Brown Truck brings Renown

R1200RT

Member
Oh man my kit is starting to take shape! Got the shells and hardware and a couple of cymbals, so by the end of the week the rest should arrive and I should have it mostly set up and ready to play. Love the cherry virgin 20 kick! The kit'll be used only for small basement studio playing/recording, no gigging. The snare is backordered for up to 90 days, so I picked up a used Mapex snare for the interim. I still need to choose a cool small crash to finish it off... any ideas? Matching look isn't an issue for me.

New:
Gretsch Renown Maple Groove Cherry Burst
5x14S, 8x10, 9x12, 14x14, 16x20
Gibraltar 5601 pack

Used:
Mapex M Pro snare 14x5.5 platinum sparkle
Zildjian 14 Armand A hats
Sabian 18 HHX Manhattan Jazz
Zildjian 21 Armand A ride

Pictures to follow when it's complete.
 
Don't ya' just love the brown truck?? Welcome to the Gretsch Renown family.
 
Don't ya' just love the brown truck?? Welcome to the Gretsch Renown family.
I can hear that Truck-A-Commin from blocks away. my heart starts to beat faster whenever I am expecting something. When I hear the brakes squeak in front of my house, I run out to meet the driver! It never gets old! I also get a lot of stuff delivered at my workplace. The guys at work almost always make me open the boxes when they arrive. They don't even play! They just like to see my new toys!
I hope that you enjoy that new kit!
 
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I am really looking forward to seeing that new kit once you put it all together...are you planning on posting some clips as well since you are going to do some recording? Cannot wait to see it...CONGRATS
 
I am really looking forward to seeing that new kit once you put it all together...are you planning on posting some clips as well since you are going to do some recording? Cannot wait to see it...CONGRATS

She is a thing of beauty! (Although anybody would say so about their own kit.) Those Taiwanese know their woodworking and finishing. The Renown's chromed bits always impress me.

As for clips, I'm 90% guitarist and 10% drummer and my drumming's pretty rusty, just been playing a friend's kit on weekends at his place when he lets me. But yes I can post some mixes over the next few weeks. Miking will take a lot of experimentation. I have a couple of Rode NT5s that I use for guitar/amp, a Shure SM57 and an AKG D112, and I hope that's all I'll need. Meanwhile maybe I'll post some existing guitar bits for anybody interested.
 
me too.. 16" avedis thin crash is ace :)

however, with your armand ride (superb by the way) and your armand hats.. why not consider the 16" Armand thin crash

Its very very close to the standard A, possibly a little richer in tonality overall, but not far away.

The 16" medium thin armand crash is also superb.
 
Some days I wish my Renowns came with a 20" bass drum. How do you like yours?

Congratulations, you'll have a lot of fun with them.

Dennis
 
When I read small crash, I think of something like a 14 or 15" fast crash. Not mid weight 16s. My personal favorite is the Paiste signature 15" fast, but they're pretty expensive. I do have a 14" A Custom fast which I really like. Recently met another fellow with the same cymbal and he loves it too for small gigs where you want something to open up without having to make a lot of noise. Then it also makes a useful splashy thing for louder gigs.

Oh, and congrats on the Renowns.
 
When I read small crash, I think of something like a 14 or 15" fast crash. Not mid weight 16s. My personal favorite is the Paiste signature 15" fast, but they're pretty expensive. I do have a 14" A Custom fast which I really like. Recently met another fellow with the same cymbal and he loves it too for small gigs where you want something to open up without having to make a lot of noise. Then it also makes a useful splashy thing for louder gigs.

Oh, and congrats on the Renowns.

Looking for small fast quiet crash for recording, since I won't be using the kit for gigging. I'm leaning toward an A Custom 15 or an Armand 15 like shrink said.
 
Some days I wish my Renowns came with a 20" bass drum. How do you like yours?
Dennis

The 20 is just right for a small basement studio. Clean round thump without shaking the foundation. Still waiting on all the kit's bits and pieces and the wait is getting to me.
 
That Great Gretsch Sound!

(waiting waiting waiting for my cymbals to arrive)

Renown1.jpg
 
Great lookin' kit! Love it! Congrats.

One suggestion- I'd lower the tom holders in their clamps, or move the clamps & mounts down entirely, and turn those L-arms right-side up. If you use memory locks to keep the toms' positions, you'll have to remove them to take the drums off the mounts [kinda defeating the purpose of the locks], or if you don't use them at all, and if a wingnut on a suspension mount bracket gets loose, you'll have a nasty gash on that beautiful finish on the BD. With the L-arms right-side up, you can leave memory locks in place, or if you don't use them, if the aforementioned wingnut fails, the tom will bottom out at the L-arm's bend and not hit the BD/ground.

If you're thinking "Well, that won't happen to me"- who does, until it does, y'know? Plus, do you have kids in the house? Cats who like to jump around on anything they can get to? Gonna gig with 'em anywhere where bandmates, stage hands, etc. will be "helping" with your gear? And lastly, even if none of the above applies, even quality gear can malfunction at any moment with zero notice...
 
Great lookin' kit! Love it! Congrats.

One suggestion- I'd lower the tom holders in their clamps, or move the clamps & mounts down entirely, and turn those L-arms right-side up. If you use memory locks to keep the toms' positions, you'll have to remove them to take the drums off the mounts [kinda defeating the purpose of the locks], or if you don't use them at all, and if a wingnut on a suspension mount bracket gets loose, you'll have a nasty gash on that beautiful finish on the BD. With the L-arms right-side up, you can leave memory locks in place, or if you don't use them, if the aforementioned wingnut fails, the tom will bottom out at the L-arm's bend and not hit the BD/ground.

If you're thinking "Well, that won't happen to me"- who does, until it does, y'know? Plus, do you have kids in the house? Cats who like to jump around on anything they can get to? Gonna gig with 'em anywhere where bandmates, stage hands, etc. will be "helping" with your gear? And lastly, even if none of the above applies, even quality gear can malfunction at any moment with zero notice...

I agree, keep those babies safe.

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Dennis
 
Will do on the tom holder arrangement... taking no chances. Thanks for the tips -- I've never worked with tom clamps and there's definitely no instruction book! I was happy that the toms were pretty well tuned to themselves and each other right out of the box. The kick took some time but it's got a great round tone, very clean. Now waiting for the brown truck to bring me my cymbals...
 
Nice kit and color!!

Ugh, I wish Gretsch would redo their tom mounting solution or something... I love their drums but can't stand the mounting. I understand the reasoning behind RIMS mounting but I strongly HATE the way it looks on drums and how much it juts out and takes up unnecessary space and all that metal adding weight... yes, only inch or so but that could mean everything to me in terms of tom placement.
 
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