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Thread: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

  1. #1

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    Default Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    So I have had my Catalina Club kit for 5 days now. Overall, I love this kit. I don't have much to compare it too. I played a Mapex (either a Q or an M series) for about 4 years, and with my teacher, I've played the same Pearl Vision series for 3 and a half or so years.
    Both kits were 5 piece kits, two-up; one-down. My Mapex had the "fusion" set-up, with 10 and 12 inch rack toms, with a 14 inch floor tom. It came with a 5.5x14 inch( I believe. I will double check that ) matching snare and an 18 inch by 16 inch bass drum. It had a basic brown-ish finish( I do not know the exact name ).
    The Catalina kit featured the same 5 piece set up with two rack toms and a floor tom. The sizes were 12 inch and 13 inch rack toms and a 16 inch floor tom. The set came with a matching 6x14 inch snare drum and a 22x18 or 22x20 inch kick drum. The finish was an Alien Blue wrap.
    First off, a little back story on my purchase (skip this paragraph for the actual kit review) I want to say that I bought this drum from Fork's Drum Closet, and I couldn't have asked for better service. The set was listed on fleabay for $599 dollars plus shipping. I didn't jump on that deal in time, so they relisted the kit for $499 plus a $100 dollar shipping charge. I contacted the store through email ( at 2 a.m. nonetheless ) to see if it would be o.k. for me to pick up the kit personally rather than pay the shipping charge, and I received an email at 9 a.m. the next day from Matt Forkum, saying that would be perfect, but they only needed a quick down payment over the weekend, since I couldn't make the trek until Monday. I called Fork's, told them about my future purchase, and the man on the phone immediately knew that Matt was handling it, and he passed the phone to Matt. After putting down a payment, which was refundable if I decided to not go through with the purchase, and a weekend full of anticipation, we traveled to Nashville to pick up the kit. When we arrive at the store, Matt immediately takes care of us, and says something along the lines of "We can load your kit whenever you would like. Just tell us, pull in the back, and we will load her up. Feel free to browse the store." Which we did. For almost an hour Finally, we got the kit loaded up, traveled back home, and thus begins my actual review.
    The Kit
    Tuning
    The kit is wonderful. Let me say that. My kit came unplayed. It wasn't a floor model or anything. It was 100% brand new, with stock Resonant heads and Evans Genera G1 heads for the toms and snare. The kit came with Gretsch stock kick drum heads. The kick drum sounded great out of the non-existent box. The snare was tuned a little too low for my tastes. I tune it up high, and then I re-attach the snares, which were almost completely off so that they weren't damaged or over stressed. The snare has a really nice pop with a good amount of ring to it without any muffling. I really like it, but I prefer my Ludwig Epic snare right now. However, the snare does fit the kit really well, and I am having an internal struggle on which one I should stack up with the kit
    The tom's were tuned very low, and the batters were mostly out of tune with the resonant. It didnt' take me but 20 minutes to get all of the toms sounding great, with minimal snare buzz. I took of the duct tape, and aside from the tiniest bit of buzz from the floor tom, they all go together wonderfully.
    The 12 inch tom can be tuned really high or fairly low.
    I prefer to have the 12 inch tom fairly high in tuning and the 13 inch medium to low, with the 16 inch floor tome low with some resonance. The bass drum has a nice THUD sound, but it's not too dull, it's just sort of Jazzy, but not as muffled. Lastly, the snare is versatile, but I feel like it's much better when tuned higher, but either way it sounds great with the rest of the kit.
    I will be replacing the heads with some Aquarian heads soon possibly, so I will update this with some extra info when/if that happens.
    In short, this kit was very easy to tune, and all of the drums sound great with as little unwanted ring or buzzing as I could want.
    The Finish
    I love this finish. I've heard some good and some bad things about it, but I like it. It draws the eye towards the kit, that's for sure. It's called Alien Blue. I will post some pics later, just as a last hurrah .
    I haven't taken the kit gigging yet, so I don't have any road experience, but I highly recommend this kit to a beginner or intermediate player as a wonderful kit. It's easy to tune, it sounds wonderful, and it's just fun to play.
    Last edited by coddude321; 08-06-2011 at 07:09 PM.
    “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.”
    -B.B. King

  2. #2

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    nice review! every time i go to GC and talk new kits with my salesperson (Joe) im talking "what about the X7 over there? blah blah blah!" he always finishes with " dont forget about the Catalina, i think its the best kit for that price range, i think youd like it"

  3. #3

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Quote Originally Posted by kyle102565 View Post
    nice review! every time i go to GC and talk new kits with my salesperson (Joe) im talking "what about the X7 over there? blah blah blah!" he always finishes with " dont forget about the Catalina, i think its the best kit for that price range, i think youd like it"
    You really can't go wrong with it! It's a wonderful kit
    This time, I will agree with the salesman
    “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.”
    -B.B. King

  4. #4

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Wow, sounds great. Post pics!

  5. #5

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Quote Originally Posted by marko138 View Post
    Wow, sounds great. Post pics!
    No problem!! All these pictures are with my Ludwig Epic Snare, not the Gretsch snare that did come with the kit, but they IMO they both sound fantastic with the kit.



    “The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.”
    -B.B. King

  6. #6

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    That's a wild finish. Looks like moving water.

  7. #7

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Quote Originally Posted by marko138 View Post
    That's a wild finish. Looks like moving water.
    Great description marko! That's exactly what it looks like!
    Quoting gonefishin: Just have some bacon with ya when you go pick her up..........youre an instant chick magnet.





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  8. #8

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Would you rate this higher than a DW collectors series

  9. #9

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Where do catalinas range like high or low in gretsch (not familiar with them) BTW cool wrap good choice.

  10. #10

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    Quote Originally Posted by HolyChina View Post
    Would you rate this higher than a DW collectors series
    No, because this kit goes for around $650, and is made with "mahogany" shells - that means Philippine Mahogany. Don't get me wrong, though, because they're nice kits. I have the forerunner of this series - the Gretsch Catalina Elite - and I get compliments on it all the time - both looks, and sound. You just have to get it dialed in right.

    The DW Collectors series would be rated as pro-level drums, while the Gretsch Catalina Club kits are intermediate level kits.
    Quoting gonefishin: Just have some bacon with ya when you go pick her up..........youre an instant chick magnet.





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  11. #11

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    Default Re: Gretsch Catalina Club Kit

    I love the finish, I wanted to get the 4 piece kit with that finish, but it came with black hardware, which gave it more of a rocker look. I have the 4 piece, red glitter flake with black stripes and love the low end punchy sound it has. I wasn't a big fan of the snare that came with it. It's not bad, but not the sound I was looking for. Hope you enjoy!
    Love my Gretsch sound!

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