History

Hoshino Gakki began manufacturing drums in 1965 under the name "Star Drums". Hoshino, the family name of the founder, translates to "star field," thus the selection of the "Star Drums" brand name. The drums were manufactured at Hoshino's subsidiary, Tama Seisakusho, which had opened in 1962 to manufacture Ibanez guitars and amplifiers. While the production of guitars and amps was moved out of the factory by 1966, the production of drums there continued to grow. The two higher lines of drum models, Imperial Star and Royal Star, were introduced to the American market and were successful lower-cost drums competing against more expensive American-made drums offered by Rogers, Ludwig, and Slingerland at the time.
By 1974, Hoshino decided to make a concerted effort to make high-quality drums and hardware and start marketing its drums under the Tama brand. Tama was the name of the owner's wife, and means "jewel" in Japanese. In keeping with its heritage, "star" continues to be used in the names of Tama's drum models to this day.
Tama and Drum Workshop (DW) jointly bought the bankrupt Camco Drum Company. As part of the deal, DW received the Camco tooling and manufacturing equipment while Tama received the Camco name, designs, engineering and patent rights.
At the time, Camco was producing what was thought to be the best drum pedal on the market. DW continued production of the pedal using the original tooling, rebadging it as the DW5000. Tama began production of the same pedal under the Camco name. The Tama version of the Camco pedal is commonly referred to as the Tamco pedal to distinguish it from an original Camco pedal. Tama integrated all the engineering from Camco into their production process and the overall level of quality of their drums increased virtually overnight. The original plan was to market the low end Tama drums to beginners and use the Camco brand to sell high end drums to professional musicians. However, even the professionals were starting to use the Tama drums because the low cost of the Asian made drums with the (now) high quality of hardware was a great combination.
The Iron Cobra has the same configuration options as the original Camco pedal and the current DW5000 pedal. These are Power Glide, Rolling Glide and Flexi Glide. Power Glide pedals have an offset cam chain drive. This causes the beater to accelerate faster towards the end of the pedal stroke. This drive system is identical to the DW Accelerator pedals (DW5000AD or DW5000AX models) or the Camco Deluxe model bass drum pedals. The Rolling Glide pedals maintain a fixed ratio of footboard speed to beater speed and the drive system is identical to the DW Turbo pedals (DW5000TD3 or DW5000CX). Finally, the Flexi Glide pedals are a Kevlar strap driven pedal that has the exact same drive system that was found on the Camco pedals in the 1950s. Again, DW makes a pedal with this same drive system under the DW5000ND3 and DW5000NX model names.

Limited Edition (Made in Japan)

• Starclassic Maple EFX (Maple shells; Silk wrap)
• Starclassic Maple Reserve (Curly Maple/Maple Shell, Abalone Inlays, Brushed Nickel Hardware)
• Starclassic Mirage (Acrylic black and trasparent shells)
• Starclassic EXOTIX 2007: Warlord (Quilted African Bubinga/African Bubinga Shell, Swarovski Crystals inlayed on lug casings and badges, Warlord styled Brushed Nickel Hardware)
• Starclassic Performer Limited Edition (Birch shells in "New Fusion" sizes, Metallic lacquer finish with a glitter accent stripe, Black Nickel Hardware)

[edit] Limited Production (Made in Japan)

• Starclassic Bubinga Omni-Tune (African Bubinga shells; lacquer finish with abalone inlays and special Omni-Tune lugs)
• Starclassic Bubinga Elite (African Bubinga shells; outer ply of Exotic wood; Lacquer exotic finish)
• Starclassic Bubinga Elite EFX (African Bubinga shells; Multi-sparkle covered finishes)
• Starclassic Bubinga (African Bubinga shells with outer ply of Maple; Starclassic-type lugs; lacquer finish)
• Starclassic Bubinga EFX (African Bubinga shells; Glitter Wrap)
• Starclassic Performer B/B EFX (Birch/African Bubinga shells; Glitter Wrap)
• Starclassic Performer B/B (Birch/African Bubinga shells; lacquer finish)

[edit] Mass Production (Made in Japan)

• Starclassic Maple (Maple shells; lacquer finish)
• Starclassic Performer (Birch shells; lacquer finish)

[edit] Mass Production (Made in China)

• Superstar Hyperdrive Custom (Birch/Basswood shells; lacquer finish)
• Superstar Hyperdrive EFX (Birch/Basswood shells; Satin wrap)
• Superstar Hyperdrive (Birch/Basswood shells; solid color wrap)
• Superstar (Birch/Basswood shells; solid color wrap)
• Imperialstar (Poplar shells; solid color wrap)