Dave's Superstar/Granstar Tama kit

Updated 7/5/11

Thought I'd send another shot of my kit(s)...  now that I'm a home owner once again, I can play the Tama acoustics again!  So here they are set up in the basement with my electronic companions the Yamaha DT Express IIs, the drums I played for the last seven years while in that apartment. I play along with CDs and also run the electronic kit through the 15" Peavey PA system.  

 

Added 7/4/07

Dave recently won the recent NeilPeartDrumsticks.com First Prize contest and sent me some new pics of his kit. Here's his intro:

Here's my kit and me as of today, June 26th, 2007. I won thehttp://www.neilpeartdrumsticks.com contest First Prize so I'm proudly displaying all the goodies they gave me. It felt a little like XMas yesterday when I got home from work and saw the package.  :-) 

Dave writes of his introduction to Neil and Rush, and how it ultimately influenced his drum kit:

I first saw Neil gracing the cover of Modern Drummer magazine with his Slingerland kit (and the hair and signature handlebar moustache) so I bought the magazine and the rest was history.

Prior to hearing Neil, Carl Palmer was my idol. I officially started playing drums at age 12 (1975) on an old Slingerland chrome-finish five piece graced by A. Zildjians. That kit grew over time; Roto toms, a second 22" kick drum and 12" tom (Tama), custom paint job. (It) went on the road with me playing clubs in New Jersey, NYC and even down in Washington DC with the famous rock band "Exact Change" playing some covers but mostly originals that my brother on guitars formed. He and I grew up as Rush fans having first heard them late in 1977, early 1978... I was in my High School TYPING class, of all places, when a classmate brought in an LP of Hemispheres and played some of it in the class... anyway I was HOOKED. That day Mom took us out to the record store and I bought a red vinyl LP of Hemispheres, poster and all. We wore that record out!

So, now the "current" albeit old kit as pictured:

They are late 80's Tama Superstars mixed with two custom-built Grandstars (the 10" and the 15" toms) and the old Rotos from my previous kit and a bastardized collection of cymbal stands (Tamas, Zildjians, unknowns, et cetera). I had to have the Grandstars custom made because the Superstars weren't being manufactured anymore and not in Candy Apple Red either.  The Grandstars were. The Candy Apple Red was definitely inspired by Neil's C-A-R kit (theTama Artstar prototype that Neil used on Signals, Grace Under Pressure, and Power Windows). LOVE that color. I am currently playing an electronic set of Yamaha DT Express IIs... NOT anywhere the same as the good old acoustics but living in a luxury apartment doesn't make playing loud drums feasible. One day we may buy a house again... right now it's nice being free from a money pit.

Dave Tremper,

Nanuet, NY

I asked Dave about the small cymbal located above the right bass drum, and this is what he wrote:

That's funny you ask, many times people have inquired about the "little" cymbal to the right of the main kick... I used it for "YYZ" and that one section of "Cygnus XI Book II" where Neil hits the triangle (I'm sure you know the part)... it's actually the bell portion of an old 18" crash/ride that had broken around that zone of the cymbal so I just continued the "modification" and it really has a nice crotale-ish sound -- not quite as high pitched but warm and you get the idea when you hear the -.---.----..-.---.----.. what's going on :-) It's actually mounted on a really small cymbal stand on the floor, not on the kick.