daves

I've owned my Starclassics for nearly a year and love 'um! Mine are Antique White Sparkle lacquer which looks amazing and is really rare. (rare? launched as a finish in 2008, it was discontinued in 2009 because the factory was having too much trouble getting a consistent colour) The important bit - the shells came about after Tama launched the Bubinga Omnitunes (hugely expensive) in 2006. Bubinga is a really dense wood and very expensive - Tama wondered what would happen if they combined bubinga with (much cheaper) birch, so with 4 outer plys of birch, and 3 inner plys of bubinga, the 6mm shelled Starclassic Birch / Bubinga was born. (Bass drums have an extra ply of birch taking thickness to 7mm) The effect is really low rich tones thanks to the bubinga, but lots of crack, projection and volume thanks to the birch. Hit any size tom and you think you're hitting something bigger and deeper - awesome! The finishes are immaculate. Inner shells and bearing edges are super smooth. Hardware and badges are really nice. Starcast tom mounts are a superb design and, unlike most others, are really unobtrusive letting the drum be the star. I was in the studio with them last week, and it's the first time I've not had a sound engineer moaning about overtones etc. and come out of the control room with rolls of gaffa tape!! He even remarked that it's the first time he'd not had to adulterated a customers kit in some way in 30 years. The best news is the price. Make no mistake, these are high end pro drums that can compete with top line Sonor, DW, Yamaha etc but are now where near as expensive. In fact the price has come down significantly in recent years, deliberately taking the fight to the overpriced 'big name' drums like DW. If you're in the market for a new kit, try these - you won't be disappointed. If maple's your thing, they do those too! They are, as the name suggests, stars and classics. (IF ANYONE HAS A FLOOR TOM IN ANTIQUE WHITE SPARKLE THEY DON'T WANT, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH)

Hardcase cases are excellent. Very strong, waterproof, adjustable click shut straps, padded in a wide variety of colours or fully lined in all colours except black(?). Available for a variety of instruments, not just drum kits - marching drums, Brazilian, marching, steel band, accessories, even bagpipes! Bigger cases come with wheels and a variety of carry handles. As an example, let's concentrate on the utterly brilliant cymbal case: a. It has wheels and a retractable handle if you need to pull not carry. b. Hinged lid. c. two click shut heavy duty straps. d. Fixed centre spindle that's sheathed with plastic tubing to stop damage to cymbal holes. e. A big (bright yellow so you don't loose it on stage) fixing nut. f. Padded support bottom. h. A set of 8 foam dividers (4 large / 4 small) to stop cymbals rubbing against each other.

The good starting from the top: a. Tama's QC8 quick set cymbal mate is brilliant. Replacing a traditional wing nut, the QC8 is a spring loaded holder that you simply pinch into position with two fingers where the wing nut would normally go. On or off in less than a second, and no wing nuts flying off over the stage when you're packing up! b. Quick Set Tilter - instead of the top angle being adjustable and held in position by toothed gears, the quick set filter uses the friction of a set of metal disks to allow the smallest adjustment, and a more reliable hold that won't vibrate loose. c. The cymbal bottom supports the cymbals and felts and includes a sleeve to stop your cymbals keyholing. AND if it starts to wear out, it's reversible. d. Boom arm has markings to assist with set up position, and can convert into a straight stand by simply retracting into the top sheath of the stand. e. Adjusting the boom angle or length are done independently of each other. f. Plastic inner sleeves ensure a rock steady grip to all height adjustable parts. g. Double braced legs can be adjusted from a really narrow foot print to a really wide one dependant on your needs. h. All the above gives the quickest set up and break down I've ever know! The bad: This kind of quality comes at a price - WEIGHT - but at least you can cancel your gym membership!!

I would normally list the good and the bad, but there is no bad. So the good is: a. The foot board is permanently attached, so it either fold up or down to become a '3rd leg'. There are only two actual legs allowing perfect positioning - especially important to all you double bass beaters! This also mean that set up and break down is ridiculously fast. b. The foot board can swivel left or right on the off chance that one of you two legs are still in the way. c. No pull action here. It's a patented lever action which is smoother, and adjustable to six different levels of tension. d. The whole stand can be angled off the vertical if required - use full if you like your hats close but have really long legs! e. The clutch will never loosen accidentally (in my experience), and has a swivel lock which means you can have a really loose top cymbal with or without a top felt if required. f. the bottom cymbal seat can be angled like most stands, but it's also spring loaded giving a better 'bark' g. The clutch and felts are designed so that, for transportation, attach the empty clutch to the tension rod and it all fits snugly in the bottom of the main shaft for protection - no more bent tension rods! h. The rubber feet have retractable spikes like a bass pedal if required.

So I'm in the store looking for a new ride cymbal. It came down to two - a Paiste 2002 Ride and a Paiste Alpha Rock Ride. Surprisingly for me, I went for the cheaper Alpha. Nice clear ping and an absolutely amazing bell sound. The bell is huge and I though even I couldn't miss hitting it! Anyway, enough background. I came across the Signature Heavy Dry by accident. A friend was selling one cheap because he needed the money so I bought it. Well, it's amazing! It's now discontinued by Paiste because they slimmed the Signature offerings. I'm not sure what the equivalent in the range is now, but if you've got the money (really expensive range), try one - I think you'll love it.

The Iron Cobra range is legendary. Various incarnations are available - chain or strap, true or off set cam etc. My personal preference is a chain driven 'Rolling Glide' - this being a true round cam as opposed to an off set - 'Power Glide'. Tama being Tama, if you for the strap drive option - it's not nylon, it's Kevlar (the stuff in bullet proof vests!), and if you go for chain drive, there are two chains - not one! Good points: a. Beater angle and foot board angle are fully adjustable independently of each other. b. Spring tension adjustment is easy, and because of being 'Tamarised' the spring can't twist meaning you get maximum tension all the time. c. The top of the spring assembly is attached by what Tama calls a 'Speedo Ring' (very secure, but easy to pull off when you want to) which allows for super fast set up and break down, protects the spring in transit, and allows the pedal to be collapsed to fit in the case it come with or elsewhere. d. The hoop clamp is accessible from the right hand side and is not under the foot board. It's also fully adjustable ensuring the foot board is always flat on the floor. Adjustment allows for even the thickest of hoops (up to 14mm). The bad: The hoop clamp has a loosely fitting (allowing the adjustments outlined above) spiky surfaced aluminium foot which is the part that clamps to the inner hoop (Tama call this 'Para Clamp'). WARNING You need some good protection - multi layers of gaffe as a minimum - if you don't want you hoop chewed to bits!! The plain mad (?): There is a spring under the foot board ('Cobra Coil') that is supposed the make the foot board return quicker on the up stroke. Personally, I don't get it and think is just a load of over-design bulls**t. I certainly can't play any faster than on my plain old Yamaha pedal. The nice touch: There is a dual tool - hex key / drum key - supplied to cover all necessary adjustments of the pedal, and it's housed in it's own insert on the left of the pedal. This also means you've always got a drum key to hand because it fits all square tension bolts.

I bought my Paiste 602 hi hats weeks after buying my second pair of 2002 sound edge hats (because that's what I'd always used). I found the 2002's were too harsh for what I'm doing now and needed something powerful, but somehow softer with a good 'bark'. I tried every pair of hats in the store and kept coming back to these. I love 'um!

Like all of Tama's Roadpro series, this stand is excellent. Infinitely adjustable for basket grip, angle, height and base legs foot print. Angle is controlled by an omniball. This operates independently to a swivelling basket which is equipped with what Tama call 'escape claws' on the end of each arm which allows the drum to float and not restrict resonance. The arm design means that no matter what size of rim (and no matter how many lugs) you have, they will not interfere with your strainer or throw off. The thing I really like is the super quick set up and break down. Simply open or close the double braced legs and tighten the nut, and fold down or fold up the basket arms without adjusting your settings - back in it's case on five seconds!