It depends on the line. I have a maple kit and it's as modern sounding as my tama bubingas. Also, their acrylic kits will obviously sound pretty modern too! Geo Way and C&C both make great kits, you won't go wrong either way.George Way 100%.
C&C kits replicate the "Player Date" sound perfectly. But that's about it. They have a vintage "low-fi" sound that is great if you like that sort of thing, but they can't do much else IMO. If that sound is all you want, then they're great.
George Way kits are more modern sounding. They have more attack, and especially more resonance. You can still get that vintage sound with the right muffling, but also have the open and resonant sound at your disposal too.
IMHO, George Way kits sound much better and are more versatile.
That's interesting. When I had a question about my George Way snare, Ronn Dunnett called me himself and spoke at length with me about the drum. Obviously, not everyone has that experience!George Way are nice drums as well. I owned a snare from them and it was great. Their customer service is awful. I mean absolutely terrible. I had some questions and issues, so I tried to contact them several times in a variety of ways. I never received a response. Never. Went through a dealer as well. No response. And no custom finishes, if that matters to you.
Yes, the shells are imported. The drums may be finished in Canada or California, since Bill Detamore of Pork Pie was finishing some of the drums for Ronn Dunnett.DCP sells GW as Canadian made. The rumor mill has the shells out-sourced given the price and assembled in Canada. What’s the official word?
That's interesting. When I had a question about my George Way snare, Ronn Dunnett called me himself and spoke at length with me about the drum. Obviously, not everyone has that experience!
Yes, the shells are imported. The drums may be finished in Canada or California, since Bill Detamore of Pork Pie was finishing some of the drums for Ronn Dunnett.
George Way is just another made-in -Asia drum business model.
I think Tama and perhaps Pearl do still make some high-end drums in Japan. But yeah for the most part you are right.Like Yamaha, Tama, Pearl?
Sorry but there is no comparison of GW sounds with a Gretsch Catalina.
Just wanted to say, there is no way, under any circumstances that I would wait a year for a set of George Way drums. I have played them, and in my opinion, they are nice sounding. Nice, not phenomenal sounding. There are probably 10-20 brands that sound equally as good, if not possibly better. But those companies provide better customer service and their product in a timely manner. If I remember correctly, for example, the member that waited a year was not buying a custom kit or anything like that. Dunnett just didn’t give a sh*t how long the order took to complete. And his communication was almost nonexistent.Believe me I'm no drum snob, and play mongrel kits. But when I see this attention to detail I think somebody knows a thing or two about drum building
I am not seeing any Catalina drum reviews mention these things. Way has its issues. A member on here (Kamak?) waited a year for his drums, but if I recall he was not disappointed.
One cannot hear the latitude and longitude of where drums are made. Maybe that filters the ear just like names do?
...in particular I love the die cast look to the rims (not actually heavy die cast hoops).
Doesn’t Craviotto get the shells from Asia for the new ply drums too?Not a big fan of drum decorators who co-opt a vintage entity's lineage and then contract it out overseas before adorning the finished product with a badge that reads Vancouver. An old fault of mine called principle I've been unable to shake.
The new economy.I don't really know. I do know the line on from where and what a company sources and uses in their product is apparently no longer something to be concerned with when it comes to the 'made in' part of the equation. It's all a global cluster ____ if you want to support jobs in your country.
This thread has a few posts that reference Catalina. Is this an implication that C&C is nothing but a rebadged Catalina? I find it very confusing.
For the record, I wouldn't wait a year for any set of drums. Don't care who makes them.