The L80 Low Volume line is Zildjian's answer to "I need real cymbals but my neighbors need quiet." They're actual bronze cymbals with a perforated pattern cut into them, and that perforation is what knocks the volume down — up to 80% quieter than a standard cymbal — while keeping something close to real cymbal feel under your sticks.
That's the short version. Here's what you're actually buying, what it feels like, and where it falls short.
How They Get Quiet Without Being a Pad
A practice pad is rubber or mesh stretched over a base — it has almost no natural ring or wash. An L80 cymbal is still a cymbal: shaped bronze, full-size, mounted the normal way. The difference is a pattern of holes drilled through the metal. Cutting that much material out of the cymbal removes a lot of the surface area that would otherwise vibrate and project sound, which is why the volume drops so much without turning it into a dead lump of metal.
You still get stick response, some wash on the crash, and a hi-hat that opens and closes with actual texture. It's a real cymbal turned way down, not a cymbal-shaped practice pad.
Who L80s Are Actually For
Zildjian markets these for practice spaces, small lesson rooms, and low-volume gigs — situations where you need to play but can't play at full acoustic volume. That's the right way to think about them. If you live in an apartment and want to practice on a real acoustic kit without your downstairs neighbor knowing exactly when you get home, this is the use case they're built for.
They are not built to disappear. If you need silence — say, practicing at 11pm in a thin-walled building — an electronic drum set with headphones will get you much closer to that than any acoustic cymbal, perforated or not.
What's In the Different Packs
Zildjian sells L80s in a few configurations, so check what you're actually ordering:
- 13/18 pack — hi-hats and one larger cymbal, sold under a couple of different set names including the LV38 box set.
- LV468 box set — a three-piece setup with 14-inch hi-hats, a 16-inch crash, and an 18-inch crash/ride.
- 20-inch L80 Ride — sold on its own if you already have hi-hats and a crash and just want a low-volume ride.
The LV38 set is described as a genuine acoustic cymbal setup that still responds to sticks, brushes, and mallets — so if you play with brushes on a jazz-leaning kit, they're not locked out.
What They Actually Feel Like
One detailed teardown found the crash and ride cymbals run around 1.5mm thick, with the hi-hats noticeably thicker at roughly 2.5mm. That thickness difference matches how real cymbal lines are often built — hi-hats need to survive constant chick-chick closing pressure, crashes and rides are thinner so they can move and respond.
In practice, that means the hi-hats feel closer to a "normal" cymbal underfoot and under the stick, while the crash and ride are lighter and more paper-like. Don't expect the same rebound and wash as a full-weight bronze crash — you're trading some of that feel for the volume cut, which is the whole point of the product.
Your drum sticks matter more here than on a full-volume kit — heavier tips and harder wood will get more sound and a bit more feel out of a thin perforated cymbal.
What Won't Make Them Quieter
L80s reduce cymbal volume specifically. They don't touch drum shell resonance, kick pedal impact, or the sound traveling through your floor into someone else's ceiling. If your actual noise complaint is bass drum thump, an anti-vibration mat or riser under the whole kit does more for that than any cymbal swap. And if you're the one who needs quiet to concentrate while someone else plays, ear plugs handle that side of the equation — L80s only change what leaves the room, not what you hear up close.
The Trade-off, Honestly
You're giving up some sustain, wash, and full-cymbal feel in exchange for being able to play an acoustic kit somewhere a full-volume setup wouldn't be allowed. For someone in the first year of drumming who's practicing in an apartment and wants the real stick-on-bronze feel instead of a mesh pad, that trade makes sense. If your goal is true near-silence at any hour, an electronic kit is still the more direct fix — L80s are a volume cut, not a mute button.
Bottom Line
Buy L80s if you already have (or are building) an acoustic kit and need to bring the cymbal volume down for shared walls, a lesson room, or a low-volume gig. Skip them if what you actually need is silence — that's an electronic kit and headphones job, not a cymbal job.