Tama Superstar Standard

I bought this kit from ADC Drums in Liverpool. Their internet site had it advertised for £530, which is very cheap for a new model kit.

Well first what you get for the money. The quality is superb and many pro features are offered. I bought a fusion kit with only a 20" bass drum but was amazed that it has such a big sound (especially with the right amount of muffling). The toms tune up very well and respond well to high frequencies, although most tones are capable. The snare is very good, a lot better than I expected. Nice and loud with a good rim for decent rim shots.

Well as it is a fusion kit it does lack some low-end balls. Adding a floor tom would easily alleviate this, but I wanted a fusion kit instead of a rock kit because of the more balanced tom sizes so the kit would be more diverse in styles. Also the heads that come with the kit aren't bad, they aren't brilliant. I'd recommend fitting some Remo Ambassadors or whatever your favourite head is to extract the maximum from the shells, but the factory heads are by no means terrible, so long as you know how to tune.

This is the kit that replaced the Rockstar, so you still get the star-cast mounting system, but now you get upgraded hardware and a wooden snare drum as standard. The shells are now made of birch, but the inner plies are still made of bass wood, but this is probably so it doesn't clash with the Starclassic. The factory heads are pretty good quality and take a beating and the Iron Cobra junior pedals are as good as everybody says they are: light and controllable.

These drums are brilliant! Fit some decent cymbals and you have an almost professional sounding kit. To answer a question that quite a lot of people have asked me: there is no difference between this and the Custom. All you pay for is a professional finish. Anyway I recommend this kit from beginners to pros looking for a cheap quality kit; also I like to say adcdrums.co.uk is great for cheap drum equipment to.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

The Tama Superstar Standard is a five piece drum set, best suited for beginners and those just starting out with playing the drums. It’s definitely a good kit for a beginner, but will be okay for an intermediate player as well, as it’s really not too bad a kit. I’m primarily not a drummer, but the practice space that my band plays in has this kit in there and I’ve messed around with it quite a bit. The standard make up I believe is a kick drum, snare, two rack toms, and a floor tom, and I’m not really sure if it comes in different configurations or not, but this is the make up of the one that’s in our space. It seems to have a pretty tight sound, although the particular one in the space is certainly worn a bit and could use some new heads. Cymbal stands and all typical hardware are included with the kit, as well as bass drum pedal, which is another reason that the Tama Superstar Standard is good for beginners as it gives you virtually everything in one place here. Since I haven’t recorded with this kit, I’d be curious to try it out with new heads for recording and hear what it sounds like, but my first impression is that it’s not best for recording but rather for practice and shows. The price doesn’t make it the cheapest drum kit available, but for the quality here it’s definitely one of the best bangs for your buck when it comes to a drum kit. Again, I’m not sure if you can mix and match with this kit in terms of drum sizes, but usually that is possible so I don’t see why it wouldn’t be an option here. Beginners and those looking to upgrade from their first kit should definitely consider the Tama Superstar Standard.

I use this version 22/10/12/14/16 drumkit for almost a year.
Finish rodoïde navy blue barrels (birch / basswood) suspended non pierced rings molded, wood snare drum, accessory kit complete and solid prestige of the brand Tama!
This drumkit is a real dream ... The price / quality ratio suffers no comparison! At least at the time!
The sound is precise, easy adjustments, all reliable and robust, in short, it is fun to play and watch ... I find only good things to say about it!
A counselor immediately to all the undecided for a first investment after the drumkit of study.
Superstar enters the big league (s) and has nothing to envy to its big sisters Starclassic ... Really!

- For how long have you been using it?
I use this drumkit for 18 months, purchased from a German site, because 10% cheaper than in France. I took a standard config 22/12/13/16 which I added a floor tom 14 ". I will have preferred a 18", but it was getting expensive.

- What thing do you like most/least about it?
Extras:
- Tom suspended and not drilled deep bass drums, I played on a 16 "before so 20" is gigantic power, the depth of his ...
Minimum:
- 14x5 snare, 5 ". I replaced it with a 14x8 Tama Artwood Titanium. As my friends say, now I have a big!

- Did you try many other models before getting this one?
Yes, Sonor, Pearl, Yamaha, Maxtone on which I played for over 10 years. But I was looking for a drumkit with the fastening system type TAMA drums.
- What is your opinion about the value for the price?
Excellent: drumkit with high quality specifications (hanging toms, bass drum wood circles, circles toms molded harware double braced Heavy duty) at a very affordable price and with a great sound.
Little advice (depending on what you play), change skins. For my part, to play hard rock (Guns n Roses, Aerosmith, ACDC ...), I put REMO PowerStroke 3 hits and the sound is really excellent. It's nice for sound engineers.
Come listen to http://www.myspace.com/gunsandhardrock

- Knowing what you know now, would you make the same choice? ...
Yes, no doubt, I will ruin cons to take double bass drum, and all other drums.