TAMA Imperialstar ?81.

[CarstenM]

My first time on the Forum, so a bit shaky.......

I?m not shure if an 81?Japaneese drumkit is considered being vintage at all (But the snare is a 71?Slingerland witch hopefully helps a bit).

During the eighties and into the early nineties, I was touring most of Europe - mainly clubs and cafe?s - together with my rather scratchy cowpunk-trio. For that purpose I builded up sort of a "japaneese Bonzo replica set", based on TAMA Imperialstar in the sizes 24", 14", 16" and 18", a complete Paiste Colorsound 5 (in black) set of cymbals, and my lovely old 6?" Slingy. Because most of our gigs were in smaller places, I fitted the BD and the toms with some black EVANS Hydraulic heads, that looked good, and actualy sounded good too.

In ?92 I got married, found my self a more civiliced job, started to produce a lot of children.......:-) and forgot all about my drums.

Now 15 years later things are beginning to loosen up a bit, and I feel that I have got the time fore a "second round".
So does my clever and beautyful wife, but since she?s clever, she ordered me to restore the old kit instead of buying a new one.

That?s why I spend the last 30 nights in he basement, working on bringing the old TAMA?s back in business. (Ofcause some of the kids helpped me.)

I?m realy surprissed how good they actually look and sounds after all these years. Ofcause I keept them safe in LeBlond-cases in a temperated basement, but still it was fantastic to se that the only thing I had to do to most of it, was to rub off all that Portugeese beer that I spilled on them many years ago.

Compared to (almost) all new non-USA drums that I?ve heard/played on lately, I would say that the good old 80?Imperialstar is the best - even better than TAMA?s own Superstar from the same period --- but the snare has got to be af Slingerland.

About the Paiste Colorsound Cymbals, I can only say that I chose them because of the colour, but that I now - allmost 30 years after I bought them - am very pleased with the sound of them.

I hope I didn?t waste anybodys time, and that there might be just one more TAMA Imp-fan out there.

Youres truely
Carsten Meinhardt.

[Taman]

This may seem a little too late but I love my 1978 Imperialstar to death
I hope you don't mind me asking but what band did you play for
Also what sort of advice would you have for a new drummer

Taman

[Jaye]

Imperialstars were nice older Tamas. I think you would get a lot of arguments when you say they were superior to Superstars, however.

Imperialstars were luan shelled with re-rings. Old Superstars, though...those were some of the nicest mahogany shells I have ever seen a drum company produce (they used different species later). Imperialstars were considered a mid-level kit even back then.

Nevertheless, a good solid kit and I agree with your wife....better to have pulled 'em out and cleaned 'em up than to have spent money on a new set.

Paiste Colorsounds..I believe they were all 400 series, which were als mid;leved B8 alloy cymbals. Certainly not Paiste's best, but not junk, either.

Colorsounds fetch good $$$ on eBay these days...

Congratulations for your return to music !

[Dno]

Hell Yeah !

I have a monster set of 70s Imperialstars, 2 x 24" 13" 14" 15" 16" rack mount & 16" & 18" floor toms. Huge drum set & not mid range in their day but top of the line, ask ZZ Top, Eurythmics, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan, The Police ect ect those bands all used them. Tama's first drums under the Tama name brand from 1974...good drums man you wont get that sound from new drums that tend to go boing & not doom. Keep em rockin, cheers Dno.

[Jaye]

http://www.tama.com/history/

Correct in that, of the initial 3 models sold in their first year '74, Imperialstars were the top line (atop Swingstars and Royalstars, as I mentioned).

By 1976, Tama had introduced the Superstars...which became their top shelf kits until the Artstars of '83, then the Granstars of '87....

Nevertheless, a nice ol' Imperialstar is a cool kit....

[Dno]

Hey Jaye

what do you mean by luan shelled ?

Cheers

[Jaye]

Hey.

Luan is just a wood species which Japanese mfr's used on their kits starting in the '60's.

It's still used today....Tama, Pearl, and Yamaha shells still incorporate it...a whole lot....

I wonder if there are any Luan trees left over there....

[Dno]

Thats interesting I did'nt know that, Ive owned a 1974 set of royalstars as well which Ive just sold. You probably already know they were mixed with Shia wood & sounded good too.

[elcid]

Last year my son bought an Imperialstar kit (22, 16, 13, 12; came with a non-Tama steel snare and no hardware) for $175 and which gave to his stepson.
Not sure how old it is, but the drums have the "T" badge, and believe the bass drum hoops are metal (steel?) rather than wood.

Nice sounding drums, but still prefer the sound of an early '80s mahogany Superstars (22, 16, 13, 12; no snare but came with a couple of pieces of Spartan hardware and a Tama/Camco pedal) I bought used from a local music store in early 1983...and the sound of 1983 super-mahogany Superstars (24, 13, 14, 18, 8x14 Artstar snare with Titan hardware and Tama/Camco pedal), which I purchased new right after attending that year's NAMM show.
In retrospect, have been decrying the fact that I didn't get 8", 10" and 12" closed toms, a Bell Brass and King Beat 6.5" deep snare drums in addition to the 8" snare drum...nor top-of-the line bass drum pedal (can't remember the model at the moment) while I had the chance to buy them back then, :( but managed to pick up an 8" and a 10" super-mahogany concert toms, which I bought to give to my son as a Christmas present last year...

-elcid

[mcjnic]

Hey! Nice kit. I, too purchased a sweet Imperialstar kit (White) way back in the day. I loved playing that kit. I fell into the 'more is better' category of drumming, though. Twin 24's, and a full run of double-headed toms (either a 6 or an 8 all the way to 18). I, too regret not getting the Bell Brass snare. I opted for the Camco drum pedals and Titan hardware (with several extra stands). I actually liked the Powerline snare. The man said that it came with the King Beat, but I didn't want to have to fuss with the extra adjustments, so I went lo-tech. Nice kit. I don't miss it, though. I've had so many other kits that I've enjoyed since that I just don't think about it often. So many drums...so little time. Get your kit up and playing again. It is so cool. Enjoy your kit. I found that they don't record too well, but dang, they play live with some serious personality. Post some pics when you get the chance. Love to see it.

[FloydZKing]

I like Imperialstars a lot, probably the nicest lauan drums I've seen, although Yamaha made some killer ones too.

It's worth noting that there were 3 different versions of the Impstar shell, that is, disregarding the current version. The first were very thick and had equally thick rerings, making for a huge bearing edge that had a killer fat roundover. The next version still has rings proportional to the shell thickness, but both are much thinner. Not sure when the edge changed to a modern sharpie, but the final version is the same shell thickness, minus rerings.