Well well well, ladies and gentleman, this is serious stuff out there, i will try my best to comment on this.
Like I have been mentioning in my heading, this 15" hihat sounds pretty much like these drummers hihats. This is crazy, when you know that these drummers play "trafficked" hihats. I mean, they usually use different bottom and top hats to sound like this.
Before shifting to 15", I use to play with 14" hihats.
I personally like to play the hihat close to my snare, and here I would like to say that I did not feel any discomfort, such as it might be taking much space that would embarrass me in my playing. I did not feel any kind of awkwardness.
The hihat is good looking indeed.and was delivered to as NEW, without any scratch or stick mark, thanks to thomann. The bottom has a redish colour like, as if it just went out from the oven.
When played on closed setting, with mild pressure on the hihat stand, the hihat will sound like mild open, you should really press the hihat pedal to obtain a very dry stiff chic sound. For this is not an issue, i like it that way.At the end it's subjective, depends on your playing.
Now, when played in an opened settings, you don't have to make effort to control the weight you are putting on the stick while hitting the hihat. I personally like to play soft, and it is like the hihat is driving you. It does not cover the other pieces of the drum and the cymbals. i use this hat with, Istanbul Agop, Vezir Jazz ride 22", and Bosphorus 24" ride.
The feel you obtain when you hitting with your drum stick is unique, and i would urge you to experience that by yourself.
The only may be negative point that I could tell, is that the 'chic' sound when you are playing a swing is quite shy. I mean, you really have to hit hard with the foot in order to have that 'chic' sound that drives the band. However if you are playing in a very soft situation, this might not pose a problem. Personally, i still need to familiarize myself with that beast,
hope you enjoyed that review, there is so much to say about it, but I do not want to spoil you anymore.
give it a try,