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The purple glitter is just one of 15 finishes offered - shame it covers up the genuinely gorgeous bubings

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Into the depths

While the Starclassic Maple has seven-ply shells, the Starclassic Bubinga has nine-ply shells. Bubinga is said to be around 50 percent more dense than maple or birch and you certainly notice the extra weight of each drum, even with its lightened aluminium bracket. A thicker, denser shell should add both volume and top end to the sound.

Tama claims the wood also adds more bottom-end, the result being the best of both worlds – depth and cut without middling frequencies muddying the picture. It’s a typically boastful case of manufacturer’s hyperbole, but for once we’re inclined to go along with it.

We took the accompanying snare drum – a 14”x5½” model in matching bubinga and purple – out on a couple of gigs and it turned out to be a cracker – this one really does ping. It is helped by the heavy die-cast rims and the relatively thick shell, which again makes the drum surprisingly weighty. Rim shots rang out piercingly while the centre backbeat was thick and deep, at the same time easily retaining a clean, sharp definition. It’s a very satisfying snare.

There’s a thoughtful touch to the snare tensioning design. The butt end can be removed by unscrewing a couple of drum key bolts allowing you to change your bottom head without removing the Snappy Snare wires or losing your snare tension setting.

Toms and kick

Like the snare, the toms pack a punch. The bubinga has a clean tone, maybe not so warm as maple, but nicely rounded and full. The heavy shells increase volume and aid projection.

The bass drum is the now almost standard 22”x18”, a pretty big drum with plenty of volume and depth. It arrived with both heads intact and stuffed with internal damping, making the sound dark and concise, deep and warm with maximum attack.

The hardware fitted to the bass drum is also worth a mention. The new Starclassic claw hooks feature rubber spacers that help protect the wooden hoops from damage. The hooks and hoops are integrated so they can’t separate, even on loose tunings.

As with all it’s hardware Tama has given a lot of thought to the bass drum spurs. They have 10 calibrations which allow you to get the exact length of spur extension, making it easy to level up your bass drum precisely on each side of the drum. For a final touch, you can cover up the spike of each spur with its rubber foot as usual, but what’s pleasing about the design is the way the large locking wingnut encloses the rubber foot.

It’s chic design touches such as these that make you feel good about spending such a large sum of money.