DRUMMER CAFE

I seem to have a love/hate thing with my HH clutch….you know, I’m rarely happy with the feel of the HH’s, whether it’s the chick sound, or the distance between the cymbals, or the angle of the cymbals (bottom and/or top), or lastly the tightness or looseness of the top cymbal in the clutch…I seem to mess with all these factors a lot. But when its finally on, I love it!! But I can’t reproduce it consistently; even with trying to put everything back the way it was.
Anyone else have these issues? I noticed that Coldplay’s drummer has his top HH cymbals right tight and very little movement, You’d think he would crack them.

I went with a fad long ago and got 13” K/Z hats. I think its time for some new ones. I like my cymbals about 1" apart and I have the top cymbals pretty loose or floppy lately to get more sustain.

What HH cymbals do you use, do you have these types of issues and what do you do to help it out?

I use 14" Zildjian K-Custom Session Hats for my jazz band. They work well for many styles and feel AWESOME when you lay into them...they're a bit on the heaver side for my personal taste though.
I also use 14" Paiste 302 Plus [Don't laugh, they're better than you'd expect] I love the weight, but it always feels like you're playing too hard, especially [and oddly enough] at lower volumes.
I used to obsess over the cymbals being EXACTLY the same every time I set up, but eventually I gave up. It's too much work and as long as it feels good for that ONE set, that ONE day, then it's fine with me.
I perfer a looser top cymbal- I can slide 3 stacked index cards inbetween the cymbal and the felt and its a snug fit.
As far as angles and distances
...when playing jazz: about 1 inch apart and a very slight angle [bottom cymbal has vents so no worries about trapping air] and I play heel-down.
...and for everything else: about 1/2 inch apart and a tilted so that they're about 1/4" apart at the closest point when open, and I play heel-up.
Also note that quite often when I'm playing on open hats I'll take my foot completely off the pedal and just rest it on the ground.

I suppose that if someone is not a hard hitter that it would be a problem. I am not a hard hitter.

I don't know. I think 602's might have been too soft for him...
I also have a pair of red label 2002's (which I got when I bought the good old kit about a year ago), and it was quite a problem which of the two I would play. Maybe the 2002's would be better for harder play, but I don't really know. Fortunately I found out that the bottom part of the 2002 sounds fine for crashing (and the top one is not bad either for certain effects), so now I use the 602's exclusively.
Well, it's so difficult to choose your proper cymbals - some people say they have 20-30 and can always find the proper ones for a gig; I have about 8, and I would always want to hang them all around the kit.