Metal drummers using Gretsch?

Here is their endorser page. You can look through there to see if you recognize any artist or band names that fall into your definition of metal.
 
I personally know two guys who play pretty extreme forms of metal who play Catalina Maples. They are great drums, no better or worse, in my opinion, than other major maunfacturers higher end kits.

I am curious why you ask? Is it because you play metal and like Gretsch drums. but are afraid of being mocked by the metal community? If so I wouldn't worry. If you can play nobody will care what brand of drums you are playing.
 
I personally know two guys who play pretty extreme forms of metal who play Catalina Maples. They are great drums, no better or worse, in my opinion, than other major maunfacturers higher end kits.

I am curious why you ask? Is it because you play metal and like Gretsch drums. but are afraid of being mocked by the metal community? If so I wouldn't worry. If you can play nobody will care what brand of drums you are playing.

Thanks. The reason I asked was I've been hired to play with a metal band for a gig all the way in Paris this fall. I'm a jazz/fusion/funk drummer at heart and I couln't say no to this opportunity. I have a 7-piece Catalina Maple (with Istanbul Agop cymbals too!) and I was wondering if Gretsch are good for metal with tone and were versatile. I've just watched a couple of YouTube videos and seen some great drummers playing metal on Gretsch kits so it seems so! Thanks again!
 
Drum brands and even drum sizes have really nothing to do with the genre of music you play. You can play any genre of music on any brand or size of drum. How well you play it is the real concern, not what you play it on.
 
Throw clear G2's over G1's on them, tune them looser than you do for funk and let er rip!
 
I'm sure with the newfound popularity of Gretsch drums these days (with Guitar Center pimping as they do), metal dudez are using them too! Although, to me, drums of that quality, deserve property tuned heads, played properly... and a great number of metal drummers use triggers which really don't produce the real tone of the drums anyway so it just becomes more of a marketing ploy. To me the "Gretsch sound" was Tony Williams, Phil Collins, Art Blakey and Vinnie Colaiuta until recently.

That said, Lars Ulrich used a Gretsch bass drum (kick drum, in metal lingo) on the Black Album because that was the "sound" he felt he wanted. Not sure what that means since the sound was replaced by a triggered tone anyway in the mixdown phase... but I digress.

Gretsch kits have been a staple of recording studios for decades and even guys who endorse other kits live, have Gretsch kit carted to the studio, at least for certain tracks.
 
My Gretsch USA Maple has served me well in everything from jazz and church music all the way through to the metal I play with my band.

Head selection has infinitely more bearing on how your drums sound in a particular context.

Personally, I dislike the sound of overly triggered drums in a lot of metal. If it's thrash or death metal, yep, fine; but there still needs to be some of the natural tone in there for most of it. I love the sound of Jason Rullo's drums in Symphony X, there are a couple of drum cam videos from a few live shows and they have a very open sounding tuning - not dead or thumpy like a lot of people say you need for metal (which is, IMO, rubbish).

In all honesty, any 'standard' unmuffled single ply bottom/double ply top head combination will suffice in almost ANY musical context. What it ultimately boils down to is getting the sound YOU want out of your drums - you need to have your own voice! If you want dark and thumpy for metal, then tune your drums with the heads that will let you achieve this, then swap them out for the heads that will enable you to get the sound you want for a fusion gig.

But yes, long story short, Gretsch = absolutely fine in any musical context.
 
I'll just add clear Emporers over Ambassadors if Remo is your preference/ easier to find.

Right and for metal, Pinstripes work great! Easy to tune and pretty phat-sounding. Of course there's a lot of choices these days for rock sounds. The Evans Black Chrome are getting good reviews and the sound tests are impressive.
 
I don't personally know any metal players who use Gretsch but it's not like you couldn't slap some new heads on the drums and make them badass for metal. At the end of the day, the sound difference between that and another equally priced drum with similar wood and build specs is marginal... no one's going to think it doesn't sound "right" if you play with good technique and take care of them like any other drum.
 
The Drummer for the band "Black Cobra" uses Gretsch. Pretty sure he plays a Mahogany Catalina Club Rock. Seen him live. Sounded great. Big 24 inch Bass.
 
Gretsch makes drums. Period. Not jazz drums, not rock n roll drums, not country drums. But drums. How you tune them, play them etc will determine if you are a metal drummer. Switch out the bass drum head for a Tama head and you'll be cool. No one will know.

They also make guitars and I bet some of them can be used for metal.
 
Thanks. The reason I asked was I've been hired to play with a metal band for a gig all the way in Paris this fall. I'm a jazz/fusion/funk drummer at heart and I couln't say no to this opportunity. I have a 7-piece Catalina Maple (with Istanbul Agop cymbals too!) and I was wondering if Gretsch are good for metal with tone and were versatile. I've just watched a couple of YouTube videos and seen some great drummers playing metal on Gretsch kits so it seems so! Thanks again!

Just FYI....you can play metal,jazz,rock,country...in fact any genre of music......on ANY brand of drums.Anyone that says differently,dosen't know what they're talking about.

Steve B
 
I've seen plenty of guys in metal bands here using Gretsch. The metal community doesn't have as stodgy of rules as some people might expect. People probably buy them because their $800-900 kits are just perceived to be a little nicer than some of the Tama, Pearl, or Ddrum stuff.
 
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