I hate to say this but I think calfskin heads would go a long way, especially on the toms

I find it's best to crank up the snare side head, and make sure it's not loose at the beds.

I used to think all Gretsch wood snares sounded bad, because the one I had was so frustrating...no matter what combo of heads/wires/tuning I used, it just sounded flat. But since becoming a dealer and having a lot of them come through, I've discovered that it really depends on the snare...some sound fantastic. Some of my favorite snares are Gretsch 5.5x14's and 4x14's. However, if one sounds bad it's best to cut your losses and not waste a lot of time on it, life's too short and they're not rare...find another one!

Thanks,

Bill

I agree somewhat with the above post. Gretsch snare drums seem to get a bad rap sometimes. I've got a 6-lug Dixieland model snare and it sounds wonderful! In my case I'm using a hazy ambassador on the snare side, cranked up pretty tight, but not too tight. It still has some give to it. On the batter side I'm using a Vintage A batter head cranked up pretty tight. For snare wires, I'm using a set of NOS Grestch Responso wires, a 20 strand set, set so they are a bit on the loose side. What I do is get them to the point that they aren't "rattley", but crisp sounding. Pretty close to an Elvin sound that way. I'm not 100% sure if Elvin used Gretsch's 42-strand snare wires on his snares back then or not. Lots of jazz guys did, but personally, I think that its a bit overkill. Too "snarey" and not enough drum sound coming through. The 20-strand seems about right to me. Also, to me, I thought that the genuine Gretsch wires sounded BETTER than the Puresound wires. I had tried those previous to the Grestch wires.

Hope some of this info helps. Jump For Joy

Bill, The post timing is strange for me,Just this wednesday myself and kevins where experimenting with his 6 lug 5.5x14" dixieland, and my 8 lug 6 1/2x14" renown, but we were both using the double flange die cast and rims clips, both drums just didn't do it for me I know Kevin doesn't mind my saying this, so I swapped out the double flange rims with a set of full flange rims, not only did it add a lot of weight to the drum, the full flange rims took as you described as a flat sound, and made it more focused, but it actually made this drum finally sing, I'm using grover stadium bright snare wires.

I was never able to get a decent sound out of my '50s Name Band snare until a few months ago, when I replaced the 42-strand snares with a set of cheap 20-strand Gibraltars and put a Fiberskyn 3 on the batter side. I did a slapdash tuning job, and suddenly it sounded fat and warm, like Blakey's snare on "Caravan." It's still an acquired taste, but on the right tune, it's wonderful.