[community needed] In praise of the Yamaha PCY-10

[hairmetal-81]

Okay vdrums-community, need your help, please make some noise!


1. Post a picture if you own a PCY-10 cymbal pad/cup.

2. If you ain't got one, but would like to have one, re-post the sentence below. Let's have some fun!


"Hell yeah, I'm part of the vdrums-community. I want a PCY-10 replacement. Now!!!"







The PCY-10...

• is a pad by Yamaha.
• was designed as a cymbal-pad, but can be classified as an aux-trigger as well.
• resembles a 6-inch cymbal 'cup'.
• can be mounted atop of another cymbal-pad with a standard wing nut.
• had the intended purpose to trigger the Ride-bell sound mounted atop of a (then) PCY-80s cymbal pad.
• was introduced in early 1996 (presumably at that years' WinterNAMM show) as part of the original DTX 1.0 e-drum system.
• was also featured (in the same spot, for the same reason), alongside Yamaha's high-end DTXtreme I, during the kits' introduction in 2001.
• must have been discontinued around 2005/2006, when the successor DTXtreme IIs hit the market, with full-size cymbals.
• became obsolete (...in the eyes of Yamaha) when the PCY-150 (and the now-known successor PCY-155) ride cymbals where introduced with the DTXtreme IIs.
• had a lifespan of about 10 years, more or less (1996 - 2006).
• is still useful today. Probably not as a dedicated ride-bell, but even more so for splash-, bell-, and auxiliary percussion purposes.
• must have had some fans here (I hope!)

(...just in case there are forumites that don't yet know what little gem the PCY-10 is...)


HTH

[hairmetal-81]

No users or fans....?

[perceval]

No need for a replacement... just bring it back!
It was a clever little thing and nothing (not DIY) really took its place.

This thread needs a picture... this one puts things in perspective:

[Tommy_D]

The only reason I see anyone wanting these is to have a bunch of little chimes, ala Gavin Harrison:



Other than that, they are just too damn small and too expensive to be worth it. My 10" Madcatz splashes cost me $30 for 3 of them and they work fantastically.

[hairmetal-81]

The small size is a selling-point. You can mount one atop of another cymbal.

[Tommy_D]

Was that their original purpose? A bell for a single zone pad? That would work well in the case of the above, but Yamaha has 3 zone cymbal pads now so there is no point to do that anymore. In the case of Roland it would work for 2 zone cymbals, but it would be pretty awkward looking and I'm not so sure how you would run the wiring up to it because the cymbal is a complete circle (not a pie slice).

They may have been cool in the past, but now I don't see the draw, with the exceptions to being little chimes/bells.

[hairmetal-81]

Tommy,

Yes, that was their original, intended purpose; as a bell-pad for a - .in that case PCY-80S - pad, to be used as a dual-zone Ride-cybal with the PCY-10 pad acting as the third, the bell-zone!


To make the point again: It became obsolete, in the eyes of Yamaha at least, when the PCY-150 (and the now-known successor PCY-155) ride cymbals where introduced. The PCY-10 itself had a lifespan of about ten years.

In my eyes, it would still be useful today. Probably not in it's original purpose (the dedicated RIde-bell...), but - as you observed correctly - even more so for bell- splash-, and auxiliary percussion-purposes!





Perceval,

I think NO, Yamaha will likely not being the one's to bring it back.

Why?
They had a very valuable bar trigger in their portfolio, called the 'BP-80 Bar Pad.'
They've discontinued it, without a replacement. Which may could have been a reason, that DrumTec started their own version, called 'TriggerTube', which unfortunately wasn't dual-zone.

That indicates we won't see a 'Yamaha' branded PCY-10. And that's why I'm using the word 'Replacement' with full intention while speaking about the PCY-10.

[Tommy_D]

Is it just the small size that you are looking for? Because there really isn't anything special about this little cymbal other than its small size. It looks incredibly awkward to play as a splash due to its shape. Do you hit it with the tip of the stick? For a bell it looks great. Probably feels great too. But for a splash it just doesn't look friendly to play. That's why I like my little 10" splashes. Perfect size, perfect shape, and they play well with my module.

[JmanWord]

You can see the PCY-10 just peeking out over by the Aux snare. My last rubber pad I have kept in the kit. But it has been so dependable for my wind chime sounds for the last 10 years I'm holding onto it. This is an old pic, now there is a Lectric Moo above the PCY-10 and no SPD-S .... Orange modules, but the PCY is still in there and going strong.

[hairmetal-81]

Is it just the small size that you are looking for?

Not quite.
It's the way it mounts, the stackability, simply the whole concept! ...and *then* there is the size!

But you may be right, a perfect splash it is not. But it makes for good aux-trigger. I guess you could use the tip of the stick too, but to unleash its' potential, you would hit it with the shaft of the stick.



You can even mount 'em on a hihat rod:

[hairmetal-81]

My last rubber pad I have kept in the kit. But it has been so dependable for my wind chime sounds for the last 10 years I'm holding onto it.

(...) Orange modules, but the PCY is still in there and going strong.

Awesome! - Thanks Jman!

[hairmetal-81]

A question to everyone out there:

Does somebody have an old Yamaha pricelist lying around, or could check, what the original asking price for the PCY-10 was?


I'm curious to know! :-)

[hairmetal-81]

After Seraph's pic, I gotta bring this thread back again:



Didn't find the price-list I was looking for, but I got this...

I know the question of what a PCY10 originally retailed for has come up before but I can't find anything via the search engine nor have I been able to find anything elsewhere. I do know that on the used market, for the longest while they were cheap: $20-50 a pop. Then the price has occasionally spiked to $100 but it appears that lately they've come back down to the $45-$60 range and that price does not include shipping (usually $5-10).

That's probably what they went for new, around $75 but that's just a not-so-edumacated guess on my part. If that's in the ballpark, then the recent used prices ain't all that bad for something fairly rare and if you want one bad enough, still fairly affordable.

...thanks to Grog!

[imperial-sky]

I had a PCY-10 like 2 years ago and it was short lived before it broke. Now we have this http://www.musiciansfriend.com/drums...-10-cymbal-pad or the pcy-100

[SilentSeraphTwo]

Still haven't got something to mount mine on, but I did try it out the other day and it was a bit awkward as a splash, I must say. Although i think that was more to do with how I had it positioned.