I'll just add a little postscript to this lively exchange.
The claim about them being a preferred studio kit isn't that fanciful - obviously there's a lot of studios around the world but having been in a quite a few of them in different countries (I've lived in four different countries and been in studios in a lot more) it's interesting how often a Camco shows up - and how unusual that is given how few of these kits ever made it out of the US.
The old 301 in Sydney, Australia had one, Sweet Silence in Copenhagen, Denmark had a PJ which was a essentially a local put-together of Camco parts and shells acquired just as Camco's LA operation was winding up, Drumyard, one of the UK's premier studio equipment hire outfits always had a couple of Camco kits high up their list of kits for hire and most London studios hire in rather than have "house kits".
Then there's the number of key session players who've used them - Jim Gordon, Jeff Porcaro (on occasions), Russ Kunkel (at least for a while, I believe) in the UK Dave Mattacks (who was doing an awful lot of sessions there), Warren Daley in Australia and probably a significant names I've missed in Europe (I remember seeing Daniel Humair on Camcos at one point).
On the export front, I believe from observation and conversation that there was virtually nothing before the LA period. Speaking to a few non-US Camco enthusiasts, one of them being former-Argent and current Kinks drummer, Bob Henrit, who also wrote for Britain's premier music instrument magazine during the 1970s and was a big old Camco cheerleader, it seems the European agency was based in Belgium (which is presumably why Stedi's seeing more than the European average), the Brit one was in Bristol (and more Camco kits show up around Bristol as a result).
Here's a relatively recent article by Henrit - the few factual errors aside, it's an interesting piece. http://www.mikedolbear.co.uk/story.asp?StoryID=2380
No idea who imported them to Australia, where I grew up, but I heard about them from other, older drummers before I ever saw one up close. In about 1976 in one of the best Sydney shops, Harry Landis, I saw an LA kit in an orange-y/red translucent lacquer which I've never seen catalogued or even seen an example of since - 12, 13, 16, 22 and matching wood snare. I was fascinated by the colour and how flimsy I thought the stands and fittings were.
I found a COB in a pawn shop a few years later, which got me started, and then got offered a large size LA (13, 14, 18, 24) in seriously scratched up Alice Cooper White by my drum teacher. I never went back. I've seen a few kits around and have even recommended them to some of my contemporaries but they're still like hen's teeth.
The "which sounds better" argument is circuitous but the one point I will make is the bearing edges on Camcos (regardless of manufacture location) have, in my experience, all been impeccable - without many of the "variable" manufacture quirks you see on some of the other "classic" brands - and I think that's part of the secret.
I've sometimes been sloppy, just chucked some heads on at the last minute before a practice or show, roughly tensioned them just to get started and...boom, not a lot else to do (OK, a bit, but you get my drift).
In short, Camcos are ready to roll under almost any tuning circumstances - if that's due to the edges, the shells or the rims or (probably more likely) all three, then it's working.
