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    Default Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz

    On review today is the stunning Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz Reserve Emerald Green. This was a limited run of 140 kits. The street price for the regular finishes is $650. This one was $429. I think the store had 4 or 5 and dropped the price after a few months and 2 were left. I would have gotten the natural satin finish if they were the same price. I'm not sure I would have gotten either for $650 (financial situation), but I got really lucky. Sizes are 12x10 mounted tom, 14x14 floor tom, 18x14 bass drum, and 14x5 snare. Included were the tom mount and adjustable bass drum riser.

    Pics first:







    I really like this finish. I haven't had a wrapped kit in a while and was worried about the sound. Plus the drums are mahogany, which doesn't cut like birch. I just sold a 5 piece Yamaha Recording Custom set in the same sizes plus a 10" tom minus the snare for $900 a few weeks ago. The Cats are not as loud as the Yamaha's were, but have a much better rounder musical tone. I got the Recording Customs (RCs) used for what I sold them for, but I think they go for $3K+ new. I would much rather have the covered mahogany.

    Bass Drum - I ran around Columbus frantically looking for an 18" Fiberskyn head the day before I got this kit to no avail. I had my RC bass set up with an EQ1 batter, Fiberskyn reso, and no muffling. I played with it for years and that was the best combo. The Cat bass shipped with a Gretsch label batter just like the EQ1, except the extra ring is about 2.5 inches wide. The reso head is the same, but coated white. I tightened them up a bit and got a nice boomy sound with plenty of sustain. The RC birch drum was way more punchy, but no where near as musical. If I bury the beater, it thuds well. If I feather it, the drum rings a good while. Options.

    The riser is very nice. I had to extend the bass drum legs all the way out. The riser height is set at half it's max. The beater is dead center. The one I had previously was fixed height, but worked perfectly fine. The rubber feet that attached to the rim on the old one also did not have PROTRUDING SCREW HEADS. Oops. I now have nice phillips head embossing on the inside of my rim. I'll have to felt the riser over later.

    Mounted Tom - I'm not sure I completely buy into the Yamaha YESS mounting system. I understand the nodal points and all, but there are still extra screws in the drum. On a 16" tom, that equals a lot of weight in a small area. The Gretsch mount is sloppy as hell. It's also huge. The single tom arm is massive as well. Together, they probably weigh 6 times what the drum does. The mount does not fasten to anything. Rings hug the tension rods and a quarter sized spot of rubber sits on the shell. This is as free as a drum can be easily and it sounds like it. It was tricky to get positioned right, and wrestling it into a bag is rough, but the drums sounds good enough to be worth it.



    More to come...
    Last edited by Redeye; 02-21-2009 at 10:27 PM.

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