Gretsch Catalina Club Rock Question!

Hi,
I'm looking buy a new kit, big sized, for about £600. I've found the Gretsch Catalina club rock but am curious about the bass drum size.
Would the 24x18 BD be harder to play then the 26x16?
In other words, would I have to play the BD harder with the 24x18?
Please reply ASAP because I'm looking to buy a kit in the next week.
Also, if you have any kits in 24/26 BD, 13/14 HT, 16 FT, 18 FT sizes.
 
The differences you describe will come down to a nuance, a slightly different feel at best. Not a total rethink of your whole approach to footwork.

You're overthinking this one mate. Get the drum size you want and start playing it.
 
A 26" head is going to vibrate slower than a 24" but not by much. To me, one bass drum being harder to play than another comes down to depth, but when you're talking 16" vs. 18" deep, it's not a big difference. If you were talking 18x24 vs. 14x26 I'd say you'd have a bigger difference because with an 18" deep bass drum you have to work harder to push the air to get the most out of that size.
 
Recently got a cat rock kit with the 26 and it was an adjustment for me from my 22. The thing I learned was that the larger drum really has to be tuned a little more carefully for feel than the smaller. The same batter for feel and reso for sound approach works and I dont feel limited in my tuning but I did notice that the beater bounced a little when burying it so had to adjust the tuning down for that.

The most amazing part is the enourmous sound that comes from it. Just awesome.

You need to start at JAW tuning and dial up 1/8 turn at a time and find the sweet spot and work from there for tone and feel Mine is aobut 5/8 turn up from JAW and reso still around JAW.

I like the kit and sound and wouldnt go smaller if I could.
 
I played the same kit live for a while. I left the bass drum wide open with no muffling and tuned it appropriately, allowing the sound of the drum to shine through, as opposed to a muffled sound that is a beater hitting padding. The key with big drums is to tune them properly and NOT beat the crap out of them. Use some finesse when kicking one of the big guys. I also used a 28X9 Ludwig marching band drum for three years. I love the big bass drums! All that being said, a lot of practice alone goes a long way towards learning how to control the tone of a big bass with your foot instead of muffling. I like to use coated heads on both sides of my big guys and cut a 3" port to allow just a little bit of air out. You will have the baddest bass drum sound! When I was using my big guys gigging, sound guys didn't have to mike my bass drum - no matter the size of the venue. Finesse, nuance and practice will make your bass drum the most bad ass bass drum around.
 
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