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tack. One of the other people in the shop stood 15' back while I was hit- ting each kit and made a gesture with his hands when I played the B/B kit that either meant “bigger” or “ballsier.” I heard the difference from where I was sitting as well. Then came my surprise. The com- parison kit turned out not to be a birch EFX set, but a maple EFX kit. I liked the sound of both kits, and I’d describe the maple as more open and clearer in the mids, while the B/B kit was just plain deeper sound- ing. I grabbed a couple of birch Per- former toms from another kit and quickly determined the B/B still had a low-end advantage. The sound quality, quite frankly, knocked me out. The snare had lots of body and fullness and sounded like a wood drum. Though just 5.5" deep, it could be tuned to sound similar to a lot of 6.5"-deep snares I’ve played. Tuned higher, it had enough brightness on top but had a solid midrange that provided some punch to the drum regard- less of the tuning. The drum was on the dry side and wouldn’t re- quire extra muffling. As I expected, I had an easy time getting a stellar rim-click from the snare due to the die-cast hoops. 120 DRUM! www.drummagazine.com BY BRAD SCHLUETER I t seems like every time I blink Tama has expanded its up- per-level Starclassic lines. The company currently offers birch, maple, bubinga, acrylic, and annual limited edition exotic kits, and now it’s introduced a new bub- inga/birch hybrid shell kit that of- fers a high-end sound at a performer-level price. What will they think of next? produce less low end than deeper drums. Unless I’m playing jazz, I want as much low end as I can get from my floor toms. Tama offers square-sized floor toms in deeper dimensions, but they aren’t offered as part of any stock configurations. If you want deeper sizes you’ll have to order your kit a la carte, and no doubt pay more than you want to. Also, while I don’t like my floor toms positioned extremely high, I do like to tilt them toward me slightly, and with the shallow 12"- deep drum I had to use every mil- limeter of the furthest leg to get the drum close to the height and angle where I wanted it. My hint to Tama would be to go with a larger floor tom, and if that isn’t the marketing direction they’re angling at, then at least offer longer floor tom legs for such a shallow drum. The kits are also available with or without hard- ware and come in an “Accel Driver” kit that substitutes a larger 14" x 16" floor tom, or in 4-piece versions that lack a matching snare drum. FINISH My kit came in one of Tama’s ex- quisite new B/B finishes – Dark Stardust Fade. This finish begins as a grayish silver sparkle near the bat- ter head and then fades to a solid glossy black at the resonant head. It was perfectly applied and has enough flash to pop under stage lighting. All the drums had a very smooth and even fade, almost as though an artist with a pair of tweezers dropped each sparkle flake in just the right place. It looked great with the chrome hardware, creating a lively yet masculine monochromatic look. Killer. The interior of the bass drum hoops are finished with a rich brown lacquer that brings out the reddish- brown tones of the bubinga. This was a big draw for several onlookers who offered their opinions. I, how- ever, disagreed. While I may be ac- cused of nitpicking, I don’t think this detail goes very well with this finish. It was like someone wearing brown shoes with a black tuxedo. Finishing the hoop interiors in solid black would result in a more cohesive look. Tama also offers another new lac- quer finish called Dark Mocha Fade that the hoops would certainly com- plement, as well as a selection of six wrapped finishes that no doubt offer one or two more attractive pairings to the brown hoops. I’m thinking of Tesla drummer Troy Lucketta’s B/B kit, which features the striking red Lava Glass Glitter finish. HARDWARE AND OTHER NICETIES Those of you who don’t spend five days a week in a drum shop may not be up-to-date with the other high- end, ingenious, and thoughtful fea- tures of Tama’s Starclassic drums. Let me bring you up to speed. Tama uses die-cast zinc hoops for their drums, which are more expen- sive than stamped-steel hoops, and I think they look nicer too. This style of hoop tends to add a touch of attack to toms and makes for loud, clear, and easy-to-find rim-clicks on snare drums. The mounted toms use Tama’s redesigned Star-Cast mount- ing system that hangs the drums from the rims, maximizing resonance while keeping a low profile to allow the drums to be positioned as close to each other as possible, unlike some older designs. Since their re- design a couple of years ago, these mounts are now made of aluminum to save weight and enhance the tom resonance even more. They come finished to match the color of the shell hardware and look great. Like on other Starclassic Per- former kits, the B/B uses a bass drum tom mount, which I prefer to the inconvenience and balancing act required when hanging my toms from cymbal stands. Tama has in- corporated an ingenious low-mass sliding tom holder to its system that allows you to adjust the proximity of the toms by up to 2", which is a great feature for both drummers of different stature and those who mount really large (or really small) toms on their bass drum. The kit also features die-cast lugs and bass drum hoop claws that are better than their stamped- steel counterparts. The hoops also have a rubber liner to protect and maintain the hoop’s finish from the marring that occurs with unlined claws. Tama’s bass drum spurs have memory features to make for quick setups. Tama very thoughtfully includes a little rubber o-ring on each bass drum lug screw so the claws don’t separate from the tension screws. The rubber feet on the floor tom legs have a small air chamber that aids the toms’ sustain. Here’s something small that I liked: Tama has also redesigned its Performer badges. While the old badges were certainly no eyesore, the new ones are much more appealing and befit drums of this caliber. The drums come with first-rate Evans clear G2 heads on top and G1s underneath, a clear EQ4 bass drum batter, and a coated G1 for the snare batter with a Resonant 300 underneath. SOUND The bottom line is sound. Do these new drums sound any different than other Performer series drums? Yes. The shop I teach at, the Drum Pad of Palatine, Illinois, kindly supplied me with this review kit. A benefit of appraising the kit in the shop’s showroom was that there were an- other 75 kits set up nearby, includ- ing several other Starclassic kits, which allowed for direct comparison. I saw what I thought was a com- parably sized birch Performer EFX (wrapped finish) kit just behind the kit I was checking out and tuned the toms and kick to the same pitches. Initially, they sounded pretty similar. Each kit sounded very good and of- fered clear tones from the toms and a meaty bass drum sound. However, after a couple of minutes, the differ- ences became more obvious. The B/B kit had the high-end attack of the other kit but had a fuller low end. The bass drum had more low-end impact while still delivering solid at- DETAILS CONFIGURATION 22" x 18" bass drum, a 14" x 5.5" snare, 10" x 8" and 12" x 9" mounted toms, and a 14" x 12" floor tom. Also included a full set of Tama hardware. (22" x 18" bass drum with tom mount, 10" x 8" and 12" x 9" mounted toms, and a 14" x 16" floor tom configuration also available.) FINISHES Lacquer finishes: Dark Stardust Fade (reviewed), Antique White Sparkle, Dark Mocha, and Dark Cherry Fade. EFX covered finishes include Astral Black Diamond, Astral White Diamond, Lava Glass Glitter, Stardust Champagne Glitter, Diamond Dust, Black Gold Glitter, Gold Crush Glitter, and White Silk. FEATURES Bubinga/birch shells combine best aspects of both woods; die-cast zinc hoops; die-cast lugs and bass drum hoop claws; shock-absorbing air chamber on floor tom legs; Star-Cast mounting system for the toms; full complement of hardware; redesigned badges; selection of gorgeous lacquer finishes and wraps. PRICE 5-piece kit with matching snare and hardware: $3,399; 4-piece kit without snare and hardware: $2,499. CONTACT Hoshino USA Inc. 1726 Winchester Rd. Bensalem, PA 19020 800-669-4226. tama.com APRIL 2008 DRUM! 121 VERDICT Tama’s bubinga/birch Performer has a big, fat sound, a great finish, and numerous thoughtful design features, including a full complement of Tama’s sturdy hardware. Recommending this kit is a complete no-brainer. This is a high-end kit at a midrange price that will almost certainly not disappoint. Starclassic Performer B/B Drum Set TWO WOODS ARE BETTER THAN ONE TAMA SHELLS The new bubinga/birch hybrid shell is designed to combine the best sonic attributes of each wood. Birch is a softer wood than maple and tends to have a pronounced at- tack, with enhanced highs and lows and reduced midrange tones. Birch was more popular than maple just 20 years ago, and, since the ’70s, had been the preferred material for studio recording kits. Compared to maple, it delivered that “studio sound” without requiring much muf- fling, gating, and EQing. Bubinga, which is also known as African rosewood, is 50-percent heavier and harder than either maple or birch. While this adds a great deal of strength to the drums, it makes the manufacture of drum shells that much more challenging. What’s more, rather than use bub- inga for just an outer veneer, as several other manufacturers do, Tama has become successful over the last few years in using bubinga as the sole shell material in both its bubinga Omni-Tune and Starclassic Bubinga lines. The Performer B/B shell is the newest addition to the Starclassic line, and features a hybrid fusion of three inner plies of bubinga fused to varying numbers of birch outer plies. The toms have a 7-ply 6mm shell, the snare a 7-ply 7mm shell, and the bass drum an 8-ply 8mm shell. OUT OF THE BOX The drums I checked out were a New Fusion 5-piece kit featuring a 22" x 18" bass drum, a 14" x 5.5" snare, 10" x 8" and 12" x 9" mounted toms, and a 14" x 12" floor tom. The kit also came with a full set of Tama’s sturdy hardware. Right off the bat I’ll say I’m not crazy about 12"-deep floor toms, for two reasons: sound and er- gonomics. While they may be fash- ionable, shallower floor toms
