So whats your guys' opinion on these babies cuz i just ordered a 5 piece with extra tom in cherry red and i would love it for some ratings and reviews also some pics of that finish if you have any personal ones!








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Hi, I'm Brian. I play/use such brands as: Mapex, Axis, DDrum, Yamaha, Pro-Mark, Vic-Firth, Sabian, Paiste, Zildjian, Saluda, Evans, and DW.

Kevin's the man

im savin up this summer and buyin the same thing u got cept in black forest cherry. the music store here has some and they are beautiful! ive heard nothing but good things about m birches so i decided its the best in its price range plus the six for five deal is icing on the cake. hope u enjoy.

you wont be dissappointed m birchs are great kits.








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Mapex Saturn Series Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Eliminator Pedals
Pearl Rack
Vic Firth Sticks
Remo Heads

www.bebo.com/kevlarakadev
www.myspace.com/devilspain
www.myspace.com/whywalter
www.johnshellyandthecreatures.com

I just got my Mapex M Birch kit in yesterday (Black Forest Cherry finish) - and let me say that first of all, the pictures don't do the finish on these drums justice... they are gorgeous! They tuned up easy (great bearing edges), set up easy, and sounded great even with the stock heads. The first thing I did was put an Aquarian Super Kick II on the bass drum (20") and DAMN - it kicks like a cannon! Put your favorite heads on the bass/toms and you will love it.
The snare is not very good... weak throw-off, standard wires, and for the life of me I could not get it to sound right? I understand that all these kit snares (insert manufacturer here) are bottom line, but I am going to take it to my drum guru and see if we can salvage this one. I'll be using my Pork Pie anyway.
The hardware is good, with a nice style of memory lock/tom mount - this will make set-up at gigs easy. I'm actually gong to keep the hi-hat stand... it has good feel and stability, and looks like it might hold up well over time. I didn't open up the snare stand or bass pedal seeing as how I am using a road-pro snare stand and Pearl Eliminator pedals, so I cannot comment on these.
The floor toms only have a 6-lug configuration (instead of 8-lug), but like I said... the bearing edges are spot-on so tuning was no problem.
Overall, the "bang for the buck" on this kit has to be A+. The sound is full and punchy with good resonance... and that is pretty much what matters most.
Enjoy!








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Stand back! I have a COWBELL... and I am not afraid to use it.........
Saluda Cymbals - B20 never sounded so good...

Thanks for the replies and the insight guys. I'll be getting axis pedals to put on em and i will put my pearl steel piccolo snare on em and also replace the heads with some kind of evans coated...any suggestions for good head combos???








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Hi, I'm Brian. I play/use such brands as: Mapex, Axis, DDrum, Yamaha, Pro-Mark, Vic-Firth, Sabian, Paiste, Zildjian, Saluda, Evans, and DW.

Kevin's the man

g2's over g1's or ec2's on top, thts wht i use and i love um.

If you are an Evans guy, I would take drummer912's advice with the g2's on top (g1's or stock on reso). I just put some Aquarian coated Response 2's on all my toms and they punch like a prize fighter!
Heads are a difficult thing to recommend... every drummer has a sound that they want to achieve, and there are a hundred different combinations to choose from.
Even if you keep the stock heads for a while, you will still get great sounds from this kit.

ROCK ON!








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Stand back! I have a COWBELL... and I am not afraid to use it.........
Saluda Cymbals - B20 never sounded so good...

i used g2's over g1's when i had my m birch. saturns its ebony pin stripe over ambassador. kit sounds like a dream!








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Mapex Saturn Series Drums
Sabian Cymbals
Eliminator Pedals
Pearl Rack
Vic Firth Sticks
Remo Heads

www.bebo.com/kevlarakadev
www.myspace.com/devilspain
www.myspace.com/whywalter
www.johnshellyandthecreatures.com

Ive had mine for a year now and exactly what everyone else has said... truely amazing... Ive been steady gigging the whole year... I go from 7pc to 3pc depending on how lazy i am... Haha... Im always gettting positive feed back on looks and sound... One producer even said i need to get your kit into the studio... But yes very consistant... let us know what you think once youve done what you need to do...

I have a picture on myspace page... www.myspace.com/jaysiah07

I myself am a yamaha man, always have been, always will be, but the same applies here. If anyone starts bangin on (as drummers do - ha) about how japanese drums (tama, yamaha, mapex etc) are soulless, just remember this - they never ever go ouyt of tune, the hardware is always as strong as an ox and the finishes are always spot on. I use my kit, sometimes 4 times a week in the studio, playing everything from jazz through rock to r'n' b music. And one thing producers always say is how spot on the kit sounds. Hell, thats why gadd uses yamaha - you just cant beat the japanese! As for heads i use clear g2's over g1s on the 12 and 14 inch toms, and a coated g1 over a g1 on the 16. This is cos i dont use the 16 very often so i have it tuned REAL low, so it sounds massive on recordings, compared to the 12 and 14, which sound like a regular kit. Also my best friend has the mapex maple kit (is that justa regular M?) in some sort of obscure toothpaste fade colour. It does sound great for the price, although I agree the snare is not that good.








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Yamaha Maple Custom, white stain laquer
Zildjian Avedis cymbals
Evans heads
Premier Modern Classic snare
www.myspace.com/adamhayesdrummer
Professional session drummer for: Katrina and the Waves, Jonny Hates Jazz, Sabrina O'Neil...

I've owned 4 Mapex drum sets so far and I know they give you the most for your money. That birch set should sound real good. I use my Mapex Saturn Pro with the band. At home I still use the older Mapex Mars and Venus sets. If you buy a M Birch you won't be disappointed.

Here are some pics of my Mapex Saturn Pro















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Kameleon

10 Mapex Saturn Pro Acoustic Drums
3 Remo Rototoms
6 Yamaha DTXpress III electric pads
13 Zildjian cymbals
2 Icon Pearl Racks
Gibraltar Hardware
Evans Heads

For all you mapex players out there!

http://www.centerstagem.com/forum/index.php

Check it out it's the unofficial Mapex forum!!! If anything, it's a great community of players from all ages! The best part, they all play (or have played) mapex!

Ty








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-Mapex Orion Studio kit
-Sabian Cymbals
-DHP custom snares (6.5" vented 20-ply, 10" popcorn)
-Iron Cobra pedals

dude, i love my Mapex.

I got the Mapex Pro-M Maple series and its friggen awweeesome.
I have the ocean whatever paintjob on it like that guy a couple posts up. friggen sweet.

And I'm buying a Black Panther piccolo snare this weekend
OOHHH YYEEAAAHHH BABY!~!








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~Monty-Negro

I've had my Transparent Sapphire Mapex M Birch since September '06. I love the finish. It's my first drumset and I don't regret getting it, it's worth the $$ - the main complaint I have is with the snare - I'm going to try to do what I can to make it sound the way I want it to before I resort to buying another though. I got Remo Coated Ambassadors on the toms, Evans G1 on the Snare. I want to experiment w/ different types of heads as I go along. When I can afford it I also plan on getting a DW pedal and a cheaper double pedal at some point. Wouldn't mind having an extra floor tom either.












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http://www.myspace.com/nigefan05
-MAPEX M Birch Fusion 6-piece drum kit
-REMO Ambassador Coated heads
-pAiSTe Cymbals
-Vic Firth Classic Hickory "Metal" drumsticks and Rute 505
-Nigel Olsson's signature Balistiks by Johnny Rabb

nigefan05 wrote:

I've had my Transparent Sapphire Mapex M Birch since September '06. I love the finish. It's my first drumset and I don't regret getting it, it's worth the $$ - the main complaint I have is with the snare - I'm going to try to do what I can to make it sound the way I want it to before I resort to buying another though. I got Remo Coated Ambassadors on the toms, Evans G1 on the Snare. I want to experiment w/ different types of heads as I go along. When I can afford it I also plan on getting a DW pedal and a cheaper double pedal at some point. Wouldn't mind having an extra floor tom either.

I don't think the snares are any worse than the other companies but I agree that without a good snare it gets frustrating trying to get a good tune on it. I'm eventually going with a brass shell myself. Thing is you can pay as much for a single snare as you do for a whole kit!








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Kameleon

10 Mapex Saturn Pro Acoustic Drums
3 Remo Rototoms
6 Yamaha DTXpress III electric pads
13 Zildjian cymbals
2 Icon Pearl Racks
Gibraltar Hardware
Evans Heads