Hello! Introducing myself and my kit to DW

diegobxr

Silver Member
Hi, my name is Diego, I'm 21 years old and I live in Uruguay (South America).

I've been reading this forum for quite some time and now I finally decided to register so I could not only read but post too.

I play drums since 2002, my current kit is a very basic Pearl Forum. I use it as a 4 piece set. Here's the specs:

DRUMS
Pearl Forum (old model), 22x18, 12x9 and 16x16.
Snare: Custom Made, Steel, 14x6,5", 20 lugs.

HEADS
Evans Genera G2 Coated on toms
Evans Genera HD Dry on snare
(Resos and Bass are the factory ones)

CYMBALS
20" Zildjian Scimitar Ride, 18" Zildjian Avedis MT Crash, 18" Zildjian Avedis China High, 14" Izmir Hats.

HARDWARE
Mapex and Pearl Stands and clamps, Gibraltar double bass pedal.

STICKS
Vic Firth Extreme 5B

Pics (sorry for the poor quality):

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Right now I'm trying to decide what new set to purchase, I'm either between two options: Yamaha Stage Custom (Birch) or TAMA Superstar (Birch/Basswood). I really like the Yamahas sound and proven quality, but the Superstars come with DieCast hoops, Starcast Tom mounts and double braced stands... I'm having a hard time trying to pick one.

Well, thanks for reading and I hope you like the pics. :)
 
Welcome Diego!

Looking forward to you posting here. Lots of nice people, that I'm sure you already know about. Do you have any videos of your playing we can see? That would be cool.

What you upgrade to is totally up to you, but I'm a committed Tama man myself now. I play the Starclassic Bubinga Elites. A friend of mine just bought himself the Tama Superstars and he loves them. Upon closer inspection I was more impressed than I already was. But both brands make great drums.
 
Welcome to Drummerworld, Diego. Let me be the first (if I hurry) to vote Yamaha. I drive a set of Yamaha RC's, .... and also a Ludwig kit ... but all my hardware is Yamaha. Got rid of all my DW, Tama, and Pearl stands. Looking at your kit, you're not doing anything that Yamaha 600 and 700 series (single braced) hardware won't be able to handle.
 
Yeah, welcome Diego. That forum looks crisp & cool. My son plays a forum and does some pretty decent gigs with it. It sounds really good in the band mix, certainly never out of place. He's a fine player & performer too! As for upgrade choice, go for sound & reliable hardware. Yamaha hardware is universally well regarded by hard gigging players. Whatever you choose, good luck!
 
Welcome to DW!
I play an old forum too (sadly). Their not too bad, but their definitely nothing to brag about.
I say go for the yammies.
 
Wow, thanks for the kind replies. :) I really appreciate your opinions.

I've read a lot of topics regarding this 'battle' between the Stage Customs and the Superstars and it really is a close match, isn't it? Anyway, as some of you said, both drums are of excellent quality and I'm sure I'll be satisfied with either one of them.

To make things a little more analitical I made a simple chart that could help me make the choice:

yamahascvstamass.jpg


From here I take some conclusions:

Yamaha wins on Shells and Finish, and although its hardware is single braced, it is very sturdy and reliable.
On the other hand, TAMA's stands have toothless tilters, it comes with StarCast mounts and DieCast hoops and it is quite a lot cheaper.

(Instruments here are ridicously expensive, I'm thinking about shipping from eBay, as it probably will be cheaper).
--

The DieCast hoops are what really gets my attention. I'm quite a hard-hitter and play a lot of rimshots on the snare, therefore, my poor Forum has some dents in her hoops.. :( I would be a very sad guy if I bent a Yamaha Hoop.

If I follow the specs, the TAMA wins fairly easily as it is IMO more 'bang for the buck' than the SCs.. but there's something about the Yamahas that really gets my attention, probably that famous Birch sound and that nice neat construction quality. The TAMA guys really made a good marketing decision putting those die cast hoops within this price tag.. if it weren't for them, I would have taken the yamahas hands down.

Well, sorry for the long post, haha. :)
 
Actually I believe Tama's Superstar hyperdrive line is now 100% Birch. They recently made the change (start of 2010 I think), so the shells would be the same material. I don't know about the thickness however.

I have a superstar hyperdive and I absolutely love it! I think it was made before they made the switch to 100% Birch but i bought it because I loved the sound.

To be completely honest though, the sound of any drumset will have to do more with the tuning and the heads used than the material used to construct them. So if you take that into consideration, the Tama seems like a better deal due to the hardware it comes with and the die-cast hoops (at least IMO). Either way you'll have a great sounding kit!

-Jonathan
 
I'd pick the yamaha's any day over the superstars.
 
I don't have any experience with the Tama superstars, but my school just got a brand new Yamaha Stage Custom Birch, except in the 10", 12", 14", 20" configuration (we're mostly using the set for jazz big band rehearsal). I can wholeheartedly tell you, without a doubt, that they are excellent drums. You will most certainly not be disappointed. After changing the heads to coated Remo ambassadors, they tuned up very easily. All the drums have a nice tuning range and are very sensitive to dynamics; I could play really quietly and the drums still spoke well, and I could really hit hard and the drums didn't choke. The bass drum has a decent amount of low-end, especially for a 20" drum, so I'm sure a 22" drum would have even more bass register.

I can't imagine any reason why a professional drummer would not be able to tour and/or record with the Yamaha SCB's. Although my school's set is tuned for jazz, I have no doubt that they would perform excellently in a rock setting, or any other genre for that matter, latin, funk, reggae, metal, etc. Again, I can't speak for the Tama Superstars, but I've heard that they are fairly nice drums as well. I can assure you that you don't have to worry about having flanged hoops on the Yamaha's as opposed to die-cast. I have die-cast hoops on my Gretsch Renown set (all-maple drums of similar quality to the Yamaha SCB's), but both my Gretsch's and the Yamaha SCB's I've played are extremely high-quality drums. There have been countless albums of professionally-recorded music where drummers used drums without die-cast hoops. Die-cast hoops do provide a slightly different sound than flanged hoops, but they aren't necessary to achieve a good drum sound.

My school's Yamaha set also has the Yamaha hardware. Although I've only used it for a couple days now, it's also sturdy professional-level equipment. Even though it's only single-braced, I've lugged some of the equipment back and forth between several rehearsal spaces with no problem. I also find it very easily adjustable so I can get the exact setup that I want, even the cymbal tilters. I personally don't feel the need for toothless cymbal tilters. Besides, I noticed that you like to set up your cymbals flat, so it wouldn't be a problem anyway right? But if you do ever decide to change your setup, I find the hardware very easily adjustable.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps. If you need any more information about the Yamaha SCB's, don't hesitate to ask.

EDIT: I just read your post about the die-cast hoops, and how you're worried about denting the hoops. I'll check out the hoops on my school's drumset today when I go practice and let you know how thick they are. I definitely agree that die-cast hoops are more resistant to rimshots, so the hoops could possibly be an issue on the Yamaha.
 
welcome to the forum Diego! tough choice with the two kits, both quality drum kits to be sure, i play the Yamaha Stage Customs myself - the drums are easy to tune and stay tuned, the hardware is second to none, the birch shells sound great, the only complaint of mine is the snare - cheap strainer system and twitchy tuning (only 8 lugs), so look close at the Tama's snare drum, might be a game breaker in favor of the Tama kit, good luck!
 
welcome to the forum Diego! tough choice with the two kits, both quality drum kits to be sure, i play the Yamaha Stage Customs myself - the drums are easy to tune and stay tuned, the hardware is second to none, the birch shells sound great, the only complaint of mine is the snare - cheap strainer system and twitchy tuning (only 8 lugs), so look close at the Tama's snare drum, might be a game breaker in favor of the Tama kit, good luck!

This is a good point, I forgot to mention that my school's Yamaha SCB set did not include the snare, so I can't speak for its quality.
 
Alright!! Thanks again for your comments!! :)

To be completely honest though, the sound of any drumset will have to do more with the tuning and the heads used than the material used to construct them. So if you take that into consideration, the Tama seems like a better deal due to the hardware it comes with and the die-cast hoops (at least IMO). Either way you'll have a great sounding kit!

Yeah, also the technique, the weight of the sticks and if it is wood or nylon tip makes a bigger difference than the type of wood.. It's true, but anyway, we can`t argue that Yamaha makes great birch drums, haha. And you're right, the latest Superstars are 100% Birch. Thanks. ;)

I'd pick the yamaha's any day over the superstars.

That is real Yamaha love speaking I guess. No reasons, just do it, haha. Thanks anyway. :)

My school's Yamaha set also has the Yamaha hardware. Although I've only used it for a couple days now, it's also sturdy professional-level equipment. Even though it's only single-braced, I've lugged some of the equipment back and forth between several rehearsal spaces with no problem. I also find it very easily adjustable so I can get the exact setup that I want, even the cymbal tilters. I personally don't feel the need for toothless cymbal tilters. Besides, I noticed that you like to set up your cymbals flat, so it wouldn't be a problem anyway right? But if you do ever decide to change your setup, I find the hardware very easily adjustable.

Sorry for the long post, but I hope this helps. If you need any more information about the Yamaha SCB's, don't hesitate to ask.

Wow, Stasz, thanks for the time! Don't apologise for the long post, on the contrary, I really appreciate it.
Everything you mentioned makes perfect sense with all I've been reading about the SCB's.
Trust me, I know that they're great drums.. The problem here is the price tag and the bonus features of the TAMA (for less money). You're right, I don't need toothless tilters, I like my cymbals flat, and the YESS tom mounts are just as good (if not better and less complicated) as the Starcast system.

But, look at it this way: The TAMA has everything the Yamaha's got, and more, for less money. My question is this:

Is YAMAHA's brand/quality/sound so superior than TAMA's, as to be willing to spend $250more without offering Die-cast hoops?

I'm sure it can be.. But I don't know.. I always liked TAMA but now somehow my gut is leaning me towards Yamaha. I feel kinda stupid actually.

Well.. Ainulindale, I'll test both snares.. and maybe the key is there, but I haven't heard many good things about the TAMA snare either.. :S

Anyway, thanks for everything. ;)
 
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