tack. One of the other people in theshop stood 15' back while I was hit-ting each kit and made a gesturewith his hands when I played theB/B kit that either meant “bigger” or“ballsier.” I heard the difference fromwhere I was sitting as well.

Then came my surprise. The com-parison kit turned out not to be abirch EFX set, but a maple EFX kit. Iliked the sound of both kits, and I’ddescribe the maple as more openand clearer in the mids, while theB/B kit was just plain deeper sound-ing. I grabbed a couple of birch Per-former toms from another kit andquickly determined the B/B still hada low-end advantage. The soundquality, quite frankly, knocked me out.

The snare had lots of body andfullness and sounded like a wooddrum. Though just 5.5" deep, itcould be tuned to sound similar toa lot of 6.5"-deep snares I’veplayed. Tuned higher, it hadenough brightness on top but hada solid midrange that providedsome punch to the drum regard-less of the tuning. The drum wason the dry side and wouldn’t re-quire extra muffling. As I expected,I had an easy time getting a stellarrim-click from the snare due to thedie-cast hoops.

120 DRUM! www.drummagazine.com

BY BRAD SCHLUETER

I t seems like every time I blinkTama 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 aperformer-level price. What willthey think of next?

produce less low end than deeperdrums. Unless I’m playing jazz, Iwant as much low end as I can getfrom my floor toms. Tama offerssquare-sized floor toms in deeperdimensions, but they aren’t offeredas part of any stock configurations.If you want deeper sizes you’ll haveto order your kit a la carte, and nodoubt pay more than you want to.

Also, while I don’t like my floortoms positioned extremely high, Ido like to tilt them toward meslightly, and with the shallow 12"-deep drum I had to use every mil-limeter of the furthest leg to get thedrum close to the height and anglewhere I wanted it. My hint to Tamawould be to go with a larger floortom, and if that isn’t the marketingdirection they’re angling at, then atleast offer longer floor tom legs forsuch a shallow drum. The kits arealso available with or without hard-ware and come in an “Accel Driver”kit that substitutes a larger 14" x16" floor tom, or in 4-piece versionsthat lack a matching snare drum.

FINISHMy kit came in one of Tama’s ex-quisite new B/B finishes – DarkStardust Fade. This finish begins asa grayish silver sparkle near the bat-ter head and then fades to a solidglossy black at the resonant head.It was perfectly applied and hasenough flash to pop under stagelighting. All the drums had a verysmooth and even fade, almost asthough an artist with a pair oftweezers dropped each sparkleflake in just the right place. It lookedgreat with the chrome hardware,creating a lively yet masculinemonochromatic look. Killer.

The interior of the bass drumhoops are finished with a rich brownlacquer that brings out the reddish-brown tones of the bubinga. Thiswas a big draw for several onlookerswho offered their opinions. I, how-ever, disagreed. While I may be ac-cused of nitpicking, I don’t think thisdetail goes very well with this finish.It was like someone wearing brownshoes with a black tuxedo. Finishingthe hoop interiors in solid blackwould 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 sixwrapped finishes that no doubt offerone or two more attractive pairingsto the brown hoops. I’m thinking ofTesla drummer Troy Lucketta’s B/Bkit, which features the striking redLava Glass Glitter finish.

HARDWARE AND OTHER NICETIESThose of you who don’t spend fivedays a week in a drum shop may notbe 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 fortheir drums, which are more expen-sive than stamped-steel hoops, and Ithink they look nicer too. This style ofhoop tends to add a touch of attackto toms and makes for loud, clear,and easy-to-find rim-clicks on snaredrums. The mounted toms useTama’s redesigned Star-Cast mount-ing system that hangs the drumsfrom the rims, maximizing resonancewhile keeping a low profile to allowthe drums to be positioned as closeto each other as possible, unlikesome older designs. Since their re-design a couple of years ago, thesemounts are now made of aluminumto save weight and enhance the tomresonance even more. They comefinished to match the color of theshell hardware and look great.

Like on other Starclassic Per-former kits, the B/B uses a bassdrum tom mount, which I prefer tothe inconvenience and balancingact required when hanging my tomsfrom cymbal stands. Tama has in-corporated an ingenious low-masssliding tom holder to its system thatallows you to adjust the proximity ofthe toms by up to 2", which is agreat feature for both drummers ofdifferent stature and those whomount really large (or really small)toms on their bass drum.

The kit also features die-castlugs and bass drum hoop clawsthat are better than their stamped-steel counterparts. The hoops alsohave a rubber liner to protect andmaintain the hoop’s finish from themarring that occurs with unlinedclaws. Tama’s bass drum spurshave memory features to make forquick setups.

Tama very thoughtfully includes alittle rubber o-ring on each bassdrum lug screw so the claws don’tseparate from the tension screws.The rubber feet on the floor tomlegs have a small air chamber thataids the toms’ sustain. Here’ssomething small that I liked: Tamahas also redesigned its Performerbadges. While the old badges werecertainly no eyesore, the new onesare much more appealing and befitdrums of this caliber.

The drums come with first-rateEvans clear G2 heads on top andG1s underneath, a clear EQ4 bassdrum batter, and a coated G1 forthe snare batter with a Resonant300 underneath.

SOUNDThe bottom line is sound. Do thesenew drums sound any different thanother Performer series drums? Yes.The shop I teach at, the Drum Padof Palatine, Illinois, kindly suppliedme with this review kit. A benefit ofappraising the kit in the shop’sshowroom 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 thekit I was checking out and tuned thetoms and kick to the same pitches.Initially, they sounded pretty similar.Each kit sounded very good and of-fered clear tones from the toms anda meaty bass drum sound. However,after a couple of minutes, the differ-ences became more obvious. TheB/B kit had the high-end attack ofthe other kit but had a fuller low end.The bass drum had more low-endimpact while still delivering solid at-

DETAILSCONFIGURATION 22" x 18" bass drum,a 14" x 5.5" snare, 10" x 8" and 12" x9" mounted toms, and a 14" x 12"floor tom. Also included a full set ofTama hardware. (22" x 18" bass drumwith tom mount, 10" x 8" and 12" x 9"mounted toms, and a 14" x 16" floortom configuration also available.)

FINISHES Lacquer finishes: DarkStardust Fade (reviewed), AntiqueWhite Sparkle, Dark Mocha, andDark Cherry Fade. EFX coveredfinishes include Astral BlackDiamond, Astral White Diamond,Lava Glass Glitter, StardustChampagne Glitter, Diamond Dust,Black Gold Glitter, Gold CrushGlitter, and White Silk.

FEATURES Bubinga/birch shellscombine best aspects of bothwoods; die-cast zinc hoops; die-castlugs and bass drum hoop claws;shock-absorbing air chamber on floortom legs; Star-Cast mounting systemfor the toms; full complement ofhardware; redesigned badges;selection of gorgeous lacquerfinishes and wraps.

PRICE 5-piece kit with matching snareand hardware: $3,399; 4-piece kitwithout snare and hardware: $2,499.

CONTACT Hoshino USA Inc.1726 Winchester Rd.Bensalem, PA 19020800-669-4226. tama.com

APRIL 2008 DRUM! 121

VERDICTTama’s bubinga/birch Performerhas a big, fat sound, a greatfinish, and numerous thoughtfuldesign features, including a fullcomplement of Tama’s sturdyhardware. Recommending thiskit is a complete no-brainer. Thisis a high-end kit at a midrangeprice that will almost certainlynot disappoint.

StarclassicPerformer B/BDrum SetTWO WOODS ARE BETTER THAN ONE

TAMASHELLSThe new bubinga/birch hybrid shellis designed to combine the bestsonic attributes of each wood.Birch is a softer wood than mapleand tends to have a pronounced at-tack, with enhanced highs and lowsand reduced midrange tones. Birchwas more popular than maple just20 years ago, and, since the ’70s,had been the preferred material forstudio recording kits. Compared tomaple, it delivered that “studiosound” without requiring much muf-fling, gating, and EQing.

Bubinga, which is also known asAfrican rosewood, is 50-percentheavier and harder than eithermaple or birch. While this adds agreat deal of strength to the drums,it makes the manufacture of drumshells that much more challenging.What’s more, rather than use bub-inga for just an outer veneer, asseveral other manufacturers do,Tama has become successful over

the last few years in using bubingaas the sole shell material in both itsbubinga Omni-Tune and StarclassicBubinga lines.

The Performer B/B shell is thenewest addition to the Starclassicline, and features a hybrid fusion ofthree inner plies of bubinga fused tovarying numbers of birch outer plies.The toms have a 7-ply 6mm shell,the snare a 7-ply 7mm shell, and thebass drum an 8-ply 8mm shell.

OUT OF THE BOXThe drums I checked out were aNew Fusion 5-piece kit featuring a22" 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 afull set of Tama’s sturdy hardware.Right off the bat I’ll say I’m notcrazy about 12"-deep floor toms,for two reasons: sound and er-gonomics. While they may be fash-ionable, shallower floor toms