Tama Star Drum Kits
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Tama Drum Kits
Tama Star: The Flagship, Made In Japan
The Tama Star is the top of the range and the only Tama professional series still built in Japan. What separates it from everything below is not simply better materials: each of the three woods gets its own shell design rather than one recipe wearing three different veneers. The maple is built around a solid wood core ply. The walnut is a thicker, more conventional shell. The bubinga is thinner than anything else Tama make and braced with 9 mm Sound Focus Rings. Three genuinely different instruments at much the same money. If you are looking at a flagship drum kit, a Japanese made drum kit or the best professional Tama kit built, this is it.
Which means the decision here is not how much to spend, it is which wood you want. Everything we have is set up and playable in our 5,000 square foot Fareham showroom, and this is a kit nobody should buy from a photograph.
Built in
Japan
The only Tama pro series that still is
Shell designs
3
One per wood, not one recipe in three
Bearing edge
3.5 mm
Peak set in from the outer surface
Tom mount
4 point
Super Resonant, rubber isolated
Shell and build: what every Star shares
The bearing edge is the first thing to understand, because it runs against what you might expect from a flagship. Tama cut the Star edge with a rounder peak than their traditional edge, and set that peak 3.5 mm in from the outer surface of the shell. A rounder peak means more of the head touching more of the shell, which is the opposite of the sharp, minimal-contact edge a lot of high-end kits use. The result is warmer and fuller rather than clinical, and it is a deliberate choice rather than a shortcut. For comparison, the Starclassic edge sits 2.5 mm in.
The second thing is how much work has gone into getting hardware out of the way of the shell. The Super Resonant mount holds the drum at three points on its hoops, with a fourth picking up at steep angles, and every one of those contacts is rubber isolated. The lugs use what Tama call an extremely low mass bridge construction, so they touch as little shell as possible. Even the bass drum claw hooks float on the hoop rather than biting into it. None of that is visible across a room, and all of it is audible.
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Made in Japan, and Tama say so plainly. The only series in their professional range where that is still true.
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Super Resonant Mounting System, three main contact points, two on the batter hoop and one on the bottom hoop, with a fourth taking over when the drum is tilted steeply, and rubber at every shell contact.
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Resonant floor tom leg tips, a special hollow soft rubber construction. A floor tom is struck downwards, so its legs take that impact directly: Tama’s tips absorb it in a way that, in their words, emphasises the drum’s natural resonance and sustain. They also simply feel better to play on.
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Die-cast zinc hoops on toms and snares, and Quick-Lock tom brackets that split so the memory lock stays on the stand and your positions survive the pack-down.
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Wood bass drum hoops in a matching finish, with Natural Matte and Dark Brown Matte alternatives offered on most colours. A small thing that changes the look of the front of the kit completely.
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Low mass bridge lugs, floating bass drum claw hooks, an imprinted badge rather than a screwed-on one, and a small wooden air hole grommet. Details that exist because somebody cared.
Choose your wood
The whole decision, and the reason the Star range is more interesting than a simple flagship. Three woods, three different shell constructions, one price bracket.
The Solid Core One
Star Maple
Shell5 ply, built around a 2 mm solid wood core
Plies1.5 mm cross-laminated either side of the core
ExoticsCurly maple and Paraiso figured finishes
A solid core ply is a genuinely unusual thing to find in a production drum, and it is what makes this shell behave differently from an ordinary maple kit: warm and open as maple should be, with a firmer centre to the note. The versatile one, and the one to start with if you are unsure.
The Dark One
Star Walnut
Toms6 ply, 6 mm, all walnut
Bass7 ply, 7 mm, all walnut
ExoticsOuter plies of Japanese Sen or Japanese Chestnut
Walnut is darker and drier than maple with a fatter low end and less ring, which recording engineers tend to love. The thickest of the three shells and the most substantial sounding. The Japanese Sen and Chestnut outer plies are also the most beautiful finishes Tama offer on any kit.
The Powerful One
Star Bubinga
Shell5 ply bubinga with 1 inner ply of cordia
Bracing9 mm Sound Focus Rings on every shell
ExoticsOuter plies of Australian Acacia, Indian Laurel or Cordia
Bubinga is dense and powerful, and Tama have gone thinner here than on any other kit they build, then braced the shell with thick rings at the edges. You get the projection and the low end bubinga is known for, with far more resonance than a thick bubinga shell allows.
A note on the thickness figures
Tama quote shell thicknesses for the Maple and the Bubinga inconsistently across their own pages, so we have given the ply counts and the construction, which are stated consistently, rather than a millimetre figure we cannot stand behind. The Walnut figures above are unambiguous. If an exact thickness matters for a specific drum, ask us and we will get the answer from Tama rather than guess at it.
Shell packs and sizes
Star shell packs come in two standard configurations across all three woods, and the drums are also available individually so a kit can be built exactly as you want it. Shell kits do not include mounting hardware, which is normal at this level since most players are mounting to a rack or to their own stands.
Four Piece
22″ x 16″ bass drum
10″ x 7″ tom
12″ x 8″ tom
16″ x 16″ floor tom
Three Piece
20″ x 14″ bass drum
12″ x 8″ tom
14″ x 14″ floor tom
Built To Order
Bass drums, toms, floor toms and snares are all available as individual drums, so a Star can be specified around the sizes you actually play rather than the pack that happens to exist. Talk to us before you commit to a configuration.
Speccing a Star
At this level the kit is worth building rather than buying. Diameters, depths, the wood, the finish, the bass drum hoop treatment and, on the Bubinga, whether you want the wood inlay on the Sound Focus Rings. We will go through all of it with you. Call 01329 834012 or email [email protected].
Star finishes
Six solid lacquers run across all three woods. On top of those, each wood has its own exotic finishes, and those are where the Star range earns its reputation for looking like furniture.
Maple Only
Charcoal Brown Paraiso
Emerald Sea Curly Maple Burst
Ocean Blue Curly Maple
Raspberry Curly Maple
Gloss Natural Curly Maple
Satin Blue Metallic
Satin Antique Brown
Walnut Only
Antique White Japanese Chestnut
Light Indigo Japanese Chestnut
Roasted Japanese Chestnut
Garnet Japanese Sen Burst
Satin Black Japanese Sen Burst
Indigo Japanese Sen Burst
Satin Charcoal Japanese Sen
Red Burgundy Walnut
Dark Mocha Walnut
Smoky Blue Mist
Bubinga Only
Dark Green Cordia
Dark Red Cordia
Natural Indian Laurel
Pewter Blue Australian Acacia
Sunset Australian Acacia Burst
Satin Blue Metallic
Bass drum hoops come in a matching finish as standard, with Natural Matte and Dark Brown Matte offered on most colours. Gloss Natural Curly Maple is the one exception. Tama also run premium lacquers, wraps, coverings and oil finishes on this series, so if you have something specific in mind it is worth asking rather than assuming it is not available.
Where the Star sits in the Tama range
Star is the top, and it is worth being clear about what that actually buys: Japanese manufacture, a different shell engineered for each wood, the Super Resonant mount and a bearing edge cut to its own spec. It does not buy better hoops, because the die-cast zinc hoops run all the way down the professional range.
Browse wider
See all three families side by side in Tama Drum Kits, the full Professional Drum Kits range from every brand we stock, or everything Tama on our Tama brand page.
Tama Star FAQs
Is a Star really worth it over a Starclassic?
It depends what you want from the extra money, and the honest answer is that the Starclassic is a superb kit that plenty of professionals use for everything. What the Star gives you is Japanese manufacture, a shell designed specifically for each wood rather than one construction in three woods, the Super Resonant mount and a bearing edge cut to its own spec. Those are real differences and you can hear them in a quiet room. Whether you can hear them on a loud stage, through a PA, is a much more honest question and the answer for many people is no. If the kit is going to live in a studio or a good room, the step up pays for itself. If it is going in and out of a van, think carefully.
Maple, walnut or bubinga?
Maple is the versatile one: warm, open and even, and the safest choice if the kit has to do everything. Walnut is darker and drier with more weight at the bottom and less ring, which suits recording and anyone who finds maple too bright. Bubinga is the powerful one, dense and projecting, and on the Star it is thinner than anything else Tama build so it stays resonant rather than just loud. They cost much the same, so the budget does not decide this. Come and hit all three.
What are Sound Focus Rings?
Thick reinforcement rings, 9 mm on the Star Bubinga, fitted at the bearing edges of every shell. They solve a specific problem: bubinga is dense and powerful but a thin bubinga shell on its own would not hold its shape. The rings give the structure back at the edges where it is needed, which lets Tama make the rest of the shell thinner than they could otherwise. You get the projection of bubinga with more resonance than a thick bubinga shell would allow. There is also an option to have a wood inlay applied to the inside of the rings, which is purely cosmetic and genuinely lovely.
Are all Tama Star drums made in Japan?
Yes. Tama state it plainly for the Star series, and it is the only series in their professional range where that is still the case: current Starclassic production is Chinese, and the badge on the drum says so. We mention that not to talk anyone out of a Starclassic, which is an excellent kit, but because it is the single clearest thing the extra money buys you here, and because you would rather hear it from us than find out later.
Why do shell packs come without mounting hardware?
Because at this level most people already have strong opinions about how their toms are held up, whether that is a rack, their own stands, or mounting from the bass drum. Including a tom holder nobody wanted would add cost and weight to a kit that is already being specified carefully. It does mean you need to plan the hardware alongside the shells rather than after them, so tell us how you set up and we will make sure nothing is missing on the day it arrives.
Hear It Before You Buy It
Three woods, one room, one afternoon
Nobody should buy a kit at this level from a photograph, and the finishes alone are worth the trip: the curly maples, the Japanese Sen and the Cordia do not photograph remotely accurately. Our 5,000 square foot Fareham showroom has them set up and ready to play, so you can hear maple against walnut against bubinga, and hear all three against a Starclassic, before you spend anything. No appointment needed, and we will happily tell you if we think a Starclassic is the better buy for what you actually do.
