Tama Drum Kits
Professional Drum Kits
Tama Professional Drum Kits: Star, Starclassic And Performer
Every Tama professional drum kit we stock sits on this page, and at this level Tama build three families. Star is the Japanese made flagship. Starclassic is the series that made the name, and the one that, in Tama’s own words, ignited the thin shell revolution when it arrived in 1994. Starclassic Performer sits beneath it on price with a maple and birch hybrid shell of its own. Three families, and then within Star and Starclassic a second choice: which wood.
Jump Straight To A Series
This is the directory page. Browse everything here, or click into a family above for the full detail on shells, woods, sizes, finishes and hardware. If you are weighing up a Tama pro kit, a maple drum kit, a walnut drum kit or a birch drum kit, the cards below are the quickest way to narrow it down.
The three Tama professional families
Specifications first, opinions second. Here is what actually separates them.
The Flagship, Made In Japan
Tama Star
Shell by wood
Maple5 ply, with a 2 mm solid wood core
Walnut6 ply, 6 mm toms. 7 ply, 7 mm bass
Bubinga5 ply, with 9 mm Sound Focus Rings
All threeDie-cast zinc hoops, Super Resonant mounting
Three genuinely different shells rather than one recipe in three veneers, and all built in Japan. The wood is the decision here, not the budget.
The Name Maker, Since 1994
Tama Starclassic
Shell by wood
Maple6 ply, 5 mm toms. 8 ply, 7 mm bass
Walnut/BirchA walnut and birch hybrid shell
ExoticsAdd an outer ply of movingui or pacific walnut
Both woodsDie-cast zinc hoops, aluminium Star-Cast mounting
The thin shell kit that made Tama’s reputation. Resonant and even in maple, darker and more thunderous in walnut and birch.
The Way In
Tama Starclassic Performer
Shell, one recipe
Toms & floor toms6 mm, 4 plies birch with 2 inner plies maple
Bass drums7 mm, 5 plies birch with 2 inner plies maple
Snare6 mm, same shell as the toms
HardwareDie-cast zinc hoops, Star-Cast mounting, MTH800 holder
Tama’s phrase is the warmth of maple and the clarity of birch. The most professional kit for the money in the range.
How to choose between them
Tama is a slightly harder range to navigate than most, because there are two decisions rather than one. Here is the order we go through on the shop floor.
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Family first, and it is mostly a budget decision. This is the one part of the Tama range where price really does track the tier: Performer, then Starclassic, then Star. All three are professional kits. What the money buys higher up is thinner, more carefully built shells, more hand work and, at Star level, Japanese manufacture.
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Then the wood, and that is not a budget decision at all. Within Star, and within Starclassic, the woods cost roughly the same as each other and sound completely different. Maple is warm, open and even. Walnut is darker and drier with a strong low end. Bubinga is dense and powerful with real projection. Birch, blended in on the Walnut/Birch and the Performer, adds clarity and attack.
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Do not skip the Performer because it is the cheapest. A maple and birch hybrid with zinc die-cast hoops and the same Star-Cast mounting as the kits above it is a serious instrument, and a Performer in the right room will beat a Starclassic in the wrong one. Plenty of working drummers buy one deliberately rather than as a compromise.
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Then come and hit them. Two decisions is one more than most brands ask of you, and both of them are settled in about ten minutes in a room with the kits in it. Everything on this page is set up and playable in our 5,000 square foot Fareham showroom.
Looking at the wider Tama range
This page covers the professional tier only, and Tama’s range runs a long way below it. The Superstar Classic, the Silverstar, the Imperialstar and the compact Club-Jam all do jobs these three do not, usually for a great deal less money, and for a lot of players one of those is the right answer.
Browse wider
See everything Tama we stock on the Tama brand page, or compare Tama against every other brand at this level in Professional Drum Kits.
Tama professional drum kit FAQs
What is the difference between Tama Star and Starclassic?
Star is the flagship and it is made in Japan. The shells are built differently, not simply better: the Star Maple is a 5 ply shell built around a 2 mm solid wood core, where a Starclassic Maple is a conventional 6 ply shell at 5 mm. Both are thin-shell kits by design, both are professional instruments, and the Starclassic is the one that built Tama’s reputation in the first place. The step up to Star buys you a different kind of shell and Japanese manufacture rather than a louder version of the same thing.
Where are Tama professional kits made?
Star is made in Japan, and Tama say so plainly. That is part of what you are paying for at that level.
Current Starclassic kits are made in China. The badge on the drum says so, and we would rather tell you that here than let you turn the kit round in the showroom and find out. It does not make them lesser instruments: the shell recipes, the die-cast hoops and the Star-Cast mounting are Tama’s own, and a Starclassic is still the kit that built the company’s reputation with professionals.
There is a wrinkle worth knowing about. Older Starclassics were built in Japan, and those are genuinely sought after and increasingly hard to find. If a Japanese built Starclassic is specifically what you want, it is a second-hand hunt rather than something you can order, and it is worth telling us so we can keep an eye out. Check the badge: it is the quickest way to tell which one you are looking at.
Maple, walnut or bubinga: which should I choose?
Maple is the safe, versatile one: warm, open and even across the range, and it suits almost any music. Walnut is darker and drier, with a fat low end and less ring, which recording engineers tend to like. Bubinga is the dense one, powerful and projecting, and it rewards a player who hits. Where birch is blended in, on the Walnut/Birch and the Performer, it adds attack and clarity on top. None is better than the others and the prices are close, so this really is a question of the sound you want rather than the budget you have.
Is the Starclassic Performer a professional kit or a step-up kit?
A professional kit, and we list it here rather than in mid-range for that reason. It shares the zinc die-cast hoops and the Star-Cast mounting system with the kits above it, and its maple and birch hybrid shell is a design in its own right rather than a cheapened version of a Starclassic. What you give up against a Starclassic is the choice of premium woods and some of the finish work. What you get is a lot of professional kit for the money.
Can I try them before I buy?
Yes, and with Tama more than most it is worth it, because the wood choice is impossible to settle from a description. Our Fareham showroom runs to 5,000 square feet of kits set up and ready to play, so you can hear maple against walnut against bubinga in the same room, on the same day, with the same sticks. No appointment needed. Call us on 01329 834012 if you want particular kits ready when you arrive.
Talk To Someone Who Plays Them
Not sure which Tama is yours?
Tell us what you play, where you play it and what you are chasing, and we will narrow it down with you properly. We build, tune and set up these kits every week, so the advice comes from the shop floor rather than a brochure.
