For those of you who are wondering...I received my GP coctail kit today and let me say, worth every penny!
+'s:
*Shells solid maple and in this case, Midnight Blue transparent finish is very high-quality.
*Hardware is pretty dang heavy duty and bass drum pedal is suprisingly responsive
*8" Snare = WOW! I own a Gretsch snare and a Ludwig Picolo and this thing resides somewhere in between the two! Great "pop" and amazingly big sounding for it's size. Now only if I could quit hitting the rim so much.
*Drum heads are not terribly high quality and a bit "slick", but since the set will be used in rehearsals for my children's country act, that jazzy brush sound won't be too necessary.
*Value = about an 9 out of 10. Just a great little solid set for the money.
-'s:
Only one so far and that's the cymbals. They are almost toy-like. Very tinny sounding to me and very thin. In fact, the crash actually came bent and inverted. I was able to basically pop it back into shape unnoticed. That'll about tell you what we're looking at.
All in all (coming from a Telecaster picker who is a recreational drummer), this is one amazing value. GP should be commended for putting together a really decent set at such an affordable price.
I can't wait to really sit down and tweak these things! They're gonna be fun!