Tama Imperialstar (Japan)

My kit was a 12-13-18-24" setup, made in Japan sometime in the 80s (not the modern re-make). Made out of I believe some form of mahogany (hidden under the "Zola-Coat" speckled paint on the insides of the shells). Shells have reinforcement rings. Hardware is sturdy but old-fashioned (the Omni-ball tom mount system was nice though). Old Tama wrap was ok I guess... I re-wrapped mine (be careful to not pull off pieces of the outer wood ply when you do this).

Think late 70s to early 80s for an idea of the sound. Not very sustaining, but cool vintage sounds if that's what you want. You need old Remo CS black dot heads to get the full effect. Tuning range wasn't wide at all. A good kit to use for an old-school metal sound... put heavy heads on them, tune them low, and have that nice attack-y fat sound but don't expect much sustain or depth. They don't have thunderous sounds when opened up like modern drums... you probably won't want single ply heads.

The shells themselves were very tough and durable, though modern kits are better (my DWs with maple shells are 10x as tough I'm sure). Probably better than most kits of the period. Hardware is nice and simple but long lasting (I no longer have this kit but I still use some older Tama stands). The lugs have a habit of corroding and cracking on the inside screw mounts... you'll want some spares.

Tama has a nice web forum with helpful people from the company, but these kits are getting up there in years now and there's not much they can do for you besides tell you history.

I no longer have this kit, but I did enjoy it while I did own it. You can find these cheap these days and they're worth the price to start out with. Certainly not the end-all be-all of drums though.