My new Tama Superstar Custom

[Big_Philly]

These are the first pictures of my complete set as it is now. I am still expecting an additional floor tom, it's due somewhere in june :(

Specs:
Tama Superstar Custom, Ocean Fade lacquer

toms
10x8
12x9
14x11
16x16 (floor tom, due next june)
all equipped with Remo Emperor heads on the batter side

bass
22x18
Remo Powersonic clear bassdrum head

snare
14x5.5
Remo coated ambassador on batter side

cymbals
Pearl Wild 500 14" hi-hats
Paiste sound formula reflector 16" power crash (round logo)
Paiste sound formula reflector 16" thin china (round logo)
Paiste sound formula 18" full crash (sound formula series from the late 80's)
Paiste 302 20" ride
Sabian B8 10" splash
Wuhan 12" splash/crash

throne
Tama standard saddle seat.

All resonant heads are the stock tama heads.

[gretsch223]

Nice drums and beautful finish. Do you prefer a mounted floor tom over a floor with legs?

[Big_Philly]

Thanks :)
I don't really have a preference for that, though floor toms probably are not isolated like the toms with star-cast mounting system. But this kit is a standard set-up with three rack toms which was on sale. Being as poor as I am I decided to go for this set-up as my basis. I wanted a 6-piece from the beginning and found that, in order to play some heavier music, I would need a big floor tom.

[Trommur]

Nice kit! Like the finish!

Joe

[Big_Philly]

Thanks man... yeah I really really wanted this finish as soon as I saw it. The pictures do no justice to it's beauty. They are cell phone pictures as you can see on the pic of the powersonic bass head.
In about two weeks we will take down the bar you see in the picture of the stack of toms, and put the drumkit there, along with a guitar + amp :) the kit is stored in the (isolated) attic till then.

[NatureOfDeviance]

Thats a nice kit you got there...how do you like the powersonic?

[Big_Philly]

The powersonic is awesome! I tuned the bassdrum to give a nice deep boom. It sounds incredible, very funky :D It has the perfect decay time for my liking.
I also love this snaredrum. I decided to never go back to a metal snare drum again. This birch snaredrum is just great! Clear, resonant sound without too much ringing or buzzing. Also very funky :) When I get a chance I will post sound files but I dont have any miking equipment.

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I love it. Now we can start a Superstar club.

[Big_Philly]

That sounds nice... it'll be like those car clubs where they pimp them up and go to meetings to laugh at each others cars, but we'll do that with our superstars. I'll get some neons today!
...
Well maybe not like that. But a superstar club might be a nice idea for the exchange of tuning advice, horror stories and just generally bragging about having a mid- to high end kit (it has so many high end features I'd almost say it's actually a pro level kit that is too modest for it's own good) for an awesome price.

[toxegendrummer]

add me to that list :)

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

Yes, neons! I'll get some hydraulics today so I can hit the two peg motion.

[Saiya-jin]

Good looking pictures. That's a darn good phone to take such clear pictures. Oh yeah, nice kit too.

[Big_Philly]

Well I did apply a noise-filter and adjusted the color depth etc., they used to be a lot grainier.
@Sleepy bright eyez: I wonder how spoilers would look on drum kits ;)

[ats]

Heh, I have Tama Superstar Custom in same sizes and colour.
I hope I can get a Powersonic to my bassdrum too.
But cool kit. I like it.

But about neons and hydraulics .. What about something like this (http://www.pearldrummersforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=193956&stc=1)?

[Big_Philly]

You have a great taste, ATS ;) What heads do you use now?
That pimped drum kit looks cool too!

[SLEEPY BRiGHT EYEZ]

I saw this same kit in the music shop today. The ocean fade looks very nice in person. I just bought new heads for my Superstars yesturday! I've only had a chance to change out the kick. I put a Superkick II on the batter side, and an Evans EQ3 ported ebony on the resonant side. It sounds like a huge cannon. I am so impressed by the volume and tone of that kick. I can't wait to change out all my other heads to hear the difference.

And I would love to put a spinner on it... hahahah

[Big_Philly]

I'm pretty happy with the bass drum as it is, though I'll probably change the stock reso sooner or later. But as soon as the emperors are worn out I'm gonna try Powerstroke 3's on the toms. I want them to be a little drier and I want less sustain on the bigger toms. I'm not sure what resonant heads to choose though. Any advice? :)

[drummerern]

love to see more people buying these kits, they are great sounding at an amazing price, id din't know until recently, but jeremy colson, the guy who plays for steve vai, actually uses these on tours, but usually play starclassics, this tells me that they are pro-level, just cheaper, and honestly not a whole lot of difference between the starclassic performers

either way...i love mine and i know you'll love yours

congrats!!

[ats]

You have a great taste, ATS ;) What heads do you use now?
That pimped drum kit looks cool too!

At the moment I have stock heads, but I want coated Emperors over clear ambassadors on the toms. For snare coated CS with black dot over clear Ambassador and for bassdrum I want Powerstroke 3 or Powersonic. I hope I can go to the music store at some weekend (I live in a bombhole, there are no music stores in my hometown).

[Big_Philly]

Well I can definitely recommend the Powersonic, it's been real good to me so far. Ambassadors for reso's sounds good.
We redecorated the living room; we removed the bar and some really ugly parts of the interior, and now we made a bit of a music corner where the bar used to be.
Pics:

http://i14.tinypic.com/6eumqhk.jpg

http://i14.tinypic.com/4kp7czm.jpg

Now me and my roommate (that's his guitar on the pics; he moved in this week) can play together, which is much more fun than playing alone.

[Big_Philly]

A friend came over with a good camera (Canon Eos 350D), here are a few pictures that do at least some justice to the beautiful lacquer.

http://i7.tinypic.com/4mcztjl.jpg

http://i14.tinypic.com/6806vr7.jpg

http://i7.tinypic.com/4vnu3pi.jpg

[frank0072]

Mooi drumstel man :). Heb je geen last van dat je drumstel nu 'tegen' een muur staat, het lijkt mij dat het geluid dan minder weg kan...?

I won't translate it, it's way to cool to speak Dutch :p.

[Big_Philly]

Hey Frank,
Nee, dat valt wel mee. Er hangt een dikke wollen deken tegen de muur en wat oude overhemden / polo's etc. van societeitsbesturen van onze studentenvereniging, dat absorbeert aardig wat. Ik vwerwacht overigens nog een 16x16 floortom en ik wil m'n eigen octobans bouwen :) maar dat van die octobans is typisch zo'n wild idee dat ik even heb en daarna doodgaat omdat ik het niet voor elkaar krijg...

Dutch rules!
PM me for translations if required ;)

[Big_Philly]

Well today I played two (identical) gigs for a church activity. The first gigs with my Superstar. They were outdoor gigs to reach people that don't believe in God. It was a tight schedule, first gig at 13:00 till 14:00, then pack up and head for the second location and repeat the drill at 16:00 till 17:00.
I was hoping to be able to sound check at noon, or at least way before the first gig, but there was a thunderstorm and heavy rain until probably somewhere around 12:30. We started slightly late. After that we had nothing but beautiful weather. Also during the second gig.
At the first gig there were maybe 100 people watching but at the second one there were 250 or 300 so that's pretty nice!

The kit performed really well. It didn't get wet, the bassdrum got slightly moist at the bottom but it's laquered so that's no problem. The bass drum and snare drum sounded a little wimpy during the first gig according to the sound guys (I noticed the snaredrum sounding bad, bassdrum was fine in my ears but that's on the batter side), turns out that the snare drum reso had loosened up a lot so it didn't have the sharp sound that I love so much. I reapplied the reso before the second gig, and tightened the bass drum up a little and it sounded way better that way.

It started raining again almost immediately after we were done so it was a rush job getting everything packed, but there was no damage. The band equipment was under a tent so we were fine.

Pictures:
http://i14.tinypic.com/4uwu2j9.jpg

All mic'd and ready to go for the first gig.

http://i7.tinypic.com/4vgcj82.jpg

Dito, second gig.

[fijjibo]

Nice pics of that there outdoor gig.

Reminds me of a gig I had last year.
Good times...

What are those hats? The look like Paiste Rudes, but theyre not are they?

And also, Vater Earplugs!!!! Good Choice!!!!

[Big_Philly]

The hats are Pearl Wild 500. They're really old but sound very good!
And the Vater earplugs are great indeed, I chose them over Alpine because they removed an average of 3 or 4 dB more than the Alpines.

[drummerchick435]

Sweet kit, Big_Philly! Blue is one of my favorite "kit colors".

[Big_Philly]

Mine, too. I was hooked on this finish the moment I saw it and when I look at it it still stuns me with it's beauty. Pictures usually do no justice to it's beauty.

[Drummer Karl]

Hey, nice kit. :-)
How do you like your Snare drum with the Ambassador as batter? How have you tuned it?

Good kit.

Just one thing I personally regret: The hanging floor tom. Is so unflexibel and hard to tune imo. Overall a beautiful sounding kit for sure!!!

Karl

[Big_Philly]

I like the ambassador batter, I'm not sure about the standard tama reso though, I'm looking into replacing that. I tuned the batter head quite tight, and the resonant head (which is a very, very thin head) very loosely. Gives a funky pop with nice depth as well. I also got into this way of tuning when I searched for a way to prevent my snare drum from buzzing along when I strike the toms. It does not buzz along with the toms this way and it sounds great!

The hanging floor tom is a little tricky to tune indeed, it takes some patience. But I managed to get a pretty decent sound out of it.
I also placed the tom holder directly in the cymbal stand and moved the upper piece of the cymbal stand into the multiclamp. This reduces a lot of torque on the clamp. The tom feels sturdier this way.

[frank0072]

tof man, evangeliseren met je drumstel :). Ik ga in augustus met mijn andere hobby, jongleren, evangeliseren in Duitsland.
Je had het trouwens over een studentenvereniging in Enschede, is dat toevallig Navigators?

Well, on in english. Great to see your kit in the open air, I hope you've had a lot of fun playing it. Drumming for the Kingdom :), makes me happy.

[Big_Philly]

Drumming for the Kingdom is the best way to drum indeed. I am not part of the Navigators, I joined the VGST (Vereniging van Gereformeerde Studenten in Twente).

Jongleren is ook cool :) ik heb het zelf nooit gekund, ik hou het meestal maar gewoon bij drummen. Evangeliseren met je hobby schopt aars, echt een win-win situatie :D

[Cephalic]

Nice kit! That's a sweet finish.

[sio_13]

beautiful kit. love the fade finish. good call with switchin the mounts on the floor tom. i've found that when you remove the tom mount from the kick drum it opens it up alot more and gives you more setup options- my tom holder lasted about a week cause i couldn't get em right where i wanted em- sad thing is you gotta get more clamps and stuff.
why no hole in the resonant kick head? it will pick up alot more snap in the PA if you can get a mic inside there. a small plate and a razor blade's all u need- if you ever wanted to get one of those rings they come with templates for it too. also, any idea how the Powersonic compares to an Aquarian Super Kick 2? I'm lookin for a change. Props on the skins man-

[Big_Philly]

Thanks man :) The sound guys did tell me about the hole problem. I could have known, it's not my first gig... I thought about cutting a hole, but never actually sat down to do it...

Do I cut the hole while the head is under tension or do I take it off first?

I have no experience with the Aquarian super kick 2, so I'm afraid I can't help you there...

[Tuxido]

leave your head on the drum, put some tape where you want to put the hole, trace your circle, than slowly cut it.

http://i25.piczo.com/view/y/k/r/m/3/a/y/r/5/w/h/img/i67792743_46139_4.jpg
http://i25.piczo.com/view/y/k/r/m/3/a/y/r/5/w/h/img/i68518947_24977_4.jpg

Than you can sand the edges to make it perfectly round.


or you can go free hand, but don't slip, haha

[Big_Philly]

I asked around and eventually just took the head off, grabbed a razor blade and cut alongside a round lid of a glass cookie jar :) Didn't go perfect but there is a pretty much round hole in there, it will be better once I sand it. The hole is about 6" and I placed it at 6 o'clock. Looks nice...

Edit: And I am still waiting for my 16x16 floortom. Is it supposed to take more than 4 months? The wait is getting annoying, I have a brand new clear emperor waiting to be put on the floor tom, while the other ones are up for replacement pretty soon...

[Big_Philly]

After 5 months and three weeks of waiting, rather than the 3 months the music store promised me, my 16x16 floor tom finally arrived today. And what a beast! It has 8 lugs, as opposed to 6 on the rack toms. The characteristic of the sound is different from that of the rack toms due to the heads of the rack toms being a lot older and used quite a bit.

Apparently the slow delivery is a common problem when ordering Tama drums. The drums are fantastic, both in looks and quality. But when it comes to delivering in time they don't give a rat's a** about customer satisfaction. At least, not in the Netherlands.

Still, I will probably order Tama drums again if I need a new kit (probably not for a long long time but who knows).

[frank0072]

we want pictures! ;-)