The Paiste 505 Crash 18" is a pretty standard crash cymbal for use in the context of a full drum kit. I'm primarily not a drummer, but recently played a family member's drum kit who had this cymbal as his main crash and definitely liked what I heard. It's not too bright sounding and is pretty full toned overall. I believe that the cymbal is made out of alloy, which gives it a slightly different tone when compared to some other crash cymbals out there, which isn't a bad thing at all - it just has it's own sound. I wouldn't say that it's a professional's cymbal, but for anyone less than a professional or a very experience player, it should do the job just fine. This isn't to say that this would be my first choice for a crash cymbal, but it's an adequate one. I don't know much more backing information on the Paiste 505 Crash 18" in terms of when it was made or anything like that, but it seems like there are still some of these floating around even though they're no longer in production. As far as price is concerned I really don't know what a used one of these would go for, but unless you can find one for a pretty cheap price it most likely won't be worth it. I haven't done any recording or gigging with this cymbal as I'm not a drummer and haven't worked with it as an engineer on the other side of the glass, so I'm not too sure on how well it might translate when put on tape. The Paiste 505 Crash 18" isn't the kind of cymbal I'd necessarily seek out to buy, but it's worth a gander if you do indeed come across one.