VAD506 with the new Roland Cymbals, one of them CY14-CT already crapped on me so I did some research and bought two Lemon 3 zone cymbals, 13" and 15" for less than one replacement of the Roland. They play excellent and I'd have no issue replacing all but the hi-hat with my Roland TD27. Don't hesitate, they are the real deal!

[@kajtemme5270]

Lovely review. Subscribed! Keep up the good work

[@DidYouReadEULA]

Love your reviews and honesty, thank you.

[@The_paradox_of_Youth]

I also use that ride and couldn't agree with you more. Great presentation, beautifully. played demonstrations. Subscribed

[@jamdee9844]

i'm from germany and i watch your videos, they are absolutely amazing! thanks! maybe the users are interested in how loud the cymbals are, this is often asked in the forum. I have already posted your channel in the edrum group

[@jamieanning8627]

Really enjoyed your honest appraisal- Thank you

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Thank you!

[@mikeydreadmastalski4345]

Great review! I also have a td 17,although I converted my pads to acoustic look. I sold or traded my roland cymbals, and replaced/ will be replacing them with lemon cymbals, they're great and are a great value. Thanks for the review!

[@Sweet92879]

Great video as usual.

[@gregl2138]

Thank you for these

[@continumdrums2297]

Nice review .... I like Lemon cymbals ..... I use the the 15" 3 zone Rid .... and the hi hat with controller .... 👍👍

[@andrefernandesashbox75]

Just wish the bell was slightly bigger!

[@justsayinit6789]

nicely done, thank you

[@8bitbrawler61]

Great review man wish I could give you 1000 likes.

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Thanks so much! I have lemons new 2 piece hi hat on its way, so I’ll hope to have a review of that posted before too long.

[@blujay9191]

Nicely done.

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Thank you! Let me know if there’s anything I didn’t cover that you’d like to know.

[@rafaelvaz9772]

I wish the bell could be bigger. That'd be awesome

[@michaelk8642]

My thoughts exactly. The bell on the Roland 13" ride is bigger than the bell on the Lemon 18" ride. If Lemon would extend the bell out about an inch, that would be one hell of a ride to get.

[@bobbyjones2112]

I ordered one in their package deal Friday, August 4!

[@seanmarshall5569]

Bigger is better but doesn't have to cost as much that's what she said

[@Tony99992000]

I have a ddrum ddti and EZ-Drummer 3 and it has one ride input. Will I need some type of dual cable to access the bell and bow?

[@jimbo121]

You might have found your answer by now but the DDTi does not support 3 zone rides.

[@TamMusician]

I got the lemon 15" china last week It works just fine.👍🏻 It's been a year now can you please tell me did you face any issues with this 18" ride?

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

I’m glad you’re happy with the china! I have been using the 18” ride as my ride cymbal since this review published, and I have had absolutely zero issues with it. It’s still performing as intended.

[@TamMusician]

@@myfavoritedrumgear Thank you so much I'm planning to buy this 18" ride cymbal

[@jeppo1185]

Hopefully products like these will force the big brands to lower their prices.

[@williamroyagoncillo]

Is it normal that sometimes that it mistrigger? I already checked if the wiring is flipped but its not, but sometimes when i hit the edge hard the bell triggers, when i hit the belle ever so slightly the bow get triggers, i just hope if you can share the settings you have, coz there is a thread in reddit that have the same problem as mine and non of them figured it out yet.

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Can you share a link to the Reddit thread? I’d like to see if I can recreate the issue.

[@markgage7990]

Oh, and draw back on the lemon yes, it does not have positional sensing

[@joshranaudo3019]

How does this ride compare to the Unlock 20 inch ride? How about durability?

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

I like the wobble in the unlock 20" ride, but this Lemon cymbal has proven to me that it's well made and durable. I've been playing it with my band's rehearsal kit for over a year now and it has held up flawlessly. I believe Lemon is working on a 20" ride, which should be pretty awesome. Thanks for watching.

[@johnnorris7289]

I think it's about time someone came out with something that beats Roland at their own game. Roland's prices have been just ridiculous for a long time and are getting even more so lately. My concern, though is for longevity. Even Roland's cymbals aren't great in that regard (as opposed to their drum pads, which are almost bulletproof).

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

So far these are giving roland a serious run for their money. I’m also interested in longevity, but at these prices, you can replace them without feeling ripped off if they last 5-6 years. Thanks for watching!

[@johnnorris7289]

@@myfavoritedrumgear That's true. I always dread the inevitable dropped triggerings, knowing that the end is near and an expensive replacement is imminent. Not so painful at less than $150.

[@johndef5075]

I agree about new Roland prices but Ive bought them used at very reasonable prices. As long as they arent obviously abused they should function well.

[@johnnorris7289]

@@johndef5075 I agree and have bought many Roland pads used. I won't use any other brand. But used cymbals are a crap shoot.

[@waichan5749]

The cymbals are shaken and unbalanced, the Bell range is too small, and the rubber is easy to peel off and become brittle .

[@laindump911]

Really not happy with the digital stuff Roland is producing. Feels like a slimy way to start introducing it more and more for increased control and vendor-locking more and more products. Those with modules unable to support it will eventually be forced to upgrade to ones that do as Roland will start to push the USB connection more and more. And those cables are hard-wired in, not very repair friendly.

[@tomgaydos9128]

I was of this mind, as well, with the Roland Digital pads...then I played them and oh my. The ride is an incremental improvement and is priced as-such, but the hats and snare are truly next-level in terms of feel, expression, and sensitivity. Hopefully if pads start going all digital, there will at least be an interoperability standard.

[@yaroslavleshchukh]

Hi there! Thank you for review 😊. Subscription and likes from my side ! So informative. I just looking for Ride 3 zone for my Alesis Surge. I still have 2 free mono exits on my Alesis module and l was wandering maybe l can connect Lemon 3 zone ride. Does lemon cymbals stick with Alesis?

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

Thanks for watching! Unfortunately I don’t think the Alesis Surge supports 3 zone cymbals, and plugging a 3-zone ride like this into 2 inputs would bring a whole host of issues. Everything that follows is based on my understanding and has not been tested. It’s my understanding that this ride works with 1 piezo and 2 switches. So to over simplify, the piezo is a microphone and there are “buttons” on the bell and the edge of the cymbal. When you play the bow, the module says “I hear a hit and there are no buttons-> play a bow sound.” When you hit the edge it says “I hear a hit and button 1 has been pressed-> play an edge sound.” And for the bell, it says “I hear a hit and button 2 has been pressed-> play a bell.” If you would plug this cymbal into 2 inputs, the module won’t know how to respond to “I hear a hit on input 1, and there is a button pressed with no hit on input 2.” A solution might be to look at mounting a single zone pad right above your ride cymbal and using it as a your bell sound. I know lemon also sells a 3 cymbal package for about $200 shipped with a 9” and 15” 2-zone cymbal and this 18” 3 zone ride. You could use the ride as a 2-zone, Mount the 9” above it and use it as a bell, and then add a 15” crash to your setup at a pretty good price. Good luck- I hope my explanation was understandable.

[@yaroslavleshchukh]

@@myfavoritedrumgear thank you soooooooooooo much !

[@Sweet92879]

65 Drums has a video on compatibility of different pads with different sets. If I remember correctly, he says Roland (and thus, Lemon knockoffs) are compatible with most brands but not with Yamaha. I have a Yamaha set and two Lemon three zone rides, and I can only get one sound out of them and I'm limited in the sounds I can assign to even that one zone.

[@yaroslavleshchukh]

@@Sweet92879 Thank you!

[@davidmerlin3344]

What is the biggest Toms Lemon makes?

[@myfavoritedrumgear]

They make a 13” drum, but it doesn’t have mounting brackets for a Tom mount. They have a 12” that does mount to a rack.