Interesting. Again the terms used in describing a sound are often confusing (at least to me they are!) because I would have described Gretsch as "higher pitched" and "tighter" and then used the "warm" term to describe vintage Ludwigs' sound. I think the reason for that is because a lot of the old jazz guys played Gretsch drums and they always had them tuned high and..."tight" and then the old Ludwigs' thin Weathermaster heads in combination with the thin lightweight shells and wide roundover bearing edges gave those drums a "rounder" less-defined tone..."warmer".
It's like trying to describe a color. "What does blue look like?" Umm...It's "cool" Umm...It's "deep"...but it's also "light" and "airy"
LOL! See what I mean?
The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that it's really not as much about the sound as much as it is about the LOOK and the VIBE of the NAME on the drums...even the shape of the badge playes into it.
Plus, there were SO many inconsistencies about how accurately vintage drums were built. Some of the drums rolled off the line might have been a little under-sized...some others might have been a bit over-sized. The under-sized shells that didn't bind against the drumhead's flesh hoops would be easier to tune and the over-sized ones would be more difficult to tune. Some drums edges might get cut more accurately than others...etc. So, at the end of the day, some drums, even though built from the same raw materials didn't always turn out the same way. But, like I say, I don't think people took much notice of things like shell thickness...bearing edge profiles...the type of tone control a drum had/didn't have...etc. Drums were drums. They went "boom". ;)
Maybe even a better focus to put in this discussion is WHY you think the sounds of a certain manufacturer's drums sound different from the next manufacturer's drums. For example, Slingerland's and Ludwig's shells were pretty similar...but Slingerland had the "Stick Saver" rims where the top flange curved INWARD instead of outward. Could that aspect have been the aspect to make Slingerland sound different than the otherwise very similar Ludwig drum?
With Gretsch , there were several things that were structurally different than other contemporary manufacturer's drums. The shells didn't have re-rings. The edges were slightly different. The diecast rims were different. The round badge drums were not "vented" (as far as I know)... So there are more clear-cut distinctions between Gretsch and the others. Plus, they also did look different because of those diecast rims. They looked more "substantial" -more "deluxe", if you will. And, all things combined, they did produce (and here comes another term) a more "focused" sound - a "drier" sound.
"Fat"
"Dry"
"Focused"
"Sloppy"
"Loose"
"Tight"
"Warm"
"Biting"
"Singing"
"Dead"
DOH
