We performed the test under the sonic supervision of musician, award-winning producer, studio owner and, most of all, a drum maniac, Przemysław Wejmann.

I lived in Japan in the 80s and have some direct experience with Tama (as well as Yamaha and Pearl) during that time that may be helpful.As most of those who regularly follow our reviews know, sometime last year we locked ourselves away at Perlazza Studio (based in Poznań, Poland), where we tested quite a number of vintage drum kits and snares provided by Mateusz Wysocki and his MW-Vintage company, which (as the name suggests) specializes in vintage drums.

If you get stuck or need any other info, just let me know. VDF, DFO, etc.) and Facebook may also be helpful. As far as current value, reviewing recent sales on eBay (Sold Items) and Reverb (Sold Listings) are probably your best reference like with other vintage gear. Tama seems to have taken down those web pages from 2014 so images of both are attached below. NOTE: For anyone else trying to determine if they have a Cherry Wine or Super Mahogany finish, photos of the 40th anniversary reissue snare drums are probably a better reference than the 80s catalogs. Given this, focus on those years of the catalogs and try to match characteristics of your snare/drum. However, like with many things, there are few absolutes here and plenty of room for exceptions.

In general, the Cherry Wine finish was initially offered in 1981 with the Superstar X-tras series (power tom depths) and ran until the Superstar was discontinued after 1984 or so.

Vintage tama snare drum