Gretsch Drums Catalina Club Micro SSP

Firstly, this all comes in one box, it's very compact so expect to do some assembly, this won't be a problem for an experienced drummer. I play mainly jazz, my main kit is a Gretsch Brooklyn which is 5 times more expensive so obviously the build quality and hardware is superior. Because I am used to that level of quality I felt a bit disappointed at first glance, but that soon went away after assembling the kit and setting it up.

The pictures here don't do it justice, it is really a great looking kit and has a lovely sparkle finish with real badges, not stickers, Yes, the hardware is nowhere near the quality of the Brooklyn, but it does look and feel pretty good for the price once set up.

The one part I don't like much is the tom mounting plate on the bass drum, it has a plastic sleeve and doesn't feel that strong. I'm not sure how robust that will be over time.

The stock Remo heads are ok but I changed them for coated Ambassadors, but I left the stock batter head on the kick as it sounds great, as a jazz drummer I have the drums pretty open with no dampening so it's ok with me if they resonate a bit.

The snare is surprisingly good and after some tuning it sounds great, the throw off isn't top quality but it's perfectly fine with some WD40, I changed the snares for some Puresound which made a big difference. The kit comes with a bass drum riser, quality is ok but I replaced with my preferred Mapex (highly recommended).

Overall, the kit looks fantastic, very cool on stage. It sounds very good and hopefully will improve with time. I'm very happy with it as a second kit for smaller stages, it is also pretty light to lug around, combined with my Yamaha lightweight hardware it makes for a very easily transportable set-up.

If you're a fan of Gretsch then I'm pretty sure you'll be happy with this, but remember it is a relatively inexpensive kit so the build quality isn't top notch, but perfectly acceptable for this price point.