Tama Superstar Drums (vintage original line)

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Invicta

Junior Member
I have never played a set of these myself but every single recording I hear they have this beautiful low fundamental and thuddy focused sound. I'm especially interested in the superstar's pre-1984/5 that have the big round over bearding edges. What I don't get though is how such a thick birch shell can produce such low full notes? The floor toms alone sound like bass drums going off. I am very close to pulling the trigger on a set. I LOVE big drums and big low sounds out of drums but I also play fast and do double bass work as I play metal. The big wide open ludwig classics sound awesome and with proper heading and tuning I'm sure I could clean up any mud big sized drums bring to the table but those drums are really meant to sing I feel like and they sing forever. I am wondering if these thick birch superstars with the round over edges will be just what I'm looking for in terms of big, low, full, but focused and articulate. Any one have experience with these drums?.
 
lefty2

lefty2

Platinum Member
I thought by 84 or 85 they were using thin shells. It seems like I remember them both thinking about how their shells resonate more because they were thin. Seems like that was back when they had Neil Peart on a raft with his drum set out in the water. That was a poster it was quite popular then
 
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Invicta

Junior Member
They were thin in the 70's with reinforcement rings. They then went thick with round over edges until mid 1984 and changed to sharp 45 edges which were then carried on to the granstars.
 
Lee-Bro

Lee-Bro

Senior Member
Invicta said:
They were thin in the 70's with reinforcement rings. They then went thick with round over edges until mid 1984 and changed to sharp 45 edges which were then carried on to the granstars.
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Granstars are 9mm shells and definitely do not have sharp 45 degree edges. I still have my Granstar II set from 1990 and the edges are more of a round-over/butter type edge. The edges are vastly different from my DW Collectors kit -which have sharp 45's.
 
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Invicta

Junior Member
Lee-Bro said:
Granstars are 9mm shells and definitely do not have sharp 45 degree edges. I still have my Granstar II set from 1990 and the edges are more of a round-over/butter type edge. The edges are vastly different from my DW Collectors kit -which have sharp 45's.
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Thank you for correcting this for me. This is good to know for future reference.
 
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