drums... Sonor Player's vs. Gretsch Catalina Club Studio?

[fuzzking]

so I'm looking for a new drum kit for my other band... something smallish, but not one of these super tiny bop kits -

think i've narrowed it down to either


or


add a nice crash/ride and hi-hat (yup, only two cymbals) and we'd have a super transportable kit.

any experience with these?


both come at a very decent price (600-700 €) and have a 20" bass drum (as opposed to the raised 18"s found on the other small kits), with the Sonor one 12"deep and the Gretsch one 14".
also, the Gretsch snare is 14x6.5" and the Sonor 14x5", so I might guess the Gretsch kit to have a smoother sound with fuller body... or is that a nonsense assumption?
what i like about the Sonor kit is the tom/cymbal mounting arm on the bass drum... one less stand to schlepp around.

hmm... decisions...

[Dok]

No experience with the Sonor but our drummer has a Catalina Club kit that he got for real cheap and it's a great kit.

[fuzzking]

yeah i keep reading so much praise for the Catalina series that it should be a no-brainer. the info on the Sonor is more sparse, but from what i found, people like them a lot - and I find the somewhat smaller footprint quite intriguing. think the drummer will simply go for the sparkly Sonor, while the Gretsch might be the safer bet.

[noisepunk]

I've no experience with gretsch, but Sonor is without question my favorite drum brand- at that price point, they probably aren't German, but even their chinese student kits are incredibly nice sounding and well made. Wholely underrated brand, in the states anyway.

I like bigger toms, but that kit looks lovely. The shorter kick and snare should give them a little tighter punch, if that makes sense, but it's arguably negligible- heads will make a bigger difference.

[fuzzking]

yeah of course it' s not made here (i live in germany), but Sonors have forever been amongst the best of err... domestically made stuff in what is now known as the EU. kind of what puzzles me, they seem to have been developed in collaboration with Sam Ash, while i'd never have expected a german drum brand to draw attention from a US retailer... but anyway, it's up to the drummer to decide: these two kits are the top choices in his price range (plus two supersupernice cymbals), and i think either choice should be fine. should he decide for anything else, i'll probably smack him across the face (of course only verbally).

[fuzzking]

Yeeeh he seems to be going for the Catalina...

hope it's not only empty talking., he's got the means- he's got a certain style..... I could totally fancy him butt-tanked behind that Gretsch. From a distance- of course.

[jakeisjake]

we have a Sonor kit. we got it used about 2 years ago for a decent price. it's a great kit. it is small, but it doesn't sound small.

[soggy mittens]

i hears ya about the one less cymbal stand but fuk much perfer Gretsch. Saying that I don't like the toms on either kit, prefer a bigger floor tom, and a tom bigger than the rack tom on the sonor, though if you're happy enough with the sonor give it a bash

[marqueemoon]

I played drums on in a rock band on a Premier APK bop kit. Small drums rule.