Finally! It's Here!

[BoxcarDrummer182]

Gahh finally i got my new Gretsch Catalina! It's the Club Mod series and it sounds and looks sooo sweet. My Tama is sold and gone, and don't get me wrong i miss it, but it was ugly. There's nothing like a poop-brown drum set. But ya, so i got it in silver with black stripe, and it looks so sweet under stage lights. Any questions or comments, let me know! I also got a new crash, 20" Avedis Medium Thin Crash, it sound amazing with the Armand as a crash/ride! And i just put in an order for some Meinl's. I'm planning on some Byzance's, 20" Medium Crash and 21" or 22" Medium Ride. I can't wait! -alex

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/BlinkAirwaves182/IMG_0322.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/BlinkAirwaves182/IMG_0323.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/BlinkAirwaves182/IMG_0321.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/BlinkAirwaves182/IMG_0317.jpg

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s314/BlinkAirwaves182/IMG_0315.jpg

Specs:
Gretsch Catalina Club Mod Silver Sparkle with Black Silver Stripe
20x22" Bass Drum
8x12" Rack Tom
14x16" Floor Tom
6x14" Pork Pie Piglite

Zildjians:
14" K Custom Session/A Mastersound Hats
20" Avedis Medium Thin Crash
21" Armand Ride (broken but still sounds great)

All Gibraltar 6000 Hardware, DW 5000 HH Stand
All sorts of heads, mainly evans.

[gmrakich]

Nice tight little basher.

[fourstringdrums]

Nice choice. The Catalina Club kits are wonderful.

Enjoy.

[BoxcarDrummer182]

Nice tight little basher.

that's what she said.

[BoxcarDrummer182]

Nice tight little basher.

that's what she said.


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[mofle]

Very nice kit! But, how did you manage to break that ride already?

[BoxcarDrummer182]

i really don't know actualy, it just kind of cracked one day. still sounds great though-alex

[fourstringdrums]

i really don't know actualy, it just kind of cracked one day. still sounds great though-alex

You need to evaluate how hard you're playing and if you're using correct technique then. Cymbals don't just crack.

[DaveyBoy]

...Because i didn't know about this before everyone else.

The set looks great man, sorry to hear about the ride and enjoy the new plates.

Dave

[Tuxido]

looks nice, what are the sizes ?

12x8, 16x16, 22x20 ???

[fourstringdrums]

Looking again, it's possible you cracked the ride because of how high you have it and you weren't able to play with a technique that wasn't going to crack this cymbal.

[driver]

Kit looks great its a big step up as far as looks go. Can't beat the Gretsch sound but please god don't crack the beautiful Byzance when they arrive!

[GRUNTERSDAD]

Very nice. Welcome to the Gretsch family.

[bojangleman]

oh wow! very nice! i almost bought one of these kits!
do you have any sound clips?
and...quick question...how in the hell do you play those hi-hats? they are easily 1' about the snare..haha
congrats on the new kit man!

Alex

[stasz]

That finish looks great. But why the clear head on the snare? And the armand, already cracked before its time. Oh well.

[Cymbalrider]

Yeah, that cracked Armand made me sad. Gretsch catalinas are nice. I have a green sparkle rock version that's wonderful. I can't imagine a 22x20 bass though. My Mapex kit has a 22x18 and it's just too bulky of a drum. I can say that a EQ1 Coated Reso head would make that bass drum sound amazing. I put one on my Mapex along with an EMAD2. The batter head offers a variety of resonance options while the EQ1 gives a nice deep sound (better than stock heads). I have a EQ1 Frosted batter on my Catalina 26" though and it works fine. I've got g2 coated over g1 coated on the catalina toms. Not bad, but I think I'll try the EC1s next. You might like the EC2s. They are a bit too thick sounding for me though. What's the 20" crash sound like?

[BoxcarDrummer182]

ok so now to evaluate on the armand. i know very well cymbals don't just crack, but i think that's what happened with this one. i'll say right now, my cymbals aren't high. i'm about 5'11" and my seats high up. trust me, i can see over them and they're comfortable. now fourstring, you may be right. my technique use to be terrible, i just played way to hard. and it is a thin cymbal, it sound beautiful and looks beautiful, but i really wouldn't recomend it for someone who plays hard punk, emo, screamo, and a lot of music with heavy cymbal hitting. and no, my hihats aren't a foot above my snare, it's 10 inches thank you very much! haha but i will say that they are high, BUT i've said this before, cymbals may seem higher than they are. cause all of my cymbals seem low to me behind the kit, in front of it however, they seem very high. but that's my opinion. so my point on the armand is that i underestimated what it could take. same with my old a custom. i see people hit them hard and i think, oh they can take that. well guess not. when i get meinls, they'll be heavier cymbals, all medium and heavy in weight.

and yes the 20x22" kick is rediculous but awesome. and before i took it home i hessitated and thought, man thats a monster kick, but then i remember travis barker having a 22x24" kick. so i though, what the hell could go wrong?

and the 20" crash is beautiful. suttle yet explosive. i'll be holding on to this one for a while.

and i saw tom from Mars Volta having a clear evans g2 head on this DW bronze in DRUM! this month. so i said, "why not try it on an acrylic?" and it sounds better than it did with the coated pinstripe. it has a nice fat sound, but with a nice crack to it.

sound clips, i'm working on them. i'll wait till i get my meinls. and i forgot to mention for all of you club mod owners. Gretsch now offers 7x10" and 12x14" add on toms. i'll be getting both by May.

ok, that's enough for now. keep commenting and questioning. love, alex.

[fourstringdrums]

it sounds better than it did with the coated pinstripe. it has a nice fat sound, but with a nice crack to it.

Any snare would sound better without a coated pinstripe.

[bojangleman]

lmao....

he does have a point..

Any snare would sound better without a coated pinstripe.

Alex

[Tuxido]

I think that if you tried tilting your ride a bit, it wouldn't crack. Try it when you get your meinls, because it would be a shame for them to crack too, and they will if you continue doing what your doing.

And judging by the face of your M&Ms, they don't like cracked cymbals, :P

[mofle]

but then i remember travis barker



I think that might be some of the problem...

[BoxcarDrummer182]

very true fourstrings. so, so true.

if my meinl's crack, i'll just start playing trash can lids. because seriously, most drummer who've been playing for 10 years have cracked 2, maybe 3 cymbals in their careers. and most of the time their B8's or ZBT's. but i've cracked a total of 8. one of them being a B8. i've gone through, 10" a custom splash, 18" a custom crash, 19" a custom crash, 18" k custom fast crash, 16" B8 thin crash, 19" a custom projection crash, 10" a custom splash, and my new edition 21" armand ride. it's either i have bad luck, or i just suck.

most of them weren't in six months though. the a custom 19" crash was a 6 year thing. same with the a custom 18", k custom 18" (never ever use ahead sticks on a k custom fast crash) B8 16", and the first 10" a custom splash.

i'll try tilting deffinetly, and we'll see how that goes. and if all else fails, i'll convert to a full time jazz player. as much as i'd hate that.


note the sarcasm on that.

[stasz]

very true fourstrings. so, so true.

if my meinl's crack, i'll just start playing trash can lids. because seriously, most drummer who've been playing for 10 years have cracked 2, maybe 3 cymbals in their careers. and most of the time their B8's or ZBT's. but i've cracked a total of 8. one of them being a B8. i've gone through, 10" a custom splash, 18" a custom crash, 19" a custom crash, 18" k custom fast crash, 16" B8 thin crash, 19" a custom projection crash, 10" a custom splash, and my new edition 21" armand ride. it's either i have bad luck, or i just suck.

most of them weren't in six months though. the a custom 19" crash was a 6 year thing. same with the a custom 18", k custom 18" (never ever use ahead sticks on a k custom fast crash) B8 16", and the first 10" a custom splash.

i'll try tilting deffinetly, and we'll see how that goes. and if all else fails, i'll convert to a full time jazz player. as much as i'd hate that.


note the sarcasm on that.

Well, for one thing, jazz drummers aren't "supposed" to be quiet or anything, obviously you've never watched Tony Williams play.

But it's good to know that you're gonna try out different things, because it would just be terrible if you cracked the Meinls when you get them. The only reason why I thought your cymbals looked high is because they seem like it relative to the position of your drums (which are much, much lower). I don't really care how you set up, though. You could have you drums and cymbals upside down for all I care. But if cracking a cymbals is a problem then you gotta do something about it, and you are. So that's good.

Keep us updated on those Meinls...

[Tuxido]

Getting the most volume out of your cymbal is not about hitting hard, it's about where and how you hit it.

[ethanos]

Any snare would sound better without a coated pinstripe.

HAHAHA that line is gold.

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[BoxcarDrummer182]

Getting the most volume out of your cymbal is not about hitting hard, it's about where and how you hit it.

and i agree with that. but in most of the styles i play, it's usualy hard and on the edge or the bell. and when i say edge, i don't mean edge of the cymbal. i mean a basic crash. in all of the videos i do of me and have watched i've never noticed bad cymbal technique. tradiotional however, we won't get into that. my final thoughts are that i need to tilt. i will when i get the meinls.

and when i said jazz drummer, i didn't mean only play quiet. trust me my best friend is a strictly jazz drummer and heplays louder and harder the justin folley from kse.

and mofle, there's not anything wrong with travis barker. so stop whinning. well you're not whinning. but seriously, he's not bad and has fine technique and is one hell of a latin drummer. read his may 2000 artical in md. "I'm NOT JUST A Punk Drummer!"

[fourstringdrums]

has fine technique

Look at this video, which I'm sure you've probably seen http://youtube.com/watch?v=mOsuOZ2tLyY

To me, this is not fine technique. The cymbals are 100% flat, and his crashes are at or almost at head height, which means that he is hitting across the edge of the cymbal, not the surface. Especially when he is crashing the ride cymbal, he's hitting it very hard and when the cymbal is busy tilting up, sometimes the strokes land right on the edge. This is going to lead to a broken cymbal.

So if you see any of your technique in this video you need to change some things.

Lower the cymbals a bit

Tilt them slightly

Ease up ever so much. This is such a thing as getting more volume by hitting with less force.

[KarlCrafton]

Nice kit. Clean and simple, but looks like it's got ba11s because of the bass drum.

I liked the version that has the 20X24" kick too....I think that one is Red and Black.

Too bad about the broken cymbal.

Have fun with your new kit!

[BoxcarDrummer182]

Look at this video, which I'm sure you've probably seen http://youtube.com/watch?v=mOsuOZ2tLyY

To me, this is not fine technique. The cymbals are 100% flat, and his crashes are at or almost at head height, which means that he is hitting across the edge of the cymbal, not the surface. Especially when he is crashing the ride cymbal, he's hitting it very hard and when the cymbal is busy tilting up, sometimes the strokes land right on the edge. This is going to lead to a broken cymbal.

So if you see any of your technique in this video you need to change some things.

Lower the cymbals a bit

Tilt them slightly

Ease up ever so much. This is such a thing as getting more volume by hitting with less force.

i met like stick technique. that doesn't seem bad to me, excpet for the whole hitting like they're made of bullet proof glass. but i do completely agree on cymbal height. it is really high for that. there's a picture of him on his dw page, and his cymbals are about 6" above his head. which is not good and i've never done. i'm about 10" above my crash which is the highest cymbals. i think it will be the tilt that will slove my problem.

and yes i can deffinetly agree he has terrible cymbal technique in this video. exceltn playing though. nothing fenominal but excelent.

-alex