The loudest shells are attached to the drums mic'd to the loudest p.a. system. Joking aside, I will say that there is a distinct difference in my old Maple Custom kit, my Recording Custom kit, and then my Gretsch Catalina bop kit. The Maple Customs were loudest without mic's. The Gretsch New Classic are second. Recording Customs and Gretsch Catalina are 3rd and fourth.
This doesn't in no way reflect on sound quality. It just means which drums make me work harder to be louder. All of these drums except for the New Classics have been played in loud bands, recording studio, live with acoustic acts, etc. I am pretty certain the New Classics are loud though. I just have yet to play them out.
It's a fair question but a hard one to answer. Playing live gigs where you need mics but do not have them is no fun. I used to be in a band with an idiot guitarist who used his volume knob to compensate for something really small and it was murder playing without mics. I shake my head thinking how many cymbals were messed up playing with that band. My poor drum heads. All that tuning for nothing. Ok, I am rambling now. Sorry.
