Tama Club Jam Pancake

[striker]

I wish companies, though, would stop with the 10s. I just don't find 10s very versatile.
If this kit had a 12 and 14, it would be perfect.

Seems to me that this is the age of "experimentation" by the drum companies. They are building drums with all sorts of woods, materials and sizes. Perhaps they are limiting certain sizes to put less stress on the hardware for holding the tom and hit a certain price point and certain overall size for the kit.

As an example Ludwig Breakbeats by Questlove offers a full size 14 inch snare with a smaller 13 inch floor tom. Perhaps when most drummers spend most of the time on the cymbals and snares, the size of tom and floor tom is not that important a factor after all.

 

[Sonorfan]

After waiting since about November/December (whenever Tama first advertised their 2022 offerings) I FINALLY took delivery of the new Tama Club Jam Pancake kit!

Ordered via Musicians Friend (spoke to the sales guy over the phone and ended up with an extra $50 off, sometimes it pays to have a friendly conversation with a sales rep) for just a hair over $300 after tax. Free shipping had it to my door in less then a week. They got 1 kit (yup, just 1) and I bought it the day it showed up at their door haha.

I've got a few rehearsals over the next couple weeks plus a gig on August 12th so I'm planning on using this thread as a lengthy continuous review. Feel free to chime in, ask questions, whatever. Hopefully I don't forget to update haha.

For those of you who haven't read the history of my posts, I absolutely love small, portable, unique, compact.... Just all around weird, drums. I have/had Tama's club jam mini and cocktail jam kits, pearl's midtown, Ludwig's breakbeats, and a few others that were mostly DIY projects. This kit fit the bill for me and my preferences so I couldn't wait to pull the trigger.

Considering the small bass drum and concert toms I'm going with my "can't go wrong" head selections that have always made my small kits have an impressive amount of depth and punch: Evans hydraulic on the toms, Evans emad on the bass batter, and single ply bass reso with small port hole and no other muffling.

Despite the low price tag and budget line I can comfortably say the fit and finish is flawless. This will be my primary gigging kit so I may put some tom trim on the exposed edges just for added piece of mind, I always do this with concert toms. That is my OCD, not a defect or concern on the part of Tama. The box was packaged very securely, logically, and with care. Hmm.... It's like Tama somehow knew theses kits would be sitting in shipping containers for months

First up, obligatory unboxing pics:
View attachment 122182View attachment 122181View attachment 122180View attachment 122178

Once I get the heads swapped out and I have it all set up I'll post another update.

Here is a close up of the badge and the wrap "hairline black":
View attachment 122179

I just unpacked and played kit yesterday Aug 21/23. I'm very impressed all around with sound and will be gigging Sunday 23rd. i especially love the 12in snare as it's snappy like a piccolo which it is at only 4in deep. My only complaint is that the bass drum wooden hoops are very rough in that they have only been stained and not varnished. I will do that soon.

 

[westerlu77]

I made an another one with a 70’s sound like demo.

 

[Sonorfan]

So I had originally planned on using the emad and black hydraulics on this kit as I posted awhile ago. This combo typically works on small and shallow drums really well for me but these drums I think are just a bit too tiny and they became choked very quickly. This was a brief preliminary test mind you. Anyway, I had a ridiculous amount of Evans players circle points saved up and a few practically new left over heads laying around so I swapped the kit over to calftones and so far I am very happy. Still haven't given the kit a full band rehearsal or gig but my small amount of playing at home has been working out well. The bass drum is a bit wobbly, as evident in pretty much any video I've seen of this kit, but I was able to improve it with minor leg adjustments and fully expect to dial it in after a few hours play time. With the heads and tuning I'm using combined with the small shells I've got a very bright 'barky' sound going on that I very much enjoy. It's got the high pitched almost choked tone of your typical jazz bop tuning but a bit of attack and throat as well, very much a 70s prog/fusion type of sound. The club jam mini had a 12x5 poplar snare and this one has a 12x4 poplar snare, all other factors the same... I LOVE the 4 over the 5. It's amazing how much extra sensitivity and crack a minor reduction in shell depth will bring out. I forgot to snap a set up pic but here are some quick shots:
View attachment 123572View attachment 123569View attachment 123570View attachment 123571

So I put the Bass drum legs as far back as possible and snug them into the 9&3 lugs. That keeps the drum totally level and does not move when kicked. I do have a small 3 x 6 mat I put down and extend the pointed leg tips to grab it.
To protect the lug screws I slipped a piece of clear plastic fuel line over each leg.

 

[Sonar Dave]

I really like this.

 

[westerlu77]

I’ve done a few more videos with different head combinations. Have a listen!

 

[Sonorfan]

After waiting since about November/December (whenever Tama first advertised their 2022 offerings) I FINALLY took delivery of the new Tama Club Jam Pancake kit!

Ordered via Musicians Friend (spoke to the sales guy over the phone and ended up with an extra $50 off, sometimes it pays to have a friendly conversation with a sales rep) for just a hair over $300 after tax. Free shipping had it to my door in less then a week. They got 1 kit (yup, just 1) and I bought it the day it showed up at their door haha.

I've got a few rehearsals over the next couple weeks plus a gig on August 12th so I'm planning on using this thread as a lengthy continuous review. Feel free to chime in, ask questions, whatever. Hopefully I don't forget to update haha.

For those of you who haven't read the history of my posts, I absolutely love small, portable, unique, compact.... Just all around weird, drums. I have/had Tama's club jam mini and cocktail jam kits, pearl's midtown, Ludwig's breakbeats, and a few others that were mostly DIY projects. This kit fit the bill for me and my preferences so I couldn't wait to pull the trigger.

Considering the small bass drum and concert toms I'm going with my "can't go wrong" head selections that have always made my small kits have an impressive amount of depth and punch: Evans hydraulic on the toms, Evans emad on the bass batter, and single ply bass reso with small port hole and no other muffling.

Despite the low price tag and budget line I can comfortably say the fit and finish is flawless. This will be my primary gigging kit so I may put some tom trim on the exposed edges just for added piece of mind, I always do this with concert toms. That is my OCD, not a defect or concern on the part of Tama. The box was packaged very securely, logically, and with care. Hmm.... It's like Tama somehow knew theses kits would be sitting in shipping containers for months

First up, obligatory unboxing pics:
View attachment 122182View attachment 122181View attachment 122180View attachment 122178

Once I get the heads swapped out and I have it all set up I'll post another update.

Here is a close up of the badge and the wrap "hairline black":
View attachment 122179

I purchased the same kit a year ago and I’m very happy with the sound and overall quality.
The snare head broke the 2nd day and one of the kick drum hoops separated at the joint but Tama replaced no problem. I have used the kit multi times for gigs and jams for both Jazz and classic Rock/Country. Like you I swapped out the oem heads on the snare and Tom’s. I left the kick heads and added minimum muffling as it had overtones. The Tom’s have lots of volume but I do carry three kick beaters, wooden and hard felt for bigger venues and a soft for small.
The snare had a lot of snare buzz so I replaced the 20 wire strainer with a twelve and the batter with a double head Ambassador

 

[Sonar Dave]

Love it!

 

[Cmdr. Ross]

Great stuff here, man!
You've been really helpful with me and my newly acquired Cocktail Jam Mini & this gives me some good ideas for that kit.

I, like you, love these small & "outside the box" drum kits and use them quite a lot. Tama was the first company to make one that I loved right out of the box & didn't feel the need to have to modify it.
I just swapped heads, used my small & light hi hat stand (when needed) and life was great.

I look forward to any new updates you have on this.

 

[roncadillac]

Great stuff here, man!
You've been really helpful with me and my newly acquired Cocktail Jam Mini & this gives me some good ideas for that kit.

I, like you, love these small & "outside the box" drum kits and use them quite a lot. Tama was the first company to make one that I loved right out of the box & didn't feel the need to have to modify it.
I just swapped heads, used my small & light hi hat stand (when needed) and life was great.

I look forward to any new updates you have on this.

Honestly, I don't have the pancake kit anymore. Between the issue with the bass drum hoop (which admittedly Tama did resolve with a different hoop) and the bass drum wobble I had enough and sold it. I unfortunately didn't get much time with the Tama pancake kit.