Gretsch Renown Maple Drum Kit

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| MARCH 2017 WWW.MUSICRADAR.COM/RHYTHM

GEAR REVIEW

T-wing thumbscrews to the Gretsch ‘G’ cast

into the memory locks, it feels like these

parts are made for your kit, rather than

sourced, which is rare for what is an

eastern-made entry-point into the upper end

of a company’s line-up. Finally, there’s the

inclusion of decent heads. The argument

against this has long been that every

drummer uses different heads, so there’s no

point in adding to the price tag with expensive

Also try…

The new Renown

includes the 302

hoops found on

the Brooklyn and

Broadkaster

series, what was

behind the

decision to switch

from die-cast?

“The 302 makes it

a real upgrade in

our opinion. The

302s are 3mm,

double-ﬂ anged steel hoops. These hoops are

similar to hoops used in the 1950s, but are

constructed from a heavier gauge steel to

stand up to today’s playing styles. The hoop

helps create a more open tone than a die-cast

hoop with more overtones to the overall sound

but still keeps the stability of a die-cast hoop.

It’s the best of both worlds.”

The kit seems easy to tune – how much of

this is down to the hoops?

“A lot for sure. It’s not about the hoop

construction only though, but also the famous

Gretsch ﬁ ve-lug pattern on the 10" and 12"

toms which helps to ﬁ nd the ‘sweet spot’ easier.

In general, it is the full package of perfectly

shaped hoops, an absolutely round shell and

the perfect and clean bearing edge that makes

the sound and tuning of a drum great and easy.

We think the Renown has it all.”

Gretsch has also changed the Renown to a

drilled bass drum. How come?

“The Renown is the workhorse drum kit in the

line and so we wanted to provide a

convenience set-up for gigging that gets you in

and out of the club quickly.”

There is a lot of attention to detail on the

Renown’s hardware…

“Absolutely. The Renown has been revered for

its rock-solid quality and excellent sound. We

tried to upgrade this with some of the USA

features and make it the most affordable

‘Gretsch-ish’ kit ever. Most importantly,

we’ve still managed to lower the price by

about 10 percent!”

Mario Junghans

Product Manager, percussion

instruments Gewa Music

They say…

THE DEEP, RICH CHERRY BURST

LOOKS LIKE IT COULD BE ON A KIT

COSTING TWICE AS MUCH, AND THE

TOPCOAT HAS BEEN BUFFED TO A

GLASSY-SMOOTH FINISH

HARDWARE

None of the hardware feels

‘off the peg’, rather that they

are made for your kit

TOM MOUNTS

Toms are mounted from the

bass drum and use Gretsch

GTS suspension mounts

– yet still not necessarily suitable – heads, but

we’re glad to see that Gretsch has included a

clear Remo P3 (bass drum), clear Emperors

(toms) and a coated Ambassador on the

snare drum.

After ﬁ tting the heads and lugs, we’re

ready to roll, and we start in earnest with the

toms. The rack toms are a ﬁ ve-lug design,

making tuning nice and fast, but it’s also down

to the combination of lugs, hoops and heads

that make the Renown a doddle to play. We

quickly took our toms from a controlled thick

rock sound with just a little tension on the

batters (arguably the Emperor’s wheelhouse

for tone and feel) to a singing, ring-free clarity

at medium tension with the reso and batter in

unison. Higher tunings worked well without

choking out too, although this is where

single-ply heads will most likely make the

difference. The ﬂ oor tom follows suit with a

controlled beefy thud at lower tunings, and

clarity when pitched up. So that’s a tick for

the 302 hoops!

Prior to playing, the bass drum was the

part of the kit that intrigued us the most.

Undrilled bass drums used to be the preserve

of high-end kits, and have become very

popular in recent years for a few reasons.

First is the argument that cutting a hole in the

TAMA

STARCLASSIC

PERFORMER BB

We say: “The Tama

Starclassic BB is a solid,

pro-level kit that, at this

price, is absurdly good

value. ”