Looking for a jazz kit

Hi, I´m looking an used jazz kit and I want to spend around $400. I know that it is not much money, but I need it as a backup kit (playing gigs in small venues) and also a practice. I was looking for a gretsch catalina jazz club (and saw on the net that used kits are around 300-450 range)-, but before buying I have to ask. Is it worth buying it?

Yes. It's a good kit, and a used price should be roughly half the new cost. With these kits, though, the going used price seems to be more than that, which is a sign of a good kit.

Also, if you could find an old Ludwig or Slingerland with a 20" kick in that price range, THAT would be a good deal for sure. They ARE out there, if you're patient...

I bought one recently, and it's DEFINITELY worth buying. Amazing, warm sounding kit, and this is coming from someone who has owned 3 Yamaha Recording Custom kits, Ludwig Classic, Rogers XP8, Pearl DLX and CZX. I love mine. It's pretty versatile too- tuned down it's super punchy, and tuned high has a really nice, and surprisingly authentic bop sound.

Id go for the catalina club jazz kit. I dont own the set but I've heard that style kit a few times while working as a live sound tech. Honestly, they sound really good.

I´ve seen a Yamaha hip gig Manu Katche set with hardware and cases for $400. I still don´t know if I´m getting a good deal on that.

Alesi said:

I´ve seen a Yamaha hip gig Manu Katche set with hardware and cases for $400. I still don´t know if I´m getting a good deal on that.

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Doesn't the Manu kit have a 16" bass drum? To me, 16" is too small as a bass drum. You'd only get a nice thump out of it as soon as you brought your volume up a little - unless you're mic'ing it up all the time.

I would prefer if the Gretsch Catalinas gave you the option of a 20" bass drum too. That's a good all-around size.

The Gretsch Catalina Club is a pretty good sounding little kit, when I was in jazz band in college we had one that we used for combo stuff.

Another possible option, is that you could always look for an old Pearl stencil set. I had an old Tempro for a while that was a nice little kit. They were essentially slingerland copies. They came in a ton of different brand names. The ones I've seen have been Astro, Apollo, Crown, Del ray, Maxwin, Mercury, Maxitone, Majestic, Symphony, Star, Tempo, Whitehall.

As for 16" Bass drums a friend of mine has a Sonor kit that's got a 16" Bass, acoustically it's got a okay amount of thump... but that thing kicks when miced.