14"x5,5" Rosewood Snare Drum : Distinct sound with pleasant overtones

Pros:

- With this dense Rosewood shell (with 30° bearing edges) and some new good quality wires installed (even thin wires would work well) plus the drum heads of your choice, you can in fact achieve very controlled sound and a really sensitive wires' response, e.g. for a studio recording session.

- This snare can actually get really loud, so it's easy to play accented notes. At the same time the sound of the ghost notes is quite distinct, so the potential dynamic range is inspiringly wide.

- The sustain of this 5.5 inch snare is long enough to my taste (not too long). You can get it shorter, though it also depends on the tuning of the heads and/or muffling. The overall sound without muffling is rather pronounced and pleasantly ringing with some decent overtones (similar to the brass/steel snare drums, but without a metallic tinge in the sound). The sound of the rim shots and cross sticks is pretty cool, especially if played correctly ;-)

- The quality of the lugs is quite nice, so the snare stays in tune without any issues.

Cons:

- For that price the snare could be equipped with a better quality throw-off: the installed one is similar to Ludwig's P85, so the wires loosen after 1-2 tunes. I personally miss the wave-lock technology of the Ludwig's P88AC throw-off. Even on the mid-range priced Tama snare drums the throw-off mechanisms are of a better quality. The Gretsch Lightning Strainer would require three holes (see the Mike Johnston snare, for instance), so it's not an option. The Dunnett R-4L/C would do the trick (another 65-100 €). The vertical hole distance for the throw-off on this Gretsch Rosewood snare is roughly 1.6 cm.

- Low tuning is best with muffling (but not much), e.g. an e-ring, Mr. Muff, or both. The internal Gretsch muffling mechanism would be cool for that, but it's not installed.

- One would require some experience in tuning, especially if a thin side head is used.

Conclusion:

With this Gretsch Rosewood snare one can achieve very distinct/pronounced Gretsch sound. The snare has a good head response. By just taping the head you'll get a nice resonant tone and rich sound whether played softly or loudly. With a proper set-up (i.e. replaced throw-off & wires) and the right tuning, it would be a great fit for some serious rudimental/jazz drummers, for a studio recordings where the controlled sound is often of a great importance and even for an orchestra/big band to cut through the brass section. On a low tuning with a bit of muffling, I was even able to dial in that authentic 70's sound and that's from a 5.5 inch body! All in all, it's a nice snare for the drummers with some experience who are looking for the controlled sound and fine overtones.