Greetings Vintage Drum Lovers!
This month’s article contains a kit that is a very special addition to my collection. This is an early 60s (1963?) Gretsch round badge Name Band Outfit Cat# PX4015 in the very special Tangerine Sparkle finish.
This is my very first Gretsch set and I finally own a kit made in NYC - Brooklyn, as a matter of fact, during the heyday of round badge Gretsch drum manufacturing. This is one of the most beautiful drum sets I have ever seen. The kit can look yellow, gold, red and orange depending on the lighting. I personally think it looks best in plain daylight.
This set consists of 22/13/16 bass and toms with matching 5.5x14 Name Band snare. All tags are present in each drum except bass drum. Flat grey interiors. Gretsch die cast hoops. 6 ply maple/gum wood shells, as per the construction used is late 50s. There are some minor scratches on the bass drum but the amazing thing you can't really see them due to this unique sparkle. The original rail mount tom holder still works great.
This set was another purchase from the great Steve Maxwell Vintage Drums. Steve included his excellent reproduction floor tom legs and bass drum spurs with the kit as the originals were pretty worn.
How does it sound? Well.. GREAT! These drums came to me with nearly brand new coated Ambassadors all around on batters and what appears to be original (or quite old) Gretsch heads on the bottom of the toms. Bass drum has coated Powerstroke 3 with falam pad and original felt is present on dampener. They were quite easy to tune up and sound deep and full of tone. The kick has a great thump with not too much overtone. I am still working on the sounds, however the first gig was at a casino in a large room with the kit completely “microphoned” up and the sound engineer gave me thumbs up.As you can imagine, I am happy to have this excellent example of another of the great drum manufacturers of the 20th century.
I now have "That Great Gretsch Sound!!"
Until next time, PLAY those drums!