Big Drum Thump

Tama has released a video of Kenny Aronoff chatting about and demonstrating his signature line of Track Master snares. Three sizes are available (14″ x 6.5″, 14″ x 5″, and 15″ x 4″), and the shell of each is made of nickel-plated brass, which Kenny describes as sounding both aggressive and warm.

Prices? We don’t know yet, but here’s hoping that Tama also throws in a pair of flippin’-sweet Kenny Aronoff signature sunglasses with each drum.

Good news for your butt: Tama has unveiled the company’s first foray into hydraulic thrones.

Though gas-powered stools are nothing new in the drummingverse, the thrones in Tama’s new series, dubbed the 1st Chair Hydraulix line, feature seats that come off easily from the base for a fast pack-up. There are two flavors available: the HT750C Ergo-Rider comes with Tama’s ergonomically shaped bicycle seat. The HT650C Round-Rider (pictured below) boasts an all-new rounder-shaped seat with lower profile seams for completely unimpeded leg motion and a special air pocket in the bottom that helps reduce playing fatigue.

The HT750C Ergo-Rider Hydraulix lists for $265.99, and the HT650C Round-Rider Hydraulix lists for $249.99.

A small price to pay for a smooth ass ride, no?

Tama’s Warlord collection is known for three things—big sounds, big looks, and freakin’ bloody-big price tags. The new Titan model is no exception. The bad news first: one of these bad bastards will cost you $2,849.99 (MSRP). The good news is that the drum weighs much less than its Warlord brethren, even though it produces a louder sound, one that we’re told borders on painful (RAWK!!!!!). It features a 14″ x 6″, 1.0mm titanium shell with Tama’s Resonant Sound Edge bearing edge, die-cast hoops, and a hard-shell case.

We’ve already posted several pics of Lars Ulrich’s signature kit, and now we got the goods on how its color came about.

[Press Release]

Metallic drummer Lars Ulrich wanted a new color in his life. More specifically he wanted a new orange finish for his set for the Death Magnetic tour.” And not just any orange,”said Terry Bissette of Tama.” Lars Ulrich was very specific that he wasn’t looking for something we already had, such as our Marigold Sparkle or anything like that. Our people in LA and Japan worked with Lars for a while before we came up with just the right shade to match what he was looking for.” That finish went on to grace Lars’s kit for the tour. Fortunately, for Tama and Metallica drumming fans, Lars Ulrich was willing to share.

For 2009, that special orange finish, now named “LU Magnetic Orange” for both the tour and drummer, is now an available finish for Tama’s Starclassic maple series. Drummer’s can re-create Lars’s tour kit, or choose from any of the staggering number of diameters and depths available in the Starclassic maple series.

Along with an oompa-loompa-orange Lars Ulrich kit, Tama showed off a Simon Phillips 30th-anniversary drum set at NAMM 2009. Made of Monarch shells (a maple/bubinga/maple hybrid), the drums looked positively exquisite, and we got good Google AdSense money they sound damn fine too. Unfortunately, like all of the kits at Tama’s booth, the Simon Phillips set was off-limits to even the most well-connected thumpers. Next year, we’re bringing this along to distract the booth cops.

Check out more pics of the kit and other Tama drums from NAMM right here.

It always happens this way. Before every NAMM show, I plan and plot and map out my strategy for hitting every drum booth in a methodical and efficient manner. But as soon as the doors are thrown open and I get that smell of new gear in both nostrils, I immediately run to whatever big and shiny drum kit I see first. This time, it was Tama that grabbed me by the balls with a Lars Ulrich signature set. Here are some teaser pics before we get the full gallery on Flickr up.

[Update: Our complete Tama gallery is now available here. It includes thirteen photos of the Lars Ulrich signature set.]