tilinmyowngrave
New member
Did they make 8 and 10" toms for the old 1970-1980's tama superstars? I've been looking through different websites for a long time now, and I havent seen either of them.
Old Superstars?
- Thread starter tilinmyowngrave
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Tim Brown
New member
tilinmyowngrave said:
Yes, they made 6" through 16" diameter rack toms, 14" through 20" diameter floor toms, and 18" through 26" diameter kicks.
They were a great line, and I never understood why Tama stopped selling them. I had Imperialstars, which were exactly the same as the Superstars regarding sizes available and hardware, except they were mahogany instead of birch, and had the inside coated with a multicolor spray on coating.
They didn't droip the Superstars until some time after they came out with the "Artstar" series - which had super thin (4mm) shells....but those were WAY out of the average player's price range.
Tim
tilinmyowngrave
New member
I M Green said:
I luv Neil Peart, but if he had somethign to do with the finishing of the superstars.... grrr.... I really love this set, and it really upsets me that I'm having such a bitch of a time trying to find a tom or two... I actually got the superstar because it wuz the best price and a great set... normally I wouldnt have gotten such big toms (12, 13, 14). I prefer a 8, 10, 12 set up, I like high pitched punchy rack toms.
Tim Brown
New member
I M Green said:
I know somebody who had a 6"x6" doubleheaded tom. It was a special order item. That was right before Tama went "seriously corporate". (I figure when the drum companies quit offering 20" floor toms, that's when the all went corporate. They didn't sell a lot of them, so they just shut them out completely instead of making stuff like that special orders.)
They tried saying they couldn't get hoops for them, but that's BS because I can get the hoops right now.
In fact, I just bought some not too long ago.
Tim
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Tim Brown
New member
tilinmyowngrave said:
It's not because there is a lack of them in existence - it's because people are holding on to them because they are a good drum line.
If you want to find singles - I suggest switching to Ludwig. LOL You can find those all day long....of course, Ludwig probably sold 10 timesd as many drums back then.
Tim
tilinmyowngrave
New member
Tim Brown said:
I am definately gonna stick with Superstars, they are affordable (when I find them) and they sound great. Do you think it would look too weird if I had a drum set with different color drums? Because its much easier t find drums in the mahogany finish or cherry finish than the maple finish (the one I have).
Tim Brown
New member
tilinmyowngrave said:
Well, that's really up to you. Of course, you could always have them sanded down and stained to match the others if you wanted, or have them all wrapped. Personally, I prefer woodgrained kits, but it's just because I hate plastic wrap. If I could have my kit wrapped in the old Ludwig or Slingerland Chrome - which was literally a sheet of chromed steel, I'd do it in a heartbeat.
Tim
tilinmyowngrave
New member
Tim Brown said:
I guarantee u... if i tried sanding them down, i wud be left with nothing but a huge pile of wood dust
. O... do u no if the toms on the superstars have die cast hoops? They seem really loud.
Tim Brown
New member
I doubt they have Die Cast hoops, back then, the only drums that were really known for that were Noble & Cooley's and a few snares that went for around $500. Most people never used Die-cast hoops both becuase of the price, the weight, and the fact that if you don't tune them precisely - they will warp, because they aren't very flexible.
Tim
Tim
Tim Brown
New member
I M Green said:
You know what's funny, in all my years of playing - I have YET to see anybody locally playing a Gretsch drumset! You would think, since they were based in the South for so long, that you'd see them all over the place. Tama and Pearl have always been the big names here in Jacksonville, Florida.
Tim
tilinmyowngrave
New member
Tim Brown said:
My drum teacher makes me use his Gretsch drum set whenever I take lessons... its really nice. The kick drum is huge, it must be 24" or 26"... im thinking of switching my 22" superstar kicks to 24" kicks if I can find em.
Up in NY i see all the local bands playing Pearl... but ive only seen 3 or 4 local bands
EDIT: My Mapex Black Panther Phosphor Bronze Precious Metal Series snare drum (14x6.5) has lots of nice tone... but is not a sensitive snare drum. My Tama Imperialstar (14x5) steel snare is very sensitive... but I dont like the tone of steel snare drums, and the intenral muffler further blocks the tone. So i wanna trade them for one of my drum teacher's nice snare drums... how much do you think the Bronze Black Panther and the Steel Imperialstar are worth together? Used, but still in really good condition. here is a pic.
https://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/tillingmyowngrave/f01c0203.jpg
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tilinmyowngrave
New member
Tim Brown said:
Yup. Tried ambassador on both snares. The bronze snare still wuzt sensitive. So I tried the power center head. I dont want to get any thicker ehads cuz it wud cut out the tone. As for the the steel snare, I didnt like the ambassador sound, I didnt like the ring of the drum, so now it has a evans Dry ST head... and that doesnt have the tone
Tim Brown
New member
tilinmyowngrave said:Yup. Tried ambassador on both snares. The bronze snare still wuzt sensitive. So I tried the power center head. I dont want to get any thicker ehads cuz it wud cut out the tone. As for the the steel snare, I didnt like the ambassador sound, I didnt like the ring of the drum, so now it has a evans Dry ST head... and that doesnt have the tone
Before you ditch those snares, you also might want to try a Remo Fibreskyn3. Keep in mind, that your snare is not going to sound exactly like a snare off a CD.
Also, how are you tuning them? what kind of tension scheme? (I tend to crank the bottom head, and then tune the batter head with a decent amout of mid tension, and I just barely have the snare tensioned up, so it's got a good whack to it, but remains sensitive.
Tim
Hey Tim not to get off subject but what did you think of your Imperialstar?
tilinmyowngrave
New member
I M Green said:
No, I wont ditch the snares, I played around with the bronze one and now it sounds great. As for cymbals... I'm really tempted to sell my sound edge hats and my dry heavy ride and buy dark energy 15" hats and 22" ride.