Not a fan of either's birch, prefer the Tama and Premier as far as birch goes.

But Catalina vs PDP in general, I prefer the Gretsch.   Hardware, sound, etc are all preferable to me.

At the moment the store I work at happens to have a Catalina Birch kit and a PDP kit set up right next to each other on our sales floor. I like both kits. I found the PDP wanted to be tuned a little lower than the Gretsch out of the box, but that could just be my ears...

The Gretsch kit is getting great reviews from all the guys in the shop, and customers of various stripes; mostly for its sound. The toms have a nice focussed fundamental tone at lower volumes but don't lose much when you give 'em the onions, either. I suspect they would speak just fine against the usual dearth of mid-range guitar flack..

The PDP kit hasn't been set up as long, so we'll see what happens - my opinion could change any minute now. But, maybe it's just me (and one other guy I work with) but the PDPs just seem to have less moxy than the Gretsch. His comment was that they sound like "cheap DWs" - which, of course, the are - but the emphasis was on the "cheap".  

At this point, I would take the Gretsch. The drums aound warm, round, and have great tonal definition at low to high volume. I found the PDPs to need a little more "coaxing" to get them to produce a full tone - they simply need to be hit a little harder.

Even the Gretsch snare (which some around here find lacking) is okay by me. Again, tuned medium to medium-high, the snare (5X14) has a nice crispness at low volumes that would be great for jazz, certain recording requirements, or other subdued situations. I don't know that it would have the bark necessary for higher volume pop/rock, but I haven't experimented with heads/tuning on it. It's just a sense I get due to the overall dryness of the sound - quite focussed and short so that it might sound thin when miked up and competing with Mesa Boogies and Marshalls....

My only real complaint with the Gretsch drums is the damned badges. I just think they look terrible. I would have preferred them to have simply gone with the standard Gretsch badges rather than labelling them "Catalina Birch".  Also, the Gibralter hardware packs that are optional with the kits are alright, though I don't really dig the pedals. Personally, I'd pick other hardware options and build around the shells.

I just picked up the Gretsch sey at GC this weekend.  $630 for the 6 piece in walnut.  have not tuned yet but they are gorgeous

personly, my experience with both sets.....i prefer the pdp. I guess im the first but i think the gretsch catilina birch sounds like @$%#, the shells suck, the drum suck the only gretsch i prefer you get is the gretsch catalina club 4-piece kit.

Gretsch make great drums on each respective level.  I have the Catalina Club 4pc as a second kit and it sounds great.  Although, I was always under the assumption that the Catalina Birch sounded better.
So benjamin...I'm still waiting for your definition of "suck".

I saw them here at $900 ('cause of shipping charges) and thats a good price. I wish I had the money

i would go with the gretsch. well get the white one it look awsome!