Hey, Tim. Nice to hear from you.
It almost goes without saying that much depends on volume, but I was shocked to learn that Charlie Watts has been using a flat ride,
live, with the Stones, for about thirty years! I believe he says it's a UFIP. Apparently, the volume issue can be satisfied with proper miking.
My Bos flat crashes well, just not loudly. One of the benefits of a flat is that it may be crashed at any moment without loosing the sense of phrase; control is effortless.
Wash and volume come from the other cymbals, and I seem to be drifting in the direction of having only largish crashable rides, with a neutral splash (Sabian Ozone) for short accents. I have removed all the bright crashes, because even played quietly they still distract from the tonal values I'm working with.
Royal "Ron" Ace left us with some interesting tidbits; one that stands out to me was about Mel Lewis's crashable rides. As Lewis stated it, "Every cymbal I use is a ride cymbal, every one of my cymbals is also a crash cymbal."
The linked article, source of that quote, is worth reading, particularly from the point of view of cymbal choice. My recent shift to darker cymbals falls in line with his views on the matter, so that was personally reassuring, but it surprised me to hear it stated by a big band drummer who died twenty years ago. Just goes to show how little I really know and how much can be learned just by paying attention (also known as getting my head out of my... well, navel
):
http://www.pas.org/experience/halloffame/LewisMel.aspx
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Brian