New Round Badge Gretsch Catalina (Club)
Features:
Gretsch Formula 7-ply Mahogany
Mini GTS tom suspension system
Low-profile tom and floor tom leg brackets
Single cymbal mount and 12.7mm L-Arms
Gretsch T-Wing nut/bolt
"Gas cap" bass drum mount plate and Mini GTS mounting system
Add on:
Tom Toms: 7x10, 9x13
Floor Toms: 14x14, 16x16, 16x18
Bass Drums: 14x18, 14x20, 14x24
Square Badge Gretsch Catalina (Club)
Features:
6-ply 100-percent mahogany shells
Three Nitron covered finishes available to select from, White Marine, Black Marine, and Silver Sparkle.
I've been aiming to pick up a bop set of Gretsch Catalina Clubs. A used set of Reknowns just showed up in my neck of the woods.
Worth springing for the Reknowns? I'm guessing the answer is "yes".
For the money, the Cats are good drums..................but as you already reveal, the Renowns are better.
If the prices are right, I would buy both and play them for a period long enough to make a decision to keep the one I like best (for whatever reasons) and then I would sell the other kit trying to get the same money I paid...................or maybe even keep both.
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
Ricardo, thanks for the reply. Very interesting idea.
Any jazz guys on the forum playing Reknown kits?
Renowns are a great value and the deals you can find in the used market are hard to pass up. As far as using them for jazz? Why not? Gretsch uses the same Silver Sealer as they do on the USA Customs and the plies are North American Maple and the kits are assembled in Taiwan with great detail to workmanship and great fit and finish. Here's a couple of pics of the bearing edges on the Renowns I once owned:
The bass drum tension rods on the Renowns (right) is a bit more narrow in design than the USA Customs:
It was really hard to tell the differences between the two kits so I kept the USA's and traded in the Renowns.
Thanks for the info late8! Love that last pic.
This is a G4169B Gretsch USA Custom, 6.5X14, Bronze shell, 20-lug, micro throw, cast hoops, 42-snare wires, and the traditional snap-in drum key.
Ordered June 15, 2017 and arrived October 12, 2017.
2017101295165832.jpg
20171012_170258.jpg
20171012_170140.jpg
20171012_170328.jpg
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
You mentioned a defect on the butt plate you had to fix? No enough to warrant another 4 month wait for a new replacement?
Newly revived Gretsch alert!!
Bought these from a forummite years ago. SSB Gretsch. Early '70's. Bass wrap was cracked and peeling. Pearl tom mount and spurs added, old holes plugged and rewrapped, back in the late '70's by "The Indianapolis Drum Center". Yes, Harry Cangany's shop. Hard to believe they'd do that, but it was the 80's. Toms had loose edges and some minor splits, but wrap was savable.
Was going to strip and wrap all of them, but got searching for a decent match to the existing wrap. Figured toms could be fixed. And, I *hate* stripping old glue and wrap. Dunno what they'd used for glue, but it was the hardest to remove I've ever come across. Jammin' Sam just started carrying this aged WMP. Sample looked good, so I ordered it. So, 5 years later, here they are. Gonna be my regular gigging set. Liking the sound already. Be interesting to hear what I can get with some time into them.......IMG_1504.jpg
^^Beautiful looking kit! That aged wrap looks good!
Gigged it Sunday. The bass drum drew a lot of comments. Better then I'd expected! Just a big ol low end you could just feel. We hit Al Green's "love and happiness" and it just drove that train....
Gig kit photos...................
IMG_2388 (3).jpg
IMG_2387 (3).jpg
IMG_2384.jpg
IMG_2385.jpg
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
^Cool pics! How do you like the Aquarian heads? I was thinking about swapping out the Permatones with Aquarian heads...Thanks!
Bolted down my stands down with a couple of Gibraltar rack tubes due to my nervousness when I saw the stands swaying around as I practiced on the kit over the extended weekend. The Sonor 200 stands from the early '80's can't quite hold up the cymbal, cymbal boom arm, tom mount and the GTS mounting system and the shell without wanting to tip over. The SC-EA300 Flex Extension Arm is mounted to the hihat stand and the first crash cymbal stand to keep it from creeping up.
gretsch_zpssigxiqlv.jpg
gretsch_bird_zpsmzjfpiil.jpg
I have yet to try any Aquarian (batter) head that is a single ply head..................but I'm interested.
The toms have the Super 2s with Studio X Ring for batters and Classic Clear for resos................the Super 2s need to be hit firmly to sound right..............I like them as an option to Emps..............and they last a while.
The snare is somewhat of an experiment in that the batter head is the Aquarian "Hi Impact" coated snare head................I bought just to see what it is.
It is a two-ply with a reverse dot..............I expected something so thick and durable to sound dead...............it is surprisingly versatile -- I like it for now.
The "coating" on the coated Aquarian heads lasts longer than any other brand I've ever used -- I don't know what their secret is.
The reso on the snare is the original Gretsch snare-side.................you can see the new bronze snare drum in the final photo.
Your Gibralter tube looks like the solution.
Your Ebony maples are such a good-looking kit......................you can see how much the finish on my shells has faded over 40 years.
Last edited by Ricardo; 01-17-2018 at 08:41 AM.
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
Thanks for the review. I too think the Aquarian coating is more durable than their counter-parts, Remo and Evans. I used the Aquarian coated Super 2 batter heads on the Pork Pie kit I had a few years ago. I kept those heads when I sold the kit and in-hindsight, I'm glad I did. That was my first introduction to Aquarian heads and I'm impressed with what I have used so far.
Changed heads over the weekend on the USA kit to Aquarian Performance 2 coated over Classic Clear resos. The heads project very well with very subtle overtones. The snare has the Hi Velocity coated reverse dot batter with a Hi Performance snare side reso.
C9E74C86-E193-498A-821B-AEFB2661F063.jpg
5EEE3414-CA9A-44FA-9758-9741FA4F17A9.jpg
BF9801DE-9CF1-4CF3-95B4-8F95CE4223A7.jpg
C2FFAFBC-1344-4014-8F74-4E164B539376.jpg
Looks great -- I'm running those same resos.
And they all fit well on the Kellers ?
I played about four hours this weekend (gig-prep) and I'm getting the old Emps dialed in.
I have to confess I'm surprised....................they are sounding really good.
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
No fitment issues with the Keller shells with the Aquarian heads but the tolerances are really narrow as far as "wiggle room" is concerned. I can see how slightly out-of round or oversized shells have problems with Aquarian heads. Bish said he had issues with his Mapex M-Birch kit which dosen't surprise me.
FA6600E7-8935-41CC-9940-66EB09804699_zpsqjgji3it.jpg
For my toms, I will just have to say goodbye to Aquarian...............and I like their stuff.
But those Jaspers are picky !
My snares and bass drum will still be acceptable to their products.
Gretsch USA & Zildjian(What Else Would I Ever Need ?)
Bookmarks