The Gretsch Brooklyn has arrived

[NouveauCliche]

Hey NC Hope you are enjoying your new Gretsch Brooklyn Kit, Was wondering if its not too much trouble could you send a good picture of the gts tom mount you are using. is it made well ? sturdy ? thanks,also thks for your feedback on the broadcaster and brooklyn comparison you were very helpful

Hey TF - No problem at all - my kit is at our practice space in prep for heading into the studio in a couple weeks - BUT I did crop down some pictures I took when I got it that should help you out.

The first picture is the stock mount that it came with - which is a RIMS style mount. I'm not sure why they do the RIMS style mount since the super slick GTS suspension mount they use on the Renows is so low profile and cool looking. I like the shell more and it's been a huge upgrade - thanks again to @brentcn for the tip.

The second two pictures are with the mount attached.

Here's a link where you can buy them and what they look like by themselves:

Gretsch GTS Tom Suspension Mount w/Lugs 12"

Buy the Gretsch GTS Tom Suspension Mount w/Lugs 12" at the Drum Center of Portsmouth, and get free shipping on most orders over $39!

www.drumcenternh.com

It's two lugs that you have to remove the shell and replace with the appropriate sized mount above. It was super easy and has worked very well - solid upgrade.

Just make sure you get the right mount for your tom - I almost bought two of the 12" before I realized that I had to get a different for my 10" tom.

They've been rock solid so far - nothing weird at all - I'm going to get all new heads before I head into the studio - so I'll look and see if those lugs have loosened up or anything - but so far everything feels and looks good!

The only bad thing is that since I got black - my kit cannnnnn look like a Renown from far away haha - but that's ok.

 

[yammyfan]

Your kit looks great!

I'm feeling really good about my Renowns now, given this 'upgrade' to the GTS mounting system. I've always been pleased that the two lines share so much technology, the 302 hoops especially. I respect your opinion so if you feel that the GTS mounts are worthy, that's huge.

I haven't found a single head-to-head comparison of the Brooklyns and the Renowns anywhere so I'm in the dark as far as how similar and/or different they are. I expect a difference but if they are more similar than different, that will make me happy. I'm delighted that the GTS mounts aren't a compromise, at any rate.

I do love the way that the Brooklyn's hoops are stamped with the Gretsch name. That's a nice detail.

 

[Deleted member 526375]

My oldest daughter is an artist/architect so she's painting the attached on a head - I look forward to no logo - I've always had art of some kind of my bass drums haha.

Wow, we must have some really similar tastes!

 

[NouveauCliche]

Wow, we must have some really similar tastes!

View attachment 95130

Heyyyyy - very nice!! Sharp!

 

[pocket player]

Hey TF - No problem at all - my kit is at our practice space in prep for heading into the studio in a couple weeks - BUT I did crop down some pictures I took when I got it that should help you out.

The first picture is the stock mount that it came with - which is a RIMS style mount. I'm not sure why they do the RIMS style mount since the super slick GTS suspension mount they use on the Renows is so low profile and cool looking. I like the shell more and it's been a huge upgrade - thanks again to @brentcn for the tip.

The second two pictures are with the mount attached.

Here's a link where you can buy them and what they look like by themselves:

Gretsch GTS Tom Suspension Mount w/Lugs 12"

Buy the Gretsch GTS Tom Suspension Mount w/Lugs 12" at the Drum Center of Portsmouth, and get free shipping on most orders over $39!

www.drumcenternh.com

It's two lugs that you have to remove the shell and replace with the appropriate sized mount above. It was super easy and has worked very well - solid upgrade.

Just make sure you get the right mount for your tom - I almost bought two of the 12" before I realized that I had to get a different for my 10" tom.

They've been rock solid so far - nothing weird at all - I'm going to get all new heads before I head into the studio - so I'll look and see if those lugs have loosened up or anything - but so far everything feels and looks good!

The only bad thing is that since I got black - my kit cannnnnn look like a Renown from far away haha - but that's ok.

THANKS GREAT information!! You gave me more info then the gretsch factory website !!, which shows nothing about this mount !! their site needs a big upgrade, they should offer you a job ! If you dont mind , What kind of music do you play ? do you play for a living ? Have you used the drum center of portsmith before ? how do you rate them ? Thanks nice chatting with you! TOM

 

[NouveauCliche]

Your kit looks great!

I'm feeling really good about my Renowns now, given this 'upgrade' to the GTS mounting system. I've always been pleased that the two lines share so much technology, the 302 hoops especially. I respect your opinion so if you feel that the GTS mounts are worthy, that's huge.

I haven't found a single head-to-head comparison of the Brooklyns and the Renowns anywhere so I'm in the dark as far as how similar and/or different they are. I expect a difference but if they are more similar than different, that will make me happy. I'm delighted that the GTS mounts aren't a compromise, at any rate.

I do love the way that the Brooklyn's hoops are stamped with the Gretsch name. That's a nice detail.

Yea the GTS mounting system to me feels a lot more sharp than the RIMS style mounts and it feels great and looks great - I've talked to a few Gretsch artists that have made the same choice on even their USA customs to use the GTS mounts - a lot of them have done it for aesthetics: it just looks high end and sharp. I just love seeing more of the shell and there's something about a RIMS mount that doesn't screen high end to me. There's even a trend right now on the USA customs where people are starting to buy them totally without suspension mounts and with the diamond shaped direct to shell mounts and I'm wondering if it's because don't like that RIMS style mount and want something that is less clunky and allows for just slight better positioning....which is where the GTS style mount from the Renowns would be a great in-between. (Pic below is the direct to shell mount on a new USA custom for sale on ebay right now) ...it could also just be a nod to the vintage Gretsch drums too: but I haven't had any conversations with anyone that has a new set with the shell mounts.


Well I've owned both a Renown and the Brooklyns so I can contrast and compare for you if you'd like.

There are some differences to the the builds:

Renowns: 7ply Gretsch formula maple shells with a 30 degree bearing edge, silver sealer and the new Renowns come with 302 hoops. The older renowns came with die cast hoops so that was always the biggest difference.

Brooklyns: Brooklyn drums feature 6-ply North American maple/poplar shells and are made slightly thicker than Gretsch’s USA Custom Drums and have a 30-degree bearing edge.

So when I first sat down at Brooklyns - I had the the exact heads and pretty the same tuning as I did on my renowns (Evans EC2s on top with G1 on bottom) and the first thing that jumped out at me was that the tone on the Brooklyns was a little warmer, and fatter and emphasized a slightly lower frequency than the Renowns.

The Renowns actually remind me a lot of the USA customs - they seem to have a slightly higher fundamental pitch and project a bit more than the Brooklyns which actually makes sense because even though they both have 30 degree bearing edges (meaning the Brooklyns and Renowns) - the shell is slightly thicker on the Brooklyns despite having 1 less ply, so there's just slightly more head contact on that 30 degree edge and so you get just that much more shell movement so that drops the pitch just slightly and adds more warmth and fatness. Plus poplar adds to the warmer punch as well - it's a much less hard of a wood than maple - so adding it in plies again fattens up that tone on the bottom end but the maple plys give it strength and projection.


I would say the Renowns are absolutely fantastic and will get you through anything you want to play - I might still pick up a set of Renowns in jazz sizes because I think they would sound amazing cranked up super high and would project like crazy.

The Brooklyns are just thunder though - my 16" floor and the kick....the freaking kick will literally shake a house it can go so lowwwww. I've never played anything like that kick in my entire life. What I haven't done is tune the Brooklyns UP yet - I don't have the right heads for it and we're in the middle of heading into the studio so I haven't had time to fully play around with higher tunings - so I have a blindspot there that I can't compare quite yet.

Overall both great kits - but the Brooklyn does feel more high end and I would expect that since it is the next step up - but since it's designer to be warm and rich - it's almost more a lateral move in sound depending on what you want. You may like the renown feel so much that the Brooklyns won't cut for you and you might slide straight up to the USA Customs (The Broadkasters are even MORE warm and punchy than the Brooklyns - which split the difference in sound between the USA Customs and the Broadkasters)

 

[pocket player]

Your kit looks great!

I'm feeling really good about my Renowns now, given this 'upgrade' to the GTS mounting system. I've always been pleased that the two lines share so much technology, the 302 hoops especially. I respect your opinion so if you feel that the GTS mounts are worthy, that's huge.

I haven't found a single head-to-head comparison of the Brooklyns and the Renowns anywhere so I'm in the dark as far as how similar and/or different they are. I expect a difference but if they are more similar than different, that will make me happy. I'm delighted that the GTS mounts aren't a compromise, at any rate.

I do love the way that the Brooklyn's hoops are stamped with the Gretsch name. That's a nice detail.
[/Good luck with your Renowns, i'm sure they are great sounding drums!

 

[NouveauCliche]

THANKS GREAT information!! You gave me more info then the gretsch factory website !!, which shows nothing about this mount !! their site needs a big upgrade, they should offer you a job ! If you dont mind , What kind of music do you play ? do you play for a living ? Have you used the drum center of portsmith before ? how do you rate them ? Thanks nice chatting with you! TOM

Heya Tom - no problemo: Glad I could / can help. I'm really passionate about their stuff now that I've settled into playing their drums so I've done a whole of research and chatting with their people and people that play their drums as official artists, etc. so I'm glad my hours of just being a geek can help someone else haha.

Right now I play jazz/funk/hip hop with my band - but we do all kinds of stuff: We have some of our tunes arranged for orchestra and symphony so this November we'll be performing our "D'DAT Suite" with an 80 piece symphony in Sonoma, CA, our new album is a concept album that tells the story of a Native American kid that grows up on the rez then goes out into the world, etc. so we record that here in a couple weeks and we just got news that we got a residency awarded with Wes Studi's daughter to develop it into an off broadway musical which is wild so we had to write a 70 page script in literally 7 days last week (no sleep for about a week), we have another project where a local photographer / painter husband and wife team are doing these huge 8 feet tall mixed media pieces where he takes a photograph of Southwest Scenery and she like paints on it too and they print them on metal - so they are making 8 of these and we are composing pieces to match each piece and we've hired a poet to make a narration of the whole thing and our plan is to book that at higher end art galleries as a performance piece / exhibit and we actually just got our first booking so now we are scrambling to actually write those tunes haha....so we realllllly try to exist outside of the box and that gives us a ton of legs to stand on so even despite COVID - we've been busy! We also have a non-profit (The San Juan Jazz Society) that focuses on education (We've done workshops as a band for something like 30k students now all across the US and Canada) and since live shows and workshops aren't happening right now - we used our funding to create a live concert series to help promote other artists in the south called "The Heart Space Live".

We just premiered a new episode last night and the singer is this cool girl with a rad kit - I hyper linked it above - everyone should check it out haha.

It's really me and the horn player (Delbert Anderson) that drive all these projects - but we were BUSYYYYY before COVID and hopefully doing all these things are going to allow us to hit the ground running again when live music comes back.

I used to play for a living: Right out of highschool I toured with a lot of jazz heavies: Kevin Eubanks gave me my big shot and that lead to all kinds of fun opportunities including playing with Al DiMeola on the World Sinfonia III (though I wasn't on the album) for a stretch on that tour and Bud Shank and Greg Abate, etc. etc. but I did something a lot people probably wouldn't do in my position: I got married and had daugthers...and I really wanted to provide a quality of life for them that being a touring jazz musician couldn't and be part of their lives, so I stepped away from music a profession for about 10 years and built a business that now can support us and pay for their college, etc. (My oldest daughter is UNM to be an architect so proud dad for sure). So that's allowed me now to pursue all these awesome projects with my bandmate (who is a beast on the horn) and get back into music more full time now that my family is more mature and my daugthers are older. So I'm transitioning back into music over the past 7 years or so and it's been great!


Drum Center of Portsmith is one of the best places you can buy drum gear - awesome team and they make some of the best youtube videos out there: I would totally buy from them with ZERO concerns and you can call them up anytime to chat about your purchases and they will help you tons.

Feel free to ping me with anything you need as well

 

[pocket player]

Yea the GTS mounting system to me feels a lot more sharp than the RIMS style mounts and it feels great and looks great - I've talked to a few Gretsch artists that have made the same choice on even their USA customs to use the GTS mounts - a lot of them have done it for aesthetics: it just looks high end and sharp. I just love seeing more of the shell and there's something about a RIMS mount that doesn't screen high end to me. There's even a trend right now on the USA customs where people are starting to buy them totally without suspension mounts and with the diamond shaped direct to shell mounts and I'm wondering if it's because don't like that RIMS style mount and want something that is less clunky and allows for just slight better positioning....which is where the GTS style mount from the Renowns would be a great in-between. (Pic below is the direct to shell mount on a new USA custom for sale on ebay right now) ...it could also just be a nod to the vintage Gretsch drums too: but I haven't had any conversations with anyone that has a new set with the shell mounts.


Well I've owned both a Renown and the Brooklyns so I can contrast and compare for you if you'd like.

There are some differences to the the builds:

Renowns: 7ply Gretsch formula maple shells with a 30 degree bearing edge, silver sealer and the new Renowns come with 302 hoops. The older renowns came with die cast hoops so that was always the biggest difference.

Brooklyns: Brooklyn drums feature 6-ply North American maple/poplar shells and are made slightly thicker than Gretsch’s USA Custom Drums and have a 30-degree bearing edge.

So when I first sat down at Brooklyns - I had the the exact heads and pretty the same tuning as I did on my renowns (Evans EC2s on top with G1 on bottom) and the first thing that jumped out at me was that the tone on the Brooklyns was a little warmer, and fatter and emphasized a slightly lower frequency than the Renowns.

The Renowns actually remind me a lot of the USA customs - they seem to have a slightly higher fundamental pitch and project a bit more than the Brooklyns which actually makes sense because even though they both have 30 degree bearing edges (meaning the Brooklyns and Renowns) - the shell is slightly thicker on the Brooklyns despite having 1 less ply, so there's just slightly more head contact on that 30 degree edge and so you get just that much more shell movement so that drops the pitch just slightly and adds more warmth and fatness. Plus poplar adds to the warmer punch as well - it's a much less hard of a wood than maple - so adding it in plies again fattens up that tone on the bottom end but the maple plys give it strength and projection.


I would say the Renowns are absolutely fantastic and will get you through anything you want to play - I might still pick up a set of Renowns in jazz sizes because I think they would sound amazing cranked up super high and would project like crazy.

The Brooklyns are just thunder though - my 16" floor and the kick....the freaking kick will literally shake a house it can go so lowwwww. I've never played anything like that kick in my entire life. What I haven't done is tune the Brooklyns UP yet - I don't have the right heads for it and we're in the middle of heading into the studio so I haven't had time to fully play around with higher tunings - so I have a blindspot there that I can't compare quite yet.

Overall both great kits - but the Brooklyn does feel more high end and I would expect that since it is the next step up - but since it's designer to be warm and rich - it's almost more a lateral move in sound depending on what you want. You may like the renown feel so much that the Brooklyns won't cut for you and you might slide straight up to the USA Customs (The Broadkasters are even MORE warm and punchy than the Brooklyns - which split the difference in sound between the USA Customs and the Broadkasters)

Great information gretsch guys ,FYI i bought a Gretsch catalina club kit about 5yrs ago and they sound great for the price ! love to play these little guys ,BD 18",RT 8x12,FT 14x14, great sounding snare 5x 14,easy to lug around for gigs ,with tight spaces

 

[pocket player]

Heya Tom - no problemo: Glad I could / can help. I'm really passionate about their stuff now that I've settled into playing their drums so I've done a whole of research and chatting with their people and people that play their drums as official artists, etc. so I'm glad my hours of just being a geek can help someone else haha.

Right now I play jazz/funk/hip hop with my band - but we do all kinds of stuff: We have some of our tunes arranged for orchestra and symphony so this November we'll be performing our "D'DAT Suite" with an 80 piece symphony in Sonoma, CA, our new album is a concept album that tells the story of a Native American kid that grows up on the rez then goes out into the world, etc. so we record that here in a couple weeks and we just got news that we got a residency awarded with Wes Studi's daughter to develop it into an off broadway musical which is wild so we had to write a 70 page script in literally 7 days last week (no sleep for about a week), we have another project where a local photographer / painter husband and wife team are doing these huge 8 feet tall mixed media pieces where he takes a photograph of Southwest Scenery and she like paints on it too and they print them on metal - so they are making 8 of these and we are composing pieces to match each piece and we've hired a poet to make a narration of the whole thing and our plan is to book that at higher end art galleries as a performance piece / exhibit and we actually just got our first booking so now we are scrambling to actually write those tunes haha....so we realllllly try to exist outside of the box and that gives us a ton of legs to stand on so even despite COVID - we've been busy! We also have a non-profit (The San Juan Jazz Society) that focuses on education (We've done workshops as a band for something like 30k students now all across the US and Canada) and since live shows and workshops aren't happening right now - we used our funding to create a live concert series to help promote other artists in the south called "The Heart Space Live".

We just premiered a new episode last night and the singer is this cool girl with a rad kit - I hyper linked it above - everyone should check it out haha.

It's really me and the horn player (Delbert Anderson) that drive all these projects - but we were BUSYYYYY before COVID and hopefully doing all these things are going to allow us to hit the ground running again when live music comes back.

I used to play for a living: Right out of highschool I toured with a lot of jazz heavies: Kevin Eubanks gave me my big shot and that lead to all kinds of fun opportunities including playing with Al DiMeola on the World Sinfonia III (though I wasn't on the album) for a stretch on that tour and Bud Shank and Greg Abate, etc. etc. but I did something a lot people probably wouldn't do in my position: I got married and had daugthers...and I really wanted to provide a quality of life for them that being a touring jazz musician couldn't and be part of their lives, so I stepped away from music a profession for about 10 years and built a business that now can support us and pay for their college, etc. (My oldest daughter is UNM to be an architect so proud dad for sure). So that's allowed me now to pursue all these awesome projects with my bandmate (who is a beast on the horn) and get back into music more full time now that my family is more mature and my daugthers are older. So I'm transitioning back into music over the past 7 years or so and it's been great!


Drum Center of Portsmith is one of the best places you can buy drum gear - awesome team and they make some of the best youtube videos out there: I would totally buy from them with ZERO concerns and you can call them up anytime to chat about your purchases and they will help you tons.

Feel free to ping me with anything you need as well

Hey Nicholas ,some good history,thanks for sharing,glad your journey has worked out well for you and your family. give me a shout if i can ever help you with anything also. talk soon !

 

[C.M. Jones]

Yea the GTS mounting system to me feels a lot more sharp than the RIMS style mounts and it feels great and looks great - I've talked to a few Gretsch artists that have made the same choice on even their USA customs to use the GTS mounts - a lot of them have done it for aesthetics: it just looks high end and sharp. I just love seeing more of the shell and there's something about a RIMS mount that doesn't screen high end to me. There's even a trend right now on the USA customs where people are starting to buy them totally without suspension mounts and with the diamond shaped direct to shell mounts and I'm wondering if it's because don't like that RIMS style mount and want something that is less clunky and allows for just slight better positioning....which is where the GTS style mount from the Renowns would be a great in-between. (Pic below is the direct to shell mount on a new USA custom for sale on ebay right now) ...it could also just be a nod to the vintage Gretsch drums too: but I haven't had any conversations with anyone that has a new set with the shell mounts.


Well I've owned both a Renown and the Brooklyns so I can contrast and compare for you if you'd like.

There are some differences to the the builds:

Renowns: 7ply Gretsch formula maple shells with a 30 degree bearing edge, silver sealer and the new Renowns come with 302 hoops. The older renowns came with die cast hoops so that was always the biggest difference.

Brooklyns: Brooklyn drums feature 6-ply North American maple/poplar shells and are made slightly thicker than Gretsch’s USA Custom Drums and have a 30-degree bearing edge.

So when I first sat down at Brooklyns - I had the the exact heads and pretty the same tuning as I did on my renowns (Evans EC2s on top with G1 on bottom) and the first thing that jumped out at me was that the tone on the Brooklyns was a little warmer, and fatter and emphasized a slightly lower frequency than the Renowns.

The Renowns actually remind me a lot of the USA customs - they seem to have a slightly higher fundamental pitch and project a bit more than the Brooklyns which actually makes sense because even though they both have 30 degree bearing edges (meaning the Brooklyns and Renowns) - the shell is slightly thicker on the Brooklyns despite having 1 less ply, so there's just slightly more head contact on that 30 degree edge and so you get just that much more shell movement so that drops the pitch just slightly and adds more warmth and fatness. Plus poplar adds to the warmer punch as well - it's a much less hard of a wood than maple - so adding it in plies again fattens up that tone on the bottom end but the maple plys give it strength and projection.


I would say the Renowns are absolutely fantastic and will get you through anything you want to play - I might still pick up a set of Renowns in jazz sizes because I think they would sound amazing cranked up super high and would project like crazy.

The Brooklyns are just thunder though - my 16" floor and the kick....the freaking kick will literally shake a house it can go so lowwwww. I've never played anything like that kick in my entire life. What I haven't done is tune the Brooklyns UP yet - I don't have the right heads for it and we're in the middle of heading into the studio so I haven't had time to fully play around with higher tunings - so I have a blindspot there that I can't compare quite yet.

Overall both great kits - but the Brooklyn does feel more high end and I would expect that since it is the next step up - but since it's designer to be warm and rich - it's almost more a lateral move in sound depending on what you want. You may like the renown feel so much that the Brooklyns won't cut for you and you might slide straight up to the USA Customs (The Broadkasters are even MORE warm and punchy than the Brooklyns - which split the difference in sound between the USA Customs and the Broadkasters)

Excellent comparison, Nicholas. I don't play Gretsch, of course, but I do enjoy your takes on all things drumming.

 

[NouveauCliche]

Excellent comparison, Nicholas. I don't play Gretsch, of course, but I do enjoy your takes on all things drumming.

Thanks man - I was thinking a bit after I posted this discussion this morning.

A lot of the "magic" of different drum companies and shells and stuff sort of....isn't magic.

Shell construction, bearings edges, mounting hardware, hardware mass....I've noticed that a lot of those things are quantifiable and I'm not sure if I like it I kind like of like the mystery behind certain sounds and feels...but it's sort of all going away with experience.

I kind of miss the days where I'd play a drum and think "man - this feels amazing, must be that XY company magic!" - when really it's more like..."I like how a baseball bat bearing edge feels on a two ply head because the shell absorbs most of the energy and since this drum is vintage the wood is softer and it has low mass hardware that energy isn't transferred back into the head which is also absorbing energy because it has two 7mill plies and is tuned to XY pitch and XY tension setting" etc. *(that just being an example because I actually don't like that feel at all haha)

 

[C.M. Jones]

Thanks man - I was thinking a bit after I posted this discussion this morning.

A lot of the "magic" of different drum companies and shells and stuff sort of....isn't magic.

Shell construction, bearings edges, mounting hardware, hardware mass....I've noticed that a lot of those things are quantifiable and I'm not sure if I like it I kind like of like the mystery behind certain sounds and feels...but it's sort of all going away with experience.

I kind of miss the days where I'd play a drum and think "man - this feels amazing, must be that XY company magic!" - when really it's more like..."I like how a baseball bat bearing edge feels on a two ply head because the shell absorbs most of the energy and since this drum is vintage the wood is softer and it has low mass hardware that energy isn't transferred back into the head which is also absorbing energy because it has two 7mill plies and is tuned to XY pitch and XY tension setting" etc. *(that just being an example because I actually don't like that feel at all haha)

We have access to too much data and, over the last five months, far too much time. When I started drumming back in the '80s, shell construction, bearing edges, cymbal alloy, tuning drums to "notes," and so on were SCARCELY ever mentioned. Then came the Internet, and things that hadn't mattered at all started mattering over night. Now we're entrenched. Everything has a formula, a process, a protocol, or some wacky roadmap that often leads to nowhere. It's really quite suffocating if you don't ignore ninety-five percent of it.

Roll with it, man. We ain't never goin' back.

 

[yammyfan]

Well I've owned both a Renown and the Brooklyns so I can contrast and compare for you if you'd like.

Great summary, Nicolas! Did you have the Renowns with the diecast hoops or the 302s?

I'm full of questions because I'm thinking about adding the 13" and 16" toms to my kit but wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to simply start saving for Brooklyns or USA Customs and just enjoy my Renowns the way they are. They're special enough to keep me happy for the foreseeable future.

 

[C.M. Jones]

Great summary, Nicolas! Did you have the Renowns with the diecast hoops or the 302s?

I'm full of questions because I'm thinking about adding the 13" and 16" toms to my kit but wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to simply start saving for Brooklyns or USA Customs and just enjoy my Renowns the way they are. They're special enough to keep me happy for the foreseeable future.

I deleted my previous comment because I misread your statement. You're considering adding Renown toms to your kit but are wondering if you should just hold off and get a Brooklyn or USA Custom set down the line instead. Sorry for my previous misinterpretation.

That's a tough dilemma, but you'll end up with great drums either way.

 

[NouveauCliche]

Great summary, Nicolas! Did you have the Renowns with the diecast hoops or the 302s?

I'm full of questions because I'm thinking about adding the 13" and 16" toms to my kit but wondering if it wouldn't be wiser to simply start saving for Brooklyns or USA Customs and just enjoy my Renowns the way they are. They're special enough to keep me happy for the foreseeable future.

The renowns I owned had die cast hoops - but I've played plenty that have the 302 hoops. (I actually like the die cast - but I've always liked die cast hoops)

You know man - to be honest - I would add a 16" floor tom to your kit to get some bottom end thunder - they aren't that expensive and you can find them on reverb all the time. I don't think there's any good reason to think about upgrading yet - your kit rocks. Get that floor tom - then spend your money on other things - that kit should hold you for as long as you want it to. You could do a world tour with that kit and be happy my guy. Now you can focus on fun things like mics for home recording or things like a motion-pro thone, or hardware or cymbals - your actual kit has you covered now at a very high level - zero need to think about a new one.


Edit:

This matches your kit right?

Gretsch RN2-1616F Renown 16x16" Floor Tom | Reverb

The Gretsch Renown RN2 Tom models feature 7-ply maple shells and differ from the RN1 models with ‘302’ instead of Die Cast hoops.

reverb.com

 

[yammyfan]

The renowns I owned had die cast hoops - but I've played plenty that have the 302 hoops. (I actually like the die cast - but I've always liked die cast hoops)

You know man - to be honest - I would add a 16" floor tom to your kit to get some bottom end thunder - they aren't that expensive and you can find them on reverb all the time. I don't think there's any good reason to think about upgrading yet - your kit rocks. Get that floor tom - then spend your money on other things - that kit should hold you for as long as you want it to. You could do a world tour with that kit and be happy my guy. Now you can focus on fun things like mics for home recording or things like a motion-pro thone, or hardware or cymbals - your actual kit has you covered now at a very high level - zero need to think about a new one.

I appreciate the second opinion (and everyone's - to be sure) and am reassured to hear this. I don't want to give the impression that I'm lukewarm about the Renowns as they truly are the best sounding, most fun to play drums that I've owned yet. I'm blown away by them.

I owned a TOTL Yamaha kit for a couple of years but it rarely left the house. I have two principal kits now: a new Stage Custom Birch and the aforementioned Renowns. The Stage Customs replace the high-end kit because they give me 90% of its sound and I'm not afraid to gig them. I guess I'm comfortable in that "not the absolute best but pretty darn good" zone.

It's nice to have something to aspire to (Brooklyns etc.) but in the meantime I'll order that 16" FT and not look back. Thanks for the recommendation!

Also, thanks also for letting me hijack this thread as long as I have. You have been very gracious ?

 

[C.M. Jones]

I appreciate the second opinion (and everyone's - to be sure) and am reassured to hear this. I don't want to give the impression that I'm lukewarm about the Renowns as they truly are the best sounding, most fun to play drums that I've owned yet. I'm blown away by them.

I owned a TOTL Yamaha kit for a couple of years but it rarely left the house. I have two principal kits now: a new Stage Custom Birch and the aforementioned Renowns. The Stage Customs replace the high-end kit because they give me 90% of its sound and I'm not afraid to gig them. I guess I'm comfortable in that "not the absolute best but pretty darn good" zone.

It's nice to have something to aspire to (Brooklyns etc.) but in the meantime I'll order that 16" FT and not look back. Thanks for the recommendation!

Also, thanks also for letting me hijack this thread as long as I have. You have been very gracious ?

Good decision. Your kit will be deadly with an added 16" on the floor. Serious assertiveness awaits you. Post pics once you get it.

 

[NouveauCliche]

I appreciate the second opinion (and everyone's - to be sure) and am reassured to hear this. I don't want to give the impression that I'm lukewarm about the Renowns as they truly are the best sounding, most fun to play drums that I've owned yet. I'm blown away by them.

I owned a TOTL Yamaha kit for a couple of years but it rarely left the house. I have two principal kits now: a new Stage Custom Birch and the aforementioned Renowns. The Stage Customs replace the high-end kit because they give me 90% of its sound and I'm not afraid to gig them. I guess I'm comfortable in that "not the absolute best but pretty darn good" zone.

It's nice to have something to aspire to (Brooklyns etc.) but in the meantime I'll order that 16" FT and not look back. Thanks for the recommendation!

Also, thanks also for letting me hijack this thread as long as I have. You have been very gracious ?

I love chatting Gretsch - you are free in this thread or DMs or whatever anytime you'd like. Love your kit!

I almost got another renown in the vintage pearl (Would have matched @C.M. Jones a bit) - but I was lucky enough to run into a specific set of circumstances that got me a great deal on the Brooklyns - so I figured why not?

Otherwise I'd be here with a set of renowns not much different than yours!

 

[NouveauCliche]

Did some recording this weekend and shot some in studio videos for a couple of projects on the Brooklyns with AMAZING results. The engineer was geeking out about how great and full they sounded in the room. Huge tones - just massive.

We recorded our second album - which will be produced by Grammy Award winning producer John Lindemann (he worked on Paul Simon's "Graceland" from the "You Can Call me Al" days) and have at least two tracks with Phil Manzanera (Roxy Music/David Gilmour) - and one track for Phil's project "The Solidarity Express"

Finally all came together!


There's also a documentary coming out about the project so in addition to the regular pressure of recording - there was video of the whole process and we shot a couple of in studio videos and did a live stream!

Four 12 hours days later and now I'm on the other side of it all and I wish it was still going! What a blast!