IN 1974, the TAMA brand was born in Japan. After a few years, TAMA's Mastercraft Bell Brass snare drum was created.

Designed to match the explosive sounds of a new decade in music, the Bell Brass shell delivered the purest snare sound ever achieved. With the original shell sand-cast in the same manner of top-quality cymbals and bells, the shell began as a 12-millimeter (mm) cast that was hand-turned down to 3 mm.

Burnished to a natural brass patina for a tone that grows sweeter, warmer and richer with every passing year, it's no wonder the Mastercraft Bell Brass snare drum has become the most coveted snare drum of the last 50 years.

Widely used in heavy rock music of the '80s and '90s, TAMA's Bell Brass snare drum — reissued this year on the brand's 50th anniversary — became known as "The Terminator." Producing an aggressive sound, it became coveted by the world's top jazz and fusion drummers of the era.

The Mastercraft "The Bell Brass" 50th anniversary reissue, faithfully reproduced to original specifications, brought the iconic sound to drummers once again.

A significant but little-known fact of the original Bell Brass was the shell's 14-inch (355 mm) diameter, as modern shells were usually 2 mm smaller in diameter to accommodate different drumhead manufacturers. The Bell Brass' extra size contributed to its magnificent and massive tone.

The TAMA brand is owned by Hoshino Gakki Co. Ltd., a company founded in 1908 in Nagoya, Japan by Matsujiro Hoshino. Today, research, development and production of TAMA's professional drum lines are done in Seto, Japan.

Audiophile Components Inc., established in 1981, has been the exclusive Philippine distributor of TAMA professional drums and percussion hardware.