Tama Starclassics!

MatthewBurke

Junior Member
Yooo, my fellow drummer friends. I'm looking to upgrade my Tama Rockstar to the Starclassic. I see so many on Craigslist, but I'm having a hard time deciding what to get and how much I want to spend. I saw one recently (a Starclassic Performer) for $750 without a snare, but has two bass drums, and the guy is driving distance to pick up.

Please help me, I'm a poor helpless child!

-Matthew
 
I believe the performers are all birch. The newer are birch/bubinga, which one is it? How many pieces and in what condition? Tama are good drums but for some reason unknown to me at least they do not hold their value. I would find out the year and what they went for new. I recently sold this 5 piece starclassic maple for $1,225 less the snare and cymbals.
 

Attachments

  • Tama-1 (Medium).jpg
    Tama-1 (Medium).jpg
    72 KB · Views: 1,655
Anything in the Starclassic range will serve you well, and all will be a big step up from your Rockstar for sure. The Performers are either birch or birch/bubinga, depending on the year. Both are great sounding kits, but how much is he asking for, and what would you be getting?
 
Its a five piece: "10 tom 12" tom 14" tom, and two 22" bass. He has it posted for $750. I'm thinking maybe $600 would be good? pmancuso, that drum set is killer!
 
Oops, didn't notice you'd already posted the price.

By all means, offer $600, but don't be surprised if he says that's too low.
 
The Tama Starclassics are too cheap for how good they are, so I say it's a good deal provided it's a Maple set
 
They are 1998, 16 years old. I got tired of them, the hanging floor tom was a 15" that always sounded "heady" the 8 & 10 were unbelievable and so was the kick with Evans EQ3 batter. I also have a set of DW's for a totally different direction in sound and just recently purchased a 13, 16, 24 Ludwig Legacy for a complete counter point to the DW's. Now officially done buying anything.
 
Well, what do you guys think, what is the best (or better years) for the Starclassics? I love the Tama sound. I recently bought a Taye Rockpro off Craigslist and those bad boys sound pretty good for an intermediate kit!
 
Play one kick and use the other as a fish tank. Or maybe a toy box.

Problem solved.
 

If that kit is indeed from 1999, it is *not* an all-Birch shell. The all-birch shell for Starclassic Performers was rolled out in 2000, however, it is *very* hard to visually tell the difference. The seller is full of crap. The pre-2000 SC Performers are nice drums, no doubt, but they are not nearly as good as the 2000-2006 100% Birch ones.

Many years ago, I compared my old circa-2001 SC Performer 100% Birch to a friend's 1998 SC Performer Philippine Mahogany & 1 Birch interior ply, side-by-side. Both had fairly new heads of the same exact make (clear Evans G2s over G1s on toms, Power Center Reverse Dot on snares, EQ4 with Tama logo head on kicks). We tuned them both up to similar ranges. There was a marked difference in tonal clarity between the two.

The 1998 kit felt a little more murky and loose in the lows and mids and felt a bit "soft", tonally. Whereas, the 2001 kit had a significant amount more projection and spoke much more authoritatively. It was almost like comparing a Tama Rockstar (which was all Philippine Mahogany and sometimes Basswood) to a Yamaha Recording Custom (all Birch).

It's very worth your time to read this article on the Tama Forum:
http://forum.tama.com/yaf_postst12448_Identifying-Your-Starclassic-Master-Thread.aspx

Then, if you're looking at a Starclassic Performer kit, definitely read this one:
http://forum.tama.com/yaf_postst124...former-Do-I-Have---Identification-Thread.aspx
 
Just looked up some old Tama catalogs and this what I found. Performer series started in 94 and were Philippine mahogany/birch inner shells that offered a variety of lacquer finishes or one of four covered finishes, black,white,red and blue. In 97 the shell changed to birch/basswood/birch and covered finishes are not offered. In 2000 the shell changed to all birch and wraps again became available, called EFX Performers. The bronze badge changed the same year to add Made in Japan. That color (White Silk wrap) and the badge make that kit a birch EFX Performer made from 2000 - 2005.
 
Last edited:
For years, I thought the Performers sounded BETTER than the maple SC kits.

It's all in what you want to hear when you slam a stick down. :)
 
Back
Top