I'm giving this drum set an overall rating of 10 because of its value. Till this day I don't believe a drum company has ever offered such a drum configuration for such an appealing price tag. Unless Gretsch or another drum company comes up with an even better deal, which I don't see happening any time soon, I won't be thinking about upgrading. Even if a better drum set for the money did come along I can see myself holding on to this one. I mean come on, an American made drum set mad out of American maple for a thousand bucks. I hope Zzounds doesn't mind me adding this to my review, but one thing I do recommend is buying the $1000 "Renown maple 'Euro'" drum set over the regular $1600 "Renown maple" drum set. I actually emailed Gretsch and found out by them that the only difference is an extra 2 inches in width with the lower tom only. I made sure before buying that that was the absolute only difference. It's the exact same drum set, "part's and quality" wise. Otherwise, I would have spent the extra $600. My suggestion is if your one of those who absolutely just need those couple more inches in that one piece of the drum set, then start by saving yourself $600 by purchasing the Gretsch Renown Euro set and then purchase the extra 16 inch tom. That way you have an extra tom! Keep in mind though, the 16 inch to alone is about $550. That should tell you how much these drums are worth. If you purchase the drum set in that order, you'll have five toms to hit on, that's including the… read more free 8 inch tom that comes with the kit. Now if that isn't a great deal, I don't know what is.

Sound
I was in a music store when I heard someone playing this kit. It was the first time I ever even found out about these drums. My first impression was that the drums had to be at-least $2000 or more. I thought the salesman made a mistake when he told me the cost of the kit. When I got home and looked it up, sure enough I found the drums for a thousand bucks her at Zzounds. I'm giving this drum set a 9 out of 10 as far as sound goes. I would give it a 10 - but I don't believe I've ever heard a perfect sounding drum set. This drum set come close though. It sounds very expensive, much more expensive then the price tag there asking. Let me put it this way, the quality in sound and craftsmanship is literally as nice as the over $2500 I've put into my Tama Starclasic. I also own a Tama Superstar set. It blows it straight out of the water. It is by far the best drum set you can get into with only a $1000. It's warm sounding and the size of the shells are deceiving compared to the depth it belts out. The bass drum is the best part of the kit. It sounds absolutely perfect. Not only does it sound amazing but it looks like a champ. The construction looks every bit as nice and sturdy as my Tama Starclasic.

Features
The kit includes your basic needs for to get you up and rolling. The Evans drum heads that come with the kit sound amazing with the kit. They never sounded as good on my Tama sets.

Ease of Use
If you know how to tune drums well, just slap on the heads and find that sweet spot. Like usual with me, it took me a few days to tweak the tuning until I got the drums sounding pretty much how I want them to. Like all drum sets, the more time you spend with the kit, the more you figure out how to tune it to your liking.

Quality
Again I'm gonna rate the products quality and construction a 9 out of 10 because I've never found a perfectly built pair of drums anywhere. Looking over the drums, I haven't found anything to worry about yet. I can safely say that I believe these drums will hold up perfectly over time. The finish, the paint and the chrome are impecable. I don't see anything that tells me that the drum set wouldn't be just fine to take on the road with you. Put it this way, these drums are built way better then my Tama Superstar set and is about par with my Tama Starclassic.

Value
This drum set has got to be the absolute best deal out there in drums hands down.

Manufacturer Support
I emailed Gretsch a few times so far with questions about various things (quality, comparisons in their drums, extra parts, etc) and they sent me an immediate satisfactory email response answering all my questions. I'm happy to say that all the answers to my questions were good news also. As far as Zzounds customer service and support, again - top notch! Not to mention the "Pay as you go plan" that Zzounds offers is the best deal around. What a deal...How can you argue with that. Not to mention, it's a no brainer. 4 monthly payments! It softens the cost while it helps you get it out of the way real fast with no lingering dept...

The Wow Factor
I got the color "cherry burst". It's gorgeous. Yes, I've seen prettier drum sets. Especially nowadays with todays finishing jobs like for example Tama offers in their higher line drum sets. But this drum set is nothing to make fun of. It makes my Tama Superstar look like something you would buy from Walmart. The paint job was done in layers - so the paint job looks like it has depth to it. I can't complain. It's beautiful.

Musical Background:
20+ years. Active and recording musician.

Musical Style:
Progressive rock and jazz. read less