in my opinon, they are way better than power toms.

if not standards go for xtras or square.

It depends on the era, Wayne. In the beginning, TAMA built all their drums in Japan. It was not until later on that they decided to outsource the building of the lower end kits to Taiwan. I cannot tell you when that was, but today, all Star Classics are made in Japan, and I think the next line down may be as well, but don't hold me to that.

THINKS FOR SHEARING

All Rockstars were phillipine mahogany (lauan) as others said, some with inner plies of basswood and the Pro series with the outer basswood ply as well

RS series which replaced both DX and Pro in 1993 had beech inner plies instead.

Production of all Rockstars was moved to Taiwan in 1997