I find myself facing one of the incursions of the prestigious brand Tama into the world of the modern drum kit concept, and despite those who may think this brand's zenith came in the 80s (myself included), with a "look" and sound eminently focused on rock or similar musical territory, since the Starclassic came to market (about 10 years ago) we can find a high-end alternative that performs at the very least at the same level, perhaps higher, than any similar model from any other brand on today's market.
In this particular case, I'm putting the Starclassic Performer under analysis, which is the birch version of the series. It has the same technological advances and advantages as the Starclassic Maple, but in a different wood.
Birch vs. Maple
While I'm at it, I want to stand up for birch, since it is often wrongly considered to be of lower quality than maple, when all that happens is that they produce different sound qualities, not different grades of quality. Depending on the kind of sound you want, birch can be more advisable than maple, thanks to its darker tone, greater focus and sound projection. In short, when you're after power and few problems with overtones and pitches, birch is the choice; not for nothing, some 15 or 20 years ago this wood was more popular than maple (for example, the legendary Yamaha Recording, a flagship kit that was in such demand in its day, was birch).
The Kit
Currently, and for a very short time now, I've been using two Starclassic Performer kits, each with a completely different musical and sonic approach. One consists of a 22x18 bass drum, 14x5½ snare (8 lugs), and 10x8, 12x9 and 14x11 toms, and the other an 18x16 bass drum, 14x5½ snare (10 lugs), and 10x8, 12x9 toms plus a 14x14 floor tom, so I'm going to speak generally about this, in my opinion, fantastic instrument. In terms of construction, the Starclassic Performer uses 6 plies (6mm) in its toms, 7 plies (7mm) in its bass drums, and 8 plies (8mm) in its snares. With these thin shell dimensions, the sound projection and low-end amplification are evident in all the drums, especially the bass drum, where you don't need to loosen the batter head much to get a full low end, without having to reach the "clap" of attack of an overly slack head. Even on smaller bass drums (18", empty and with no hole in the front head, for example), you can keep more tension to get that enveloping sound so characteristic of the more "jazzy" sonorities. As for the toms, their tuning is very specific; each shell pushes you toward its fullest expression. A clear tone and great depth of sound, plus the floating action of the Starcast mounting system, which is a true masterpiece of floating systems. It gives the tom's response greater breadth, and you also get a lot of clarity even with double-ply heads, above all on the larger drums. As for the snares (even though Tama offers a very wide range of options), I chose to stay within the same series, getting the sound "match" that the same material and construction concept provides, where the snare attacks a similar range of frequencies as the rest of the drums. What you get is perhaps not a snare with excessive articulation and brightness, but rather focus and controlled attack, free of unwanted overtones, where there is no need to dampen the snare with any kind of add-ons. Whether it's those damned plastic rings that sit around the head (which I am a sworn enemy of), or a little strip of tape. All the shells in this series (except the bass drums, which come with wood hoops) come with die-cast hoops, on which the aforementioned and much-praised Starcast system is mounted.
The Finish
The finishes are truly luxurious, with a lacquer that lets the grain of the wood show, or you can go for the EFX option, which consists of an outer plastic layer (Duracover) with five pearl or "sparkle" effect options that give the kit a more retro "look." Also, while preserving the full sonic properties of birch, this layer slightly affects the tone, making it darker. Depending on what you're after, it may be the more interesting option, though in any case this effect is barely perceptible.
Conclusions
In any kind of musical conditions or settings, whether in a high-sound-pressure range with low tunings, high tunings, or small sizes (jazzy style), the Starclassic Performer is an ideal tool that will perfectly handle any musical situation, whether live or in any recording session. And if we add the Iron Cobra pedals to this (the HH905 hi-hat stand is tremendous).... Well, that is for another article.
