Gretsch have a reputation for making a very expensive and classy line of drums. In certain respects this is true and any company manufacturing drums for as long as Gretsch should be able to make a decent drum. They have been around for a long time; in the Forties and Fifties they were favoured very strongly by the big-name jazz drummers and, like Ludwig, were imported to the UK in the mid-Sixties. At that time any drummer who could afford to own a Gretsch kit had practically made it as, like the Rolls Royce in the car world, Gretsch drums were considered the top of the prestige tree. Over the years Gretsch have modified and re-modified their pedals and stands, but the basic drums have remained almost unchanged. The kit reviewed here is a good rock kit — I will elaborate on the few reservations I have.

The size of the kit is: 24in x 14in bass drum, 13in x 9in tom tom, 14in x 10in tom tom, 18in x 16in floor tom tom and a 14in x 5in metal shell snare drum; all the drums except the snare have 6-ply shells. Also two cymbal stands, a hi-hat stand, a bass drum pedal, snare stand and all fittings.

The bass drum has the usual 10 rods and claws each side with wood hoops and is fitted with Remo heads back and front. When playing this bass drum on a carpeted floor it sounds very punchy and has lots of volume, but I imagine it would sound even better on a decent drum riser or on a wooden floor. On the carpeted floor the spurs seem to hold out against bass drum creep fairly well, but I doubt if they would work as well on a smooth floor.

The spurs are the telescopic type — a three-pronged affair with rubber tips fitted to the two outside prongs, while the centre prong is a straight spike. The wing bolt which holds the spur at a set length when set down seems a little on the flimsy side, and would not take much of the pliers treatment.

The tom tom holder is basically in two parts: two chrome tubes set in a receiving plate with two individual holes. The tubes insert into this receiving plate and are held fast by a collar which extends up over the opening by about an inch. Locking the holders in place is achieved by a small square-headed bolt which a standard drum key would operate. This applies pressure to the tube and holds it against the opposite side of the receiving collar. At the top end of the tubes a small square rod protrudes outwards horizontally and inserts into the tom tom via a nylon bush or ball joint. The same square-headed bolts (which adjust to most common playing angles) are set at the top of the two tubes and at the sides of the nylon ball joint (of which there are two) allowing movement up, down, left and right.

When playing this kit I found the tom tom holder seems to work reasonably well but (and here comes the crunch) I cannot see these small square-headed bolts holding two large toms up in a rigid position under heavy playing. Also I think time would take its toll on the nylon ball joint. Unlike the Yamaha which I reviewed in <8768>SI December '78, the joint is plain ordinary plastic and would wear down after months of constant use. The two hanging toms, which seem solid and well-made, are fitted with Remos top and bottom and have a damper top and bottom also.

The dampers are real monsters with two square felt pads on each and an individual adjusting knob which allows the dampers a variable amount of pressure on the head. While playing the toms with the dampers on they sound far too dull to me — not just dead but very flat and toneless, and not my type of sound I'm afraid. When the dampers were turned right off, I detected a slight rattle or vibration from the damper spring — this would probably not interfere too much when playing live, but it would drive a discerning studio engineer round the bend.

Die-cast rims on all the tom toms contribute something to that Gretsch sound. Most rival drums have triple flange rims and, having indulged in an experiment with a snare drum using first a triple flange rim on the batter head, recording the sound, and then swapping it over for a die-cast, I can vouch for the fact that diecast rims do give a drum sound more balls. Having said that, these toms certainly have a nice sound (rattles apart) — an ideal drum sound in my opinion.

The floor tom tom has the same dampers, heads and die-cast rims. The four legs are held in place on a diamond-shaped plate and are inserted through an eyehole and held in place with a wing bolt. Apart from the fact that I had a bit of difficulty inserting the legs through the holes, they also rattle against the side of the rim when played hard or moved in any way. The 18in x 16in floor tom has four legs instead of the three seen on 16in x 16in floor toms, a helpful addition for keeping a drum of this size steady on the floor. All the legs are also bent outwards at about 4in from the floor.

The snare drum is a standard 14in x 5in with 10 lugs each side and the same style of damper mechanism on the batter head. There is an option to have a 14in x 6½in snare drum with this kit and I think the bigger size would have been preferable on a kit of this size. The sound of the snare drum was weird (to put it mildly) and, after much tuning and messing about with the snare, the same tubby sound was still prevalent.

At first I did not like the sound of the snare drum but, when coming back to it after a break, I could understand that it is something I could grow to like — its different feel is its best point. No other drum around these days has that sound, so 10 out of 10 for originality. The snare mechanism was the throw-off type and looked to me like the Pearl snare drum (could it be that Pearl copied this one?). Nylon strips hold the 40-strand snare on, which seemed to be choking the sound somewhat.

At the side of the drum is a rather original device for holding your drum key (Gretsch, of course). It is a hole with a small spring in it; the key inserts into the hole and locks tight. This is a good idea as I for one am always losing my tuning keys. As with the other drums, the snare drum has a look and feel of durability and quality about it, and as it has a brass shell it feels heavy.

The one thing I did notice that I could not really come to terms with was the unusually deep snare bed, and this could be a contributing factor to the unusual sound. When the snare head is tightened, there are still a few wrinkles around the bed; this apart, it is a good drum but an acquired taste.

The stands with this kit are less impressive. They are all old-fashioned looking; this is the new improved model. The bass drum pedal is called the Monster, but compared to the latest offerings from Japan it looks a bit weedy. The feel was reasonable and it had a good balance stroke, but on closer inspection revealed a few weaknesses such as the link between the footplate and cam action. This is metal and has a spring linkage joint at the footplate connection. Under vigorous playing conditions this would almost certainly come apart, if not break altogether. A single spring on the right side of the pedal is adjustable and easy to get at and a two-piece heel plate makes it feel comfortable — a false sense of security, I think.

The hi-hat stand seems equally fragile and again feels easy to play lightly, but would not stand up to a heavy left foot or very fast playing. A rather silly linkage between the footplate and the centre tube keeps coming apart when given any action. The snare stand and cymbal stands are functional but very lightweight, OK maybe for a jazz trio playing the local pub but not for a rock band at the Rainbow. The snare stand has a flush base and a three-armed drum-holding device. I am sure every drummer is familiar by now with the old pre-Buck Rogers styles.

Summary

The finish on this kit is really stunning, like a piece of quality furniture in one of those classy shops in Bond Street. It also comes in maple and mahogany as well as the normal plastic finishes, but this rosewood finish is one of the nicest in the range with a hard lacquer to protect it from marks and grubby hands. It's really a good solid-sounding kit with lots of depth and volume, but if I were buying this kit I would forget the tom tom holder and stands. It's a great shame that the people at Gretsch have not given the accessories more thought for today's standards, but I did hear a rumour that Gretsch were now having a completely new range of stands made for them in Japan. If that is not taking coals to Newcastle, I don't know what is!

£861.11/$1280

Thanks to Supersounds for letting us photograph their kit.

Peter Randall is an ex-pro drummer now working as a salesman at Henrit's Drumstore in Central London.