Zildjian A Custom Ping Ride 20''

The A custom ping ride is one of the best cymbals in the A custom line.  Its coated exterior produces a beautifully smooth "ping" (the name says a lot) sound that blends with the music it is played with.  It also looks great, as long as fingerprints and smears are wiped off.  The response is extremely fast, and the ping ride has a real tendency to resist crashing when playing hard and fast.  Many other crashes keep resonating louder and louder until the cymbal is overpowering.  The ping ride has a true gift of maintaining articulation and clarity.  The bell is also a strong point, cutting through anything but still remaining tasteful.  Even at low volumes, the cymbal bell (and the cymbal in general) have few undesirable ringing overtones.
On the other hand, I feel that the ping ride's weakest quality is its crashing ability.  Obviously a 20 inch ride isn't designed to be crashed on all the time, but I really like to crash my rides once and a while.  This leaves some to be desired, partly because it doesn't have a good trashy wash sound like many other 20 inch rides.  Of course, this is a minor price to pay for the clarity that is given in return.  This is the only complaint I ever had with the Zildjian ping.
Personally, I usually dislike the qualities of coated cymbals but this is nearly perfect.  This was one of the first rides I ever owned, and is a really good starting point for many drummers because it has a professional sound at a price that is reasonable. Because of its cutting, bright sound, it is best suited to playing rock or pop music. This cymbal is durable, attractive, affordable, and sounds great. I feel that the Zildjian A custom ping rides are miles ahead of their uncoated Zildjian A ride cousins.

I used this 20" Ping Ride from the A Custom line for a short while.
I'm not typically a fan of ping rides or dry rides since I've come to like (and expect) a good wash underneath the ever present "ping" of a ride cymbal. So I was pleasantly suprised with this cymbal. It is fairly "wet" for a ping ride, so you get a nice low to moderate "wash" or "shimmer" underneath the ping. I've compared this cymbal side-by-side with Zildjian's K Custom Ping Ride, and the K is markedly drier and has significantly less capability to produce a noticeable "wash" underneath the ping than the A Custom will produce when you induce it by playing harder and further out from the bell. In other words, the wash is there when you want it.

I had no problem getting excellent stick definition playing complicated patterns anywhere "in the field" of the cymbal while still getting a gentle wash and sustain underneath it, which pleases me and my playing style greatly.

My only dislike is the small size of the bell, although you can still get plenty of "ping" almost anywhere on the cymbal.

I think this cymbal is versatile enough for use in multiple styles. Its well suited for heavy rock music since it has a good density and its well-definied "ping" would do a good job of "cutting through". It could also be adequate for modern jazz or fusion style music since it has a fairly "wet" sound. I would also reccomend checking this cymbal out side-by-side with the 22" version to see if the larger, more expenzive one is better for you.