I love this post!

Looks like you left them speechless - standing there with empty wallets!

My guess is that you are playing a thicker shell with no re-ring, as that is the strategy I would use in this endeavour.

Glad you could dig it, John. The shells are very thin. 3 ply? I don't know exactly, but as thin as Gretsch shells with a similar bearing edge. They are Luan shells or Philippine mahogany. No glue rings! Vertical grain as with most MIJ shells. Single tension drums so they have a certain characteristic to their sound. It's pretty limited tuning range with batter and resonant heads tuning in unison, but with the equal tension on both heads you can get a good sound. These drums are great fun to play on. I'm using a 9 x 13 Pearl rack tom as the floor tom. It's a close match. Similar wrap, similar shell construction. Cheers for reply.

Well I'm not too sure what to make of your claims here. Maybe you need to find a comparable Gretsch BD and hire a studio or some good quality audio equipment, record and film them both at at least 3 dynamic levels both open and buried beater at maybe 3 tuning levels. Then post the video up on here.

However they seem very similar to those Audition drums from the 60's. I played one of those kits with a 16" BD a few months ago at a vintage drum shop (Nick Hopkin Drums in Wales) and I was impressed to say the least. I reckon I could regularly play jazz gigs on that kid drum and get totally away with it.

That sure would be an interesting project. I wish I had the resources to pull it off. I make the Gretsch comparison half jokingly. The 16" is a sweet sounding little bass drum nonetheless. Obviously not as nice as Gretsch, but it has a touch of the Gretsch sound in it for sure. It's also well capable of projecting over loud guitars. I think it's similar to the Audition. I believe it's Star Made in Japan. I've had a couple of these kits including one in WMP which had yellowed nicely over the decades. That one actually had wooden hoops and sounded a bit nicer. The problem with these drums is the spurs. They're pretty useless. I have mine anchored to the carpet with a stopper attached to the hoop. It plays just fine without a riser. Cheers for the comment.

I reckon it would be very interesting to see how close you can get.

I was reading alot about heads today. I tell ya, I think that the heads of today have more of an influence on how a drum sounds than when most of these kits were made. The advance of head technology is just insane. It is a completely different drumming world now than yesteryear when choices were limited to # of plies & clear or coated.

BTW way, as for those spurs being useless - they totally serve a function: they keep your drum from rolling (while the anchor keeps it from scootin' away.)

I love those old MIJ drums.

Ì know what you're talking about. I have 5 gretsch kits and i like all of them. But, i have a small MIJ kit that's killer too. The drums are 1969 Pearl Valencia......sizes 20bd..12.. tom.....14 floor tom and 5x14 snare all in a nice blue pearl wrap. The drums sound great with new heads...they tune up nicely.