Tama Starclassic Walnut Birch Kit - Talk me out of it!

[A J]

How about all new Remo heads on the yamaha's...Does that help them @A J
or F it Just do it y only L once ; )

I like Remo heads. They never let me down.

 

[jda]

So that's a No.. )? all coated Remoambassadors..Might bring the Yammite's to Life +/-
top and bottom coated PS3 on bass batter.
After that- still "no good"..Save the new heads put the old ones back on and try to sell the drums. Get the New ones..
Sounds like $300 worth of work (I don't envy ya ; )
I bought my "last" set in 2010 barring some extraneous event;

 

[Bozozoid]

And you are going to go ahead with this without realizing that those sizes in a Sonor phonic kit could be out there somewhere somehow?. Your the one who has to live with that. The Lord told me to mention this to you so yes..im on a mission from God. Go ahead get'm.

 

[A J]

So that's a No.. )? all coated Remoambassadors..Might bring the Yammite's to Life +/-
top and bottom coated PS3 on bass batter.
After that- still "no good"..Save the new heads put the old ones back on and try to sell the drums. Get the New ones..
Sounds like $300 worth of work (I don't envy ya ; )
I bought my "last" set in 2010 barring some extraneous event;

I don't need to sell any drums. I only have one complete set: a Pearl MCX... and a 20" stage custom kick.

I like just about all Remo heads. The PS3 is on my stage custom bass drum. No complaints.

I prefer clears to coated... mostly for asthetics.

 

[steadypocket]

I’m the wrong guy to talk you out of it because I love mine, and the hardware is superior to anything in its class.

 

[A J]

I’m the wrong guy to talk you out of it because I love mine, and the hardware is superior to anything in its class. View attachment 126710

Beautiful kit! Stunning! I'm usually not a fan of specialized batter heads, but that batter fits the kit like a glove!

Me? I started searching for Pearl MCX orphans. Already picked up a 20" kick and a 14" floor tom.

 

[A J]

I can’t talk you out of it AJ. I ordered a Tama W/B kit yesterday . I have long admired these drums as being a great value in price and sound . The addition of the walnut plies to the 4 plies of birch just makes these a wonderful sounding set of drums . I was in the market for a kit with a larger bass drum (my two current kits have 20” bass drums ) and this would be a kit that would get ocassional use for rehearsals and the odd gig with a new band I have joined . I really like the sturdiness of the fittings and the design of the tom mounts , diecast hoops , bass drum spurs etc . I went with the ocean blue ripple lacquer finish . I should receive this in January .

Congratulations Sir. I can't fault your decision one bit.

 

[RobertM]

I can’t talk you out of it AJ. I ordered a Tama W/B kit yesterday . I have long admired these drums as being a great value in price and sound . The addition of the walnut plies to the 4 plies of birch just makes these a wonderful sounding set of drums . I was in the market for a kit with a larger bass drum (my two current kits have 20” bass drums ) and this would be a kit that would get ocassional use for rehearsals and the odd gig with a new band I have joined . I really like the sturdiness of the fittings and the design of the tom mounts , diecast hoops , bass drum spurs etc . I went with the ocean blue ripple lacquer finish . I should receive this in January .

Rick: Did you get a 22/16/13 configuration? Or 22/16/12?

 

[Duck Tape]

Mapex popularized walnut inner plies long ago, so I would get a mapex Saturn instead. Admittedly I haven’t tried a birch/walnut shell but I am just so happy with my maple/walnut shells and I can’t see the birch being as full sounding.

 

[cbphoto]

22 x 14 ; 12 x 8 and 16 x 16

The fact this particular configuration had a 12” rack instead of a 13” was ideal for me . I am not a big fan of 13” rack toms .

Will this be your first Tama kit?

 

[cbphoto]

It will be the first Tama kit I have ever owned . I have owned Tama snares and currently own a Tama Trackmaster 6.5” (Kenny Aronoff ) snare .
Until the last couple years Tama has never been on my radar much to the chagrin of my local shop. The owner is a massive Tama fanboy and he has been trying to get me to buy a Tama kit for 5 years now .
I love the Tama Star drums but just can’t justify spending that kind of money on a drum set that won’t be my main gig kit .

Just curious: what made you choose other makes/models?

I can't justify a Star kit 'cuz I don't play out that much any more and my skill level doesn't justify it.

 

[RK1]

SSC and SLP snare. With the right heads, the SSC sounds killer. Toss that boxy snare and get an SLP. You get more drums, too. Eight for the price of three. Both are made in the same factory. It’s like a Tikka vs a Sako. Same plant.

I’ve had both. For some reason, the W/B sounded too much like DW, which I describe as “tubular.” It’s been replaced with a SSC. Down a notch in style points? Yes. Sonically down a notch? No. Listen to that with good headphones and tell me the SSC is inferior to a W/B.

 

[Tiges]

I would prefer maple any day of the week.

 

[RobertM]

SSC and SLP snare. With the right heads, the SSC sounds killer. Toss that boxy snare and get an SLP. You get more drums, too. Eight for the price of three. Both are made in the same factory. It’s like a Tikka vs a Sako. Same plant.

I’ve had both. For some reason, the W/B sounded too much like DW, which I describe as “tubular.” It’s been replaced with a SSC. Down a notch in style points? Yes. Sonically down a notch? No. Listen to that with good headphones and tell me the SSC is inferior to a W/B.

Just a footnote: Don Gunn, the player in the video, no longer uses that Tama Superstar Classic, by the way. He let go of that kit and a Jenkins-Martin in order to get a big set of Starclassic Walnut-Birch.

 

[RK1]

Just a footnote: Don Gunn, the player in the video, no longer uses that Tama Superstar Classic, by the way. He let go of that kit and a Jenkins-Martin in order to get a big set of Starclassic Walnut-Birch.

I messaged him. He went SC Maple.

 

[RK1]

I would prefer maple any day of the week.

Agreed. The Saturn sounds better than the W/B to my ears.

 

[RK1]

Just a footnote: Don Gunn, the player in the video, no longer uses that Tama Superstar Classic, by the way. He let go of that kit and a Jenkins-Martin in order to get a big set of Starclassic Walnut-Birch.

I’d never let go of mine. It’s versatile and I’m no fan of die cast hoops. That was posted to let everyone know he did nothing special to them except tune them with different heads. If you can buy 8 drums for the price of 3 and they can sound just as good, go for the bigger kit. That’s my philosophy.

David Silveria was rocking a Pearl DM with Breaking in a Sequence and played a TAMA SC Maple with Korn.

For high-end, I went Sonor. There’s no going back once you play them. For everything else, TAMA, and the SSC had the tone and size I needed. The SLP snares will make your kit sound better than the “cheap” price tag. That’s just me, though.

 

[RobertM]

I’d never let go of mine. It’s versatile and I’m no fan of die cast hoops. That was posted to let everyone know he did nothing special to them except tune them with different heads. If you can buy 8 drums for the price of 3 and they can sound just as good, go for the bigger kit. That’s my philosophy.

David Silveria was rocking a Pearl DM with Breaking in a Sequence and played a TAMA SC Maple with Korn.

For high-end, I went Sonor. There’s no going back once you play them. For everything else, TAMA, and the SSC had the tone and size I needed. The SLP snares will make your kit sound better than the “cheap” price tag. That’s just me, though.

What Sonor set do you have?

 

[Artstar]

I’ve had both. For some reason, the W/B sounded too much like DW, which I describe as “tubular.” It’s been replaced with a SSC. Down a notch in style points? Yes. Sonically down a notch? No. Listen to that with good headphones and tell me the SSC is inferior to a W/B.

Man I hear you totally.. These are extremely underrated drums which most just throw in the lower end category.. but when you really examine what is going on.. This is Tama's lighter weight series which punches so far above it's weight. .

 

[RK1]

What Sonor set do you have?

SQ1. Incredible drums. They sound better to me than the Vintage or Prolite, but that’s my preference. Sonor birch drums are unparalleled to me. Low ceiling, high ceiling, doesn’t matter.