Personally, I love my Catalina. I used it for pretty much everything for years. It is in my opinion a great workhorse...never left me down and always sounds good.

My guess is that they are an inexpensive beginner kit that was bought for kids & teens. ....And this is the group that would give up or lose interest. This is why the 2nd hand market , in general, is flooded w/ beginner instruments.

Among others, I had a Catalina Birch that was a fantastic gigging kit. Got it cheap (400 new) drop shipped to my house complete with snare and stands (22,12,13,16,snare). It was a sweet walnut stain. Played the snot out of it. Took clear heads well. Miced up nicely and kept a nice controlled deep powerful tone.

But, it was still a MIT kit. No real value and no extraordinary quality. It was what it was. It was a tool that got the job done.

No sentimentality. No personality. No mojo. No real depth or character. It was like pretty much all the other new kits out there. blah ...

Everyone has there opinion and I absolutely Love my Jazz Catalina's and I have some pretty nice kits. The 18" kick and toms sound great. Just a wonderful jazz set without the top of the line Gretsch price.. Nice vintage wood tone for a modern kit. I got mine from a CL add for $350 from a guy in Deerfield Beach who bought them new from "Resurrection Drums" in Miami. I have never seen this wrap on another Catalina set. I added the Gilbralter cymbal holder for my splash cymbal. I would not hesitate to take and play these anywhere. There well made beautiful drums. Nice Maple bass drum hoops.

I have never regretted the investment and have no plans to ever part with them. I play them out on smaller club and jazz gigs. About once a month.

[IMG]http://i92.photobucket.com/albums/l37/1vibes/Gretsch%20Catalina%20Jazz%20Kit/IMG_0025.jpg[/IMG]

I had a Catalina Birch set in dark walnut for a couple of years. I would rank the set as "ok". It sounded pretty good, ill give it that, I just had a problem with keeping the toms in tune. I also didnt like that the rack toms only had 5 lugs per side, instead of the 6 (which possibly contributed to the tuning problems..). Overall not a bad kit, just not great. I sold it a few years ago to a church and havent missed it; no emotional attachment to it. If I were to buy a "new" kit again, I would look at the "higher end" PDP's. Ive seen them pop up on CL for fairly cheap.

Agree- At my local GC just last weekend, a couple and their daughter were looking at Catalina's. The little girl was perhaps 6 years old and liked 'Shiny Cats'.

Funny Post

Nice discussion. I won't throw Catalina out of bed...kynuck kynuck...Kiss

That is a cool kit! I have a Catalina jazz kit that I use pretty much as my main gigging kit, most of the venues I play are fairly small and it always sounds pretty good! I sanded and waxed the edges of the toms and bass, made a bit of a difference. If I play a bigger venue I use a bigger kit but the little jazzer sets up real quick which is huge for me as i am always rushing to get to a gig from my day job!