Bo Eder
Platinum Member
I was going to post this in the 'drums' section but there's a reason for this that's not 'drummy', so I decided to put it in the general discussion section.
A week or two ago, I told everyone I liquidated all my gear to get to the heart of the matter of my playing. And truthfully, I still don't need to own my own stuff at this juncture. But many of you are right, I do need something of my own to play. So I bought myself another kit. My Stewart Copeland snare did seem a bit lonely after I dismantled it and cleaned it up and put it back together, that it deserved to be part of a kit.
So, I purchased a new Tama Starclassic Performer birch/bubinga shell pack painted in the black oyster lacquer. Yes, they're not the Starclassic Bubinga Elites I owned, but I really like these new ones. There is a different sound to them because of the hybrid of the two woods, and the fact that the black oyster finish is painted and not a wrap gives me what I was looking for: a modern kit with great engineering with a nice vintage look. As you'll see in the pictures, I even managed to find a chrome front reso head for the bass drum (I thought the yellowish fiberskyn logo head it came with didn't make any sense when you're dealing with black, greys, and chrome as your primary colors).
It's pretty standard sizes: 7x10, 8x12, and 14x16 toms, with a nice semi-compact 16x22 bass drum (I'm so sick of 18" deep bass drums). I was originally going to get a Ludwig Ringo Downbeat kit, but I really like five-piece kits too, so when I saw this kit, I pulled the trigger and went for it. I'm currently working on a review of it as soon as I record the video portion. Tama calls it a limited edition, so I also pulled the trigger on a matching 5.5x14 snare to go with this kit, but unfortunately, there's a back-order on the snares and I won't see mine until late May, early June. Not that I couldn't survive with the Copeland alone (duh). It'll be nice to have a complete matching set of these once I get the snare. The slightly bigger bass drum means the toms are a bit higher, so I've been getting used to that these last few days, but they sound and feel great.
But some of you have questioned my madness and I think I've come to terms with it and can now talk about it. After attending the NAMM show, I had a couple of companies feign interest in bringing me on as an artist-endorser. And my education while at the NAMM show was I'd basically be a customer to them in exchange for playing their gear at a bigger than normal discount rate. After a lot of thought in the downtime while they considered my application, I came to realize that one of them won't make bass drums less than 17.5" deep unless I went with their ultra high-end custom-built kits. But even at the huge discount they'd give me to play their stuff, I'd still have to fork out close to $3k to get what I want, and then I'd be stuck with these deep bass drums anyway.
I suppose having you as a customer really proves if you love the product, and to be honest, I'm not sure I love any product enough to be loyal for two years (at least). My entire career I've made enough money to buy what I want, when I want it. And I'm sorta old skool too: if they really want you, they'll give you the stuff and a paycheck!
Most likely they wouldn't do that for me, and they don't really have to. I'm not in the position where I need global tour support and I'm just not a big name. So if I never get an endorsement deal, I'm ok with that. What I buy to play, means I like it. If I change my mind in a year, that's my choice too. They're like clothes to me - I like to change it up.
I must really like Tama if I decided to get another one, but Tama was my first big pro kit when I got a Superstar back in '84. Then I moved into the ultra high-end bubinga elites, and now I'm really diggin' this modern take of the black oyster. Great engineering - I've never had anything just break on a Tama kit. So as a utilitarian tool, these are perfect for me. And I've never approached Tama for an endorsement deal either. No point I guess, I'm not a big name touring around and in my current gig (that some of you know about) I can't really talk about it anyway.
So enjoy the pictures. I'll be posting a review of them soon on my blog (a real review and demonstrating some real playing of them) so stay tuned!
BTW - these drums will debut when I sub for Bermuda in one of the many bands he plays in coming up in April. So I guess it's nice I won't have to borrow drums for that gig - it'll be a good first impression to show up with your own gear, eh?
A week or two ago, I told everyone I liquidated all my gear to get to the heart of the matter of my playing. And truthfully, I still don't need to own my own stuff at this juncture. But many of you are right, I do need something of my own to play. So I bought myself another kit. My Stewart Copeland snare did seem a bit lonely after I dismantled it and cleaned it up and put it back together, that it deserved to be part of a kit.
So, I purchased a new Tama Starclassic Performer birch/bubinga shell pack painted in the black oyster lacquer. Yes, they're not the Starclassic Bubinga Elites I owned, but I really like these new ones. There is a different sound to them because of the hybrid of the two woods, and the fact that the black oyster finish is painted and not a wrap gives me what I was looking for: a modern kit with great engineering with a nice vintage look. As you'll see in the pictures, I even managed to find a chrome front reso head for the bass drum (I thought the yellowish fiberskyn logo head it came with didn't make any sense when you're dealing with black, greys, and chrome as your primary colors).
It's pretty standard sizes: 7x10, 8x12, and 14x16 toms, with a nice semi-compact 16x22 bass drum (I'm so sick of 18" deep bass drums). I was originally going to get a Ludwig Ringo Downbeat kit, but I really like five-piece kits too, so when I saw this kit, I pulled the trigger and went for it. I'm currently working on a review of it as soon as I record the video portion. Tama calls it a limited edition, so I also pulled the trigger on a matching 5.5x14 snare to go with this kit, but unfortunately, there's a back-order on the snares and I won't see mine until late May, early June. Not that I couldn't survive with the Copeland alone (duh). It'll be nice to have a complete matching set of these once I get the snare. The slightly bigger bass drum means the toms are a bit higher, so I've been getting used to that these last few days, but they sound and feel great.
But some of you have questioned my madness and I think I've come to terms with it and can now talk about it. After attending the NAMM show, I had a couple of companies feign interest in bringing me on as an artist-endorser. And my education while at the NAMM show was I'd basically be a customer to them in exchange for playing their gear at a bigger than normal discount rate. After a lot of thought in the downtime while they considered my application, I came to realize that one of them won't make bass drums less than 17.5" deep unless I went with their ultra high-end custom-built kits. But even at the huge discount they'd give me to play their stuff, I'd still have to fork out close to $3k to get what I want, and then I'd be stuck with these deep bass drums anyway.
I suppose having you as a customer really proves if you love the product, and to be honest, I'm not sure I love any product enough to be loyal for two years (at least). My entire career I've made enough money to buy what I want, when I want it. And I'm sorta old skool too: if they really want you, they'll give you the stuff and a paycheck!
Most likely they wouldn't do that for me, and they don't really have to. I'm not in the position where I need global tour support and I'm just not a big name. So if I never get an endorsement deal, I'm ok with that. What I buy to play, means I like it. If I change my mind in a year, that's my choice too. They're like clothes to me - I like to change it up.
I must really like Tama if I decided to get another one, but Tama was my first big pro kit when I got a Superstar back in '84. Then I moved into the ultra high-end bubinga elites, and now I'm really diggin' this modern take of the black oyster. Great engineering - I've never had anything just break on a Tama kit. So as a utilitarian tool, these are perfect for me. And I've never approached Tama for an endorsement deal either. No point I guess, I'm not a big name touring around and in my current gig (that some of you know about) I can't really talk about it anyway.
So enjoy the pictures. I'll be posting a review of them soon on my blog (a real review and demonstrating some real playing of them) so stay tuned!
BTW - these drums will debut when I sub for Bermuda in one of the many bands he plays in coming up in April. So I guess it's nice I won't have to borrow drums for that gig - it'll be a good first impression to show up with your own gear, eh?
Great looking set and glad to have you back. Sounds like you made the right decision for you.
