"The Word" from my perspective:

I own, and love, a progressive Jazz SSB kit in Rosewood lacquer (circa early 70s). I have gone through a number of vintage (and new) kits, but these will forever remain my favorites. The bass/toms sound as close to perfect as I can imagine. Warm and bright and easily tuned. I've played them cranked waay up with a bop combo, and deeper/punchy for pop and country acts. I've recorded with several engineers who have raved about them. Yes, the hardware is awful... awful. But a snare stand fixes that for me. As for the COB snare, it rarely gets used. Not because of any particular faults, but IMO the supra outguns it. Just my take.

I have the same vintage and could,nt agree more about the bass and toms!1..Perfection to my ears. My snare varies.

[IMG][IMG]http://i1214.photobucket.com/albums/cc496/diaclone/th_S7000872.jpg[/IMG][/IMG]

heres my "drop G" ssb 1981 rosewood gran prix set.

I was thinking maybe a vintage jazz or classic rock sound out of this set, but

this thing is capable of lows not found on most sets.

This is what companys like Yamaha was trying to copy with the recording custom, Pearl tried with the original Masters series and then Tama had their go at it with the Starclassic.

think about it...

-thin shells

-diecast hoops

-8 lug snaredrums

-lug design

all of the big three japanese drum manufactures ripped these drums off, look at the lugs. the finnishes, the configurations...

my set is 80's so while the bass spurs are alittle oversized the techware tom hold er works just fine.