Not to beat a dead horse here but I had the chance to A-B demo a Silverstar Jazz and a Cat Club Jazz at Fork's Drum Closet in Nashville last weekend, and I remembered seeing this thread comparing these two kits so I thought I'd add my feedback to the mix. Disclaimer - this is all my subjective opinion. Your mileage may vary, caveat emptor, etc etc etc.
First off, let me just express my appreciation to all the guys at Fork's for their customer service. They've got a great shop full of great inventory and great staff. Little old amateur me walked in there and asked to try out some kits. "That's what they're here for, man," they said. I asked a guy on the floor about comparing the Tama kit to the Gretsch, and he volunteered to set both kits up side-by-side in the back room to let me demo them in privacy, then dropped a tuning key in my hand. I was a little surprised that they would take that kind of trouble for me on what are some pretty low-dollar kits compared to most of their inventory. So if anybody from Fork's reads this, I really appreciate it - thanks.
Anyway on to the kits...
KIT A
Gretsch Catalina Club Jazz in Walnut Glaze
Coated Evans 1x ply batter heads
Clear resonants
KIT B
Tama Silverstar Jazz in some kind of dark brown burst
Clear "Tama" 1x ply batter heads
Clear resonants
For what it's worth, I did not spend a whole lot of time fine-tuning each kit, but got each one within the lower range that I tend to prefer, and feel that I got enough of an idea of how each kit responds sonically to form a somewhat informed opinion.
SOUND
Gretsch had more midrange overtones whereas the Tama seemed more focused with a noticeable midrange cut when contrasted directly with the Gretsch. Resonance / sustain felt pretty comparable between the two kits, indicating to me that the shells were sufficiently round and bearing edges consistent enough that one could get as much sustain as desired with the right heads and tuning. Attack was much more pronounced on the Tama kit than the Gretsch. Ordinarily I would attribute this to the clear vs coated heads but the contrast was stark enough, combined with the difference in overtones/focus, that I think build elements such as the difference in bearing edge and shell material play a significant role in shaping the sound that is over and above the usual suspects of head selection and tuning. Of course this falls right in line with the conventional wisdom concerning bearing edges and the difference between birch and mahogany (which is really luan, in the CCJ's case).
Overall both kits sounded great, but it's evident that each is suited to different applications. The Gretsch has sort of a "blurrier" sound, by which I mean the sound of each individual drum seems to resemble the others in the kit -- think Billy Martin's sound -- sonically, the lines between each drum are "blurred." Live it would do well in quieter situations, in the studio it will begin in sort of a "dirtier," less polished place on the sonic spectrum. The Tama on the other hand will probably have more projection live, and in the studio will have a "cleaner," more polished sound. For my personal preference and playing style, I preferred the Tama. What really got me was the kick drum on the Tama kit - tuned down low it had a really nice punchy tone with a fundamental note much lower than I expected out of an 18" drum. The Gretsch kick was fine, but I suspect it would be more at home in a medium to high tuning range than down low. But I wouldn't hesitate to use the CCJ if the occasion called for it.
BUILD / HARDWARE / FINISH
Of course most relevant info on build/hardware can be found anywhere online, so I will just say that as I was adjusting the tom holders and floor tom legs and such, that each kit seemed comparable to the other in terms of feel and security. I did notice that the CCJ floor tom had 8 lugs, whereas the Tama had 6. Nothing felt cheap or unstable as I moved around the kit adjusting things and tuning.
You can see the full range of finish options elsewhere. I'll just say that the finish on each kit was great. The Gretsch kit has a diagonal seam in the glazed walnut veneer that I noticed as I was adjusting floor tom legs. The seam was flush and tight. I didn't notice anything like that on the Tama kit, but I wasn't exactly looking for it either. The Tama's darker shaded brown burst had a matte finish and not as much wood grain showed through, so if this particular kit had a seam like that, it was better obscured by the color than on the Gretsch. For the price of these kits, the finish on each was every bit as good as it should be, if not better.
I hope you find this helpful if you're considering these kits. I will say that after watching a bunch of YouTube videos, and finger tapping the toms at my local GC, I was convinced that I preferred the CCJ over the Tama. Bbut now that I've had a chance to try them side-by-side, with actual sticks, I now prefer the Tama. So it's important to get some firsthand experience when selecting a kit.
