I think the SSD cymbals are great! They just need a bit of love! After you have selected the 'best' or most appropriate sounding cymbal I would look to do the following:
(Use plenty of SSD room - especially the snare!)
Use a compressor after your SSD OH's - slow attack and standard release. Only take of a few dB in GR, the import part of this stage is to increase the level of the cymbal sustain and decay so makeup gain is a must.
Use an EQ to shape the cymbals - gently - no drastic nonsense (I like the Waves stuff but any EQ with a nice sound should do the trick).
Optional - use a tape/tube/console emulator to smooth out some of those nasties! (I always use these tools) there are so many different makes / models and they are all great! These are a must for any tool kit.
Now for the biggest improvement! To get a bit off life and avoid the 'dull' and uninspired sound I like to setup a smash track, parallel compression that is pumping. Create sends from all desired sources to create a really aggressive smash track and mix this in. This will give your drums that 'explosive' sound. Experiment with overdrive and EQ - be mindful of latency! The concept is to create an artificial room sound - hence why it is important to include room sounds from your SSD player - without these this technique will not work. I would challenge that most of your drum's qualities are derived from a good 'room' sound.
Other great tools include summing mixer plugins - i love to use distortion on everything - it just seems to bring things out without increasing the level of something. I hope some of these OH processing techniques are helpful, these should be good starting points and you can tweak them from there!
